Stacey Lee: Footballer Tayla Harris is kicking goals by calling out online trolls

The photo of footballer Tayla Harris kicking a goal is not the problem. But the disgusting trolls who decided to sexualise a woman doing her job are, says Stacey Lee.

• Harris: If I don’t call out trolls, who will?

The photo of Tayla Harris kicking a goal is not the problem but the disgusting trolls who decided to sexualise a woman doing her job are.

The picture of the Carlton forward was originally posted online with the caption “Photo of the year”. Never has that statement rung truer.

It’s a remarkable image which highlights athleticism and stunning technique that many in the AFL world can only ever dream of, but unfortunately that’s not the reason we’re talking about it.

Instead, attention has turned to the cowardly keyboard warriors who decided to flood the comments section of the photo with inappropriate sexual remarks and negative opinions about the strength of the AFLW.

I’m not going to repeat the comments. I won’t give the pathetic trolls the justification and attention they so crave, not to mention the fact that many of them are too vile and sexist to put in print. But just know they are completely reprehensible.

They are statements that would not be made about a male player and I’d hasten a guess the people making them wouldn’t have said them out loud in public because they know the backlash would’ve been swift and strong.

In fact, here’s a tip for the sex-craving men who feel the need to degrade an entire gender online — maybe you wouldn’t be so deprived if you stopped viewing women as objects and started seeing us as equals?

Carlton footballer Tayla Harris. Picture: Jason Edwards

The reaction from Channel 7 has also copped some criticism. The network reacted to the disgusting display of abuse by caving to the trolls and removing the image — which has proven to be the wrong thing to do.

Taking down the photo sends a message that the remarks of a despicable minority are more important than a celebration by the majority.

Removing it from social media diminishes Tayla Harris’s achievements. It takes the spotlight away from her and puts it on the keyboard warriors.

It also sets a dangerous precedent that we will listen to a vocal minority of people who can only be described as fringe dwellers.

What should have happened was a closer monitoring of comments. They should have been deleted and the people who made them blocked.

We should not be giving these people a voice or platform to share their outdated and misogynistic views.

There will be people out there who claim that would be censorship, shutting down freedom of speech and would amount to “political correctness gone mad”. But this isn’t about any of those things.

People are entitled to their opinions about the game, even if those opinions are critical.

But if you are a going to target an athlete, or anyone, and criticise their body while they are in their place of work then, no, you shouldn’t be entitled to express that view in a public forum and, yes, you should be shunned for trying to do so.

Channel 7 ended up re-posting the inspirational image on social media and has apologised for removing it.

Yes, taking it down was wrong but our anger shouldn’t be directed at the network. It should be directed at the cowards who chose to tear down a woman while she was doing her job, and doing it well.

Crows star Erin Phillips … football means kicking goals — end of discussion.

No one has the right to make another person feel uncomfortable while they work, no matter what profession they are in. So it’s no surprise those who wrote the disparaging remarks are understood to have been reported to police.

How ridiculous is it that the valuable time and resources of the police may have to be used to investigate a few brainless people?

But maybe, just maybe, this will make everyone think twice before writing something stupid on social media.

Adelaide’s Erin Phillips has also slammed the responses.

“There’s a lot of trolls who get away with things and it shouldn’t be allowed and it’s not right,” Phillips said.

“I would love to see some accountability on Twitter.”

Phillips is no stranger to photo controversy. She knows all too well how vile social media can be.

She made headlines in 2017 when she kissed wife Tracy after winning the AFL Women’s inaugural best and fairest award.

A celebration so many male sporting stars have had in the past without anyone batting an eyelid, but because it was two women, well you can probably guess the responses.

It’s sad this is the discussion we’re having during the AFLW finals week.

We should instead be talking about grand-final prospects and celebrating another successful season.

Not much about what’s happened with Tayla Harris is positive but if there is a silver lining to all of this it’s that the situation has really brought the community together to call out this type of behaviour.

The support she has received from her teammates, friends, family, her club, the AFL, the media and the public has been overwhelming.

It’s great to see the positive responses outshining those few negative ones, but it’s ridiculous it took something like this to bring the treatment of women into the spotlight.

These players are out there doing what they love and at the same time teaching young girls they can play the professional sports they’ve grown up watching and supporting.

Stacey Lee is the Sky News reporter for Adelaide.