schneefink | Still into hockey, but some days it's harder

Follow-up to my post from yesterday about quitting fandoms and hockey (rpf) in particular: there is yet another in a long list of shitty incidents. This time, an AHL prospect was charged with a revenge porn felony, and even though he was arrested and charged over a month ago the team let him keep playing until it became public on social media. UGH.

There were some good responses and comments on being a woman in hockey sports fandom on Twitter:
Hannah Stuart
@Puckologist
Jen LC
Megan Richardson
Sarah Connors
Sasky Stewart
Hockey Babbler
And not on Twitter:
"The NHL's problem with women", by Julie Di Caro
Women in hockey being heard, but not loud enough, by Scott Wheeler (Pension Plan Puppets)

One that feels unfortunately familiar:
m g: "Hockey has brought me a lot of fun and many friendships, but when I see the decisions made by @Puckologist @acciohockey @butyoucarlotta ... amongst many others, I know that's my future. That I'm just waiting for the scales to tip. For the negative to outweigh the positive."

Every time someone leaves the sports fandom feels lonelier/scarier afterwards. Fandom should not feel like a fight.

To sum up, Casey:
"To the women who stay and push back: thank you.
To the women who need a break: You deserve to feel safe & happy, not trapped."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you do eventually get to that point, you could always quit men's hockey without quitting hockey altogether. Just a thought.

-J

Sure, that's definitely the plan once I get to that point. This season it's looked like an actual possibility because the NWHL and CWHL streamed games online and the leagues became more accessible. I know they want to get TV deals to get money, but I hope the streams continue (in one form or another *cough*)

But I'm not just interested in the NHL because of the hockey. I also enjoy - most days - the fandom, I like that there are so many articles and discussions happening and the background info and analysis and stats I can get and the people I got to know. Women's hockey doesn't have that yet, the fandom is tiny (and I know it can and most likely will grow, but it'll take time.)

Besides, hockey sports fandom and hockey rpf fandom are very much connected for me. Less as time goes on, but the latter came first and that aspect has always been there. But I'm not comfortable with writing/sometimes even reading rpf about women's hockey players right now because they're much less famous, and unlike male hockey players who knew that they'd get in the public spotlight in the NHL, female hockey players didn't have that expectation. In addition to that female athletes already have the problem that they're being sexualized - see the recent controversy in tennis, for example - and that makes me want to speculate about their private/romantic/sex life even less.

Man, that sucks.

It does :(
The team now claims they didn't find out earlier but I'm very skeptical.

Thanks for that round-up of responses; I hadn't seen all of them. I know what you mean; it's VERY hard to be a fan of hockey some days. ): *hugs*

Other days it's great! And so much fun. No matter the bullshit, I'll never regret getting into hockey because it made me actually play hockey and that's been amazing. And I still haven't given up hope that even the NHL will improve one day. But yeah, some days it's hard.

Late to this post and... yeah. basically. I saw it on twitter and feel like I should be angry that it is hawks fucking AGAIN but ugh. Just tired.

There's players I still love on that tea, foremost Hossa who is my favourite, but really, how could I go back? Looking at it leaving hockey fandom on the whole might be easier. I try to get more active with other pairings, but output is more sporadic and my writing is fizzling, as always.

On the other hand, there's of course the tempting idea of just ignoring the "minor" problems and just reading the fic. But honestly this is playing so much into hawks' narrative and they want people not to care about the shit off the ice and that alone is what stops me. Well, and the bitterness towards some fandom members and their ethics.

But... ugh. I wih I could stay, but hockey fandom makes it harder everyday. Maybe I will find a solution, but right now it sucks.

:( It must be even worse for Blackhawks fans. *hugs* (Hossa is indeed amazing!)

If you can't find another team to fall in love with, for what it's worth I think there's nothing wrong with continuing to be a fan of the Blackhawks, excluding Kane. It's possible to love things that are very problematic. Unfortunately in this case, from what I've seen, large parts of (the remaining) Blackhawks fandom are, uh, unpleasant to put it mildly, that makes things harder.

Yeah, and the fans that give me hope - subtlelikeseabrook, regressedpdo, raedances and others - are the reasonable ones and are also turning their back. Those are the "mainstream" fans I enjoyed the most and their approach to fandom. At least they turned out as good as I thought.

On the other hand, there's active, fanfic writing fans that want to stay put and kinda sour my experiences before through their conduct now.

(Sorry for taking so long to answer! and always complaining when I do!)

No excuse necessary, it's a hard topic.

Newest development, they found out that the prospect committed the crime in another state (where it's only a misdemeanor and not a felony) and so the charges were dropped. The Blackhawks immediately lifted the suspension. At this point I'm not even surprised anymore.

I'm a bit worried that I'll fall out of love with both hockey and hockey rpf before I've found a new fandom, but I'll see what happens. It'll probably be a slow process anyway, might be this summer, might be another few years.

Argh, I didn't see this yet but ofc. Just another strike not to stay.

Idk how t is for you but I can feel myelf antsy for something? Another team or another fandom, but right now it's not really compelling to stay. I will probably watch Panthers in the playoffs I think now! The style is similar and I can see myself rooting for Lu getting his hard ware :D Also, chicago south, I guess, so some faces I know.

I'm lucky, I'm not aware of anything overly stupid my team has done since employing douchebag Harry Zolnierczyk and he's gone now. (And of course Lemieux still shows up every so often.)

The Panthers should be fun! Sadly I'm not optimistic that they'll make it very far into the playoffs, but who knows? Iirc their most likely first round opponent are the Islanders who haven't been that good lately so it's definitely possible. Lu and Jagr, and Willie Mitchell even if he doesn't play anymore, getting a Cup together would be great :)

Still into hockey, but some days it's harder

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