This project investigates gender-based disparities in public sentiment toward professional athletes by analyzing social media content from X (formerly Twitter). This study aims to explore how gender influences public perception of athletes, focusing on the highest-paid male and female athletes across five major sports—basketball, hockey, golf, tennis, and soccer. Using a sentiment analysis framework, lexicon-based tools (AFINN, Bing, NRC), VADER sentiment intensity analysis, and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling were employed to assess emotional tone, sentiment polarity, and thematic patterns in posts.  

The research revealed significant gender-based differences in sentiment. Male athletes were more often associated with positive sentiment and achievement-oriented narratives, while female athletes experienced heightened scrutiny and emotionally charged reactions, including sadness and anger. Temporal trends showed that sentiment toward female athletes was more volatile and event-driven, contrasting with the steady patterns observed for male athletes. A chi-square test confirmed the statistical significance of these disparities, emphasizing the influence of societal biases in shaping public discourse. 

By combining sentiment analysis with statistical validation, this study contributes to understanding gender dynamics in sports representation and provides actionable insights for addressing biases in public sentiment. These findings underscore the importance of equitable representation for female athletes in digital and cultural narratives. The project offers practical recommendations for sports organizations, marketers, and athletes to promote inclusivity and fairness in social media engagement, ultimately advancing the conversation on gender equity in sports.