Shock: The Euros are over and domestic violence ‘jokes’ are all over TikTok
Cases of domestic violence surge by 38 per cent when England lose in football tournaments
TW: Domestic violence
When England lose in the Euros or World Cup, cases of domestic violence surge by 38 per cent. When England win or draw, cases still rise by 26 per cent. And this year, domestic violence jokes are all over TikTok, with abusive posts getting thousands of likes.
While it could be easy to write off these jokes as immature shitposting, Ruth Davison, CEO of Refuge (A leading UK-based charity dedicated to tackling domestic violence) says these posts are both “dangerous and wholly inappropriate.”
This TikTok is from the point of view of a child and involves a man in an England shirt repeatedly throwing punches as “It’s coming home” can be heard in the background. It’s captioned: “Your dad sinks his 11th stella after England get knocked out of the Euros by Slovakia.” The post has 76,000 likes.
Often accompanied with hashtags like #stella and #euros, these abusive TikToks are finding their way onto people’s FYPs.
This TikTok shows a male wrestler kicking a woman to the floor and is captioned: “When the Mrs doesn’t buy five crates of Stella for footy.” The creator has even added #EDL standing for far-right organisation the English Defence League. The post has nearly 8,000 likes.
While TikToks like these are shocking, an increased rate of domestic violence during major international football tournaments has unfortunately become commonplace in England.
Ruth Davison said: “Videos being shared on TikTok showing violence and connecting football with domestic abuse are both dangerous and wholly inappropriate. How can we ever achieve gender equality if violence against women is trivialised, as a form of light entertainment, and shared on social media as some sort of male ‘banter’?
“Domestic abuse is a crime and should be treated as such – not glamourised with grotesque and gratuitous images of violence simply being used for amusement and to gain clicks.”
Head of Communications at Refuge Kim Manning Cooper adds: “Domestic abuse doesn’t happen because the football is on, because England win or lose, because someone is drunk. It doesn’t happen by appointment.
“It happens all year round – it is a choice a perpetrator makes, stemming from power and control, from gender inequality, which misogyny and patriarchy helps perpetuate.
“So, while its clear football doesn’t cause domestic abuse, like the lockdowns, these tournaments can aggravate pre-existing behaviours.”
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We have removed these videos from our platform for violating our Community Guidelines. Our Community Guidelines make clear what content is allowed on TikTok, and we enforce our guidelines through a combination of technology and human moderation.”
A quick search on TikTok shows that many videos like the ones mentioned in the article still remain on the platform, often garnering thousands of likes.
Featured Image: Credit: Ian Francis / Shutterstock
If you or someone you know has been affected by this story contact Refuge on their free 24/7 helpline 0808 2000 247 or contact Rape Crisis online for a free confidential chat helpline.
The Tab’s Do Better campaign is putting a focus on the rising student sexual assault problem. Universities need to do more to support students and the culture around sexual assault needs to change.
Read more from The Tab’s Do Better campaign here:
• We asked 4,000 students about sexual assault on campus. These are the shocking results
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