Moana Hope has revealed she was the target of a homophobic slur from a recently retired AFLW player.
The former footballer said the hurtful message was sent to her on Instagram when it appeared to be intended for someone else. She has since reported it after outting the incident to her social media followers.
“I didn’t think homophobia had a place in AFLW, but apparently I was wrong,’’ Hope said.
“A player and someone who is connected to a Victorian AFLW club thought it was appropriate to share this photo with a homophobic caption and laughing emojis.
“So in light of that behaviour, I figured I’d put it on the grid myself. If they’re going to share my photos, it might as well assist with my Instagram numbers and views.
“On a serious note, I am reporting her. There is no place for homophobia in this world. Gay love is love and there (is) nothing wrong with being gay and being exactly who you are.”
Hope elaborated that when she replied to the woman she deleted the message.
She said it related to slurs she receives almost daily — about being more masculine.
“What I am going to tell you is what was said to me,’’ Hope said on her Instagram stories.
“The reason why, is if this girl messaged me last night and said I F…ed up and I did something I shouldn’t have done, it was hurtful, disgusting, I am completely utterly sorry and I’ll do the work. I would have on my kids life deleted all the posts.
“Instead she doubled down on it.
“When I played AFLW even up to this point of my life there were two main sledges, I get this stuff almost every day, I’m just really good at blocking and deleting it now. I’ve been in media long enough to know how to deal with it and protect my mental health.
“The fact that I’m a woman. Get back in the kitchen, you need to get a penis in you, you need to retract back to the woman’s role and that’s not footy.
“That’s one and the other thing is anything and everything with me being a lesbian, with me loving women, having been with women and me having brought kids into this world as a gay woman.
“I’m not sexist but 99 per cent of the time it’s from men. This is the first time it’s been from a woman.”