Read on Twitter
THIS. I think that some fans maintain the idea that in order for gymnastics to be considered a "real sport" we must tolerate the toxicity that comes with certain parts of sports culture, or that this is an acceptable price for increased exposure/popularity. https://twitter.com/hoo00lia/status/1265466122943463424
It is not, and as others have mentioned, the root of gymnastics not being considered a "real sport" is misogyny within the world of sports. It would seem counterintuitive at best for gymfans to then emulate those behaviors.
For example, I’ve seen multiple statements to the effect of “if this were a -insert sport- player, no one would care.” That statement has many implications beyond the scope of this thread, but it seems like a bad justification. Just because something happens and it is accepted by
some people, doesn’t make it acceptable behavior. Now, I’m not discounting the claim that gymnastics has an issue with fair criticism. I completely agree that criticism is often conflated with personal attacks, much to the detriment of the sport and to the detriment
of truly disrespectful/problematic behavior being called out and focused on. I find that, especially in defense of their favorites, many gymnastics fans will accuse others of rudeness for comments that are simply critical but not malicious.
However, I don’t think that this phenomenon is unique to gymnastics. In my experience with other sports, people will defend their favorites with obvious bias. It’s strange to me that this common part of being a sports fan is met with so much derision and seen
as a hindrance to the credibility of gymnastics and its fan base.
