Had a lovely lie in and woke up to more wonderful people (99.98% men) telling me I’m not a feminist and what sexism really is. Thanks guys! It’s so lovely to have such wonderful allies fighting the patriarchy with me.
So, let’s answer some of the points.
A thread

1.‘Should we not criticise women pundits then?’ Um, I did not say that at all. What I did say was that on Twitter, where literally everything any woman involved in football posts receives abhorrent sexist abuse, it is not wise for an official club Twitter account to pick...

... out a female pundit the way they did.
2.‘But they do it to everyone! They are the real pioneers of equality!’ No. Just no. It’s all about the context I explain above. A male pundit does not receive the sexist abuse female ones do, does not have their entire gender’s...

position in the sport questioned. They get abused, yes, but it is different. Men do not, generally, receive that abuse in their day to day lives just because of their gender. They are not discriminated against on a regular basis because of their gender and it does not...

... sink as deep because it does not sit on top of the scars of decades of oppression. Tell a man to ‘go back to mowing the lawn’ and it’s meaningless, there is no historic context of men being denied a place in the world and forced to stick to their manly household roles.

3. ‘But but, Agbonlahor, Wilder, Paul Merson! They all got the same!’ In addition to the reason above, these incidents were all very very different. First off, it is utterly ridiculous that an official club Twitter account would engage in childish back and forths with any...

... pundit. Especially digging out old things they’ve said to call them out, it’s just unnecessary. But let’s look at how each is different. a) Agbonlahor, he literally trolls Leeds fans with his tweets, repeatedly. There is no attempt at analysis, it is literally him...

... bantering the fans and club. Not the same as Carney making, whether you agree or not, an attempt at a legitimate point which is also an aside to a compliment. b) Wilder is an opposition manager. His choice of words were rubbish, but again, not the same thing. c) Merson...

... criticised the style of play, did it prompt the same level of sexist vitriol as Carney’s did? No.
Finally, only in the tweet coming back at Agbonlahor, who literally trolled fans, was anyone identifiable. The tweets referring to Wilder and Merson didn’t say a name, they...

... were in jokes for Leeds fans in the know. In using a video of Carney she was immediately identifiable and open to personalised and generalised attacks.
4.‘But it’s not the clubs fault! It’s society’s!’ True. It sexism and other forms of discrimination are problems in...

... and of society. But a Premier League club can be better and use its influence to drive change and challenge discrimination. That those involved in the club’s social media were not aware of the pile on that would ensue and the sexist abuse that would arise from a tweet...

... of that nature are, to be frank, not very good at there jobs.
5.‘OK, if Leeds were wrong, what else could they do? Should they just be forced to take it?’ Of course they don’t have to take it. But why the hell give it the time of day? It’s one pundit. One comment...

... The fans will banter off the comments you don’t like themselves. If the club is really genuinely angry and finds something insulting, how about approaching the pundit to ask for clarification? How about asking for a comment? At the very least, criticise it without...

... making it personal (which having a video with the persons face right there does). Also, have some respect for how difficult punditry and commentary is. Do the club genuinely believe that Carney, a title winner and 144-capped England player, thinks that Covid is solely...

...responsible for them winning promotion? Or, like most people, do they think that she believes that the time off might have aided their campaign? Whether you agree or not, it is a valid question to ponder. If you think ‘she should have worded it like that then’ then go...

... through any 90 min match and find clumsy wording. Punditry and commentary are hard jobs, anything that means you have to talk off the cuff is hard. Some are good at it, some are bad at it but everyone will clumsily phrase things now and again...

...Yes you can criticise the bad ones, but also be fair, check the context and think about the impact of how you bring it up.

6) ‘But you want them treated differently, aha! That’s not equality’ Learn the difference between equality and equity. Sometimes to achieve equality you have to act equitably. The response Carney received is not equal to the response the others named have. It is different.