Fantasy Football and the Discourse Surrounding Violence against Women

Abstract

The discourse surrounding professional football players and violence against women developed alongside an evolving NFL that increasingly valued fantasy sports participants for their heightened engagement and investment. Fantasy-specific sports information companies emerged to equip fantasy ‘owners’ with information and advice to best manage their virtual rosters, including strategies for navigating players’ legal troubles and possible suspensions. The NFL has faced significant criticism for its response to cases involving domestic violence and sexual assault, but fantasy football’s role in containing this perceived crisis has received less attention. Analysing fantasy sports from a historical perspective reveals the ways in which fans have been compelled to think through (or gloss over) these issues. Specifically, fantasy football advice on the popular fantasy sports website Rotoworld from 2003 to 2013 reveals a pattern of reimagining real-world violence, and particularly violence against women, as a problem that can be understood and activated purely in terms of fantasy sports. Reducing the costs of this violence to the world of virtual gameplay discourages social consciousness, diminishes the capacity for productive dialogue, and erases the lived experience of survivors.