Sexual Abuse In Sport

This book is about sexual abuse in sport, and specifically about one girl’s experience of long-term chronic abuse in sport. A ‘non-conventional’ approach is employed to explore the experiences of a female athlete named Bella who was groomed, sexually abused by her male coach, and then subjected to years of athlete domestic violence. Through a collaborative auto-ethnography process, these experiences are reported through vignettes and selected poems seeking to involve the reader in the grooming process of a young female athlete, so that they might react from the different social positions they currently occupy. Bella’s story acts as a pedagogical resource in ways that stimulate ethical discussions and enhance knowledge of sexual abuse in sport, by assisting those involved to better understand their own ‘field’ and the dynamics of abuse within it, in order to develop effective abuse prevention strategies.

This book frames the issue of sexual harassment and abuse in sports within the context of existing research on sexual violence and within the ethic of care, a direction the authors believe sport organizations should adopt. This book investigates sexual violence in sport and examines its underlying values. This is carried out in the context of contemporary experiences of a number of athletes. Issues covered include the emphasis on competition, compulsory heterosexuality, and patriotism.

Cases of sport-related child sexual abuse have received increasing news coverage in recent years. This book documents and evaluates this important issue through a critical investigation of the research and theory on sexual violence and child sex offending that has emerged over the past thirty years. Based on life-history interviews with male and female ‘survivors’ of child sexual abuse in sport, this text offers a deeper appreciation for the experiences of those who are sexually victimized within sports and school-sport settings. Drawing on a wide range of sources, it also provides a new theoretical framework through which child sexual abuse in sport may be explored. Offering a critique spanning psychology, sociology and criminology, this book challenges existing theories of sex offending while advocating an alternative epistemology to help better understand and address this social problem. Presenting an original sociological approach to this field of study, Sexual Abuse in Youth Sport is important reading for any researcher, policy-maker or practitioner working in youth sport, physical education, sports coaching, sport policy, child protection or social work.

Sexual Misconduct in any environment is a gross abuse of trust and this is no different within the sport world. Examining and Mitigating Sexual Misconduct in Sport outlines systemic and sociological explanations for why sport is a site of sexual misconduct. The authors in the text describe cultural realities and considerations sport stakeholders must acknowledge and be informed of to make sport a more equitable and safe space. Personal narratives from a variety of sport stakeholders, which unveil their lived experiences of sexual misconduct and humanize survivor stories in ways often ignored in sport and society, are shared. Authors offer recommendations to all sport stakeholders to mitigate incidents of and harm done by sexual misconduct. Guidelines and suggestions for sport stakeholder practices that better protect individuals in sport, address sexual misconduct when it occurs, and mitigate the harm and trauma experienced because of incidents of sexual misconduct are also examined and provided. This book is the first text of its kind to invite sport stakeholders to have open, vulnerable, and honest discussions around a timely topic often minimized, denied and/or ignored in sport. A ground-breaking new book, Examining and Mitigating Sexual Misconduct in Sport is key reading for any sport coach, sport parent, sport psychology professional, or sport administrator.

"This work looks to increase awareness of sexual abuse in sports. Topics covered include the experiences of elite female athletes, sexual harassment of women in athletics as compared to the world of academia, the prevalence of sexual abuse in organized competitive sports in Australia, and defining appropriateness in coach-athlete sexual relationships." --Independant Publishers.

The safeguarding of children and young people participating in sport has become an increasingly prominent concern in policy-making and research communities around the world. Major organisations such as the IOC and UNICEF now officially recognize that children in sport can be at risk of exploitation and abuse, and this concern has led to the emergence of new initiatives and policies aimed at protecting vulnerable young people and athletes. This book is the first to comprehensively review contemporary developments in child protection and safeguarding in sport on a global level. The book is divided into two parts. Part One critically analyses current child protection and safeguarding policy and practice in sport across a range of countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, China and Germany, providing a global context for current policy and practice. This represents the most comprehensive review to date of the landscape of child protection and safeguarding in sport and provides a starting point for critical international comparisons. Part Two explores a range of issues related to child protection and safeguarding in sport, including many not covered in previous books, such as emotional abuse, injury and over-training. While in many instances the impetus for policy in this area has arisen from concerns about sexual abuse, the second part of this book therefore opens up a broader, more holistic approach to child and athlete welfare. By bringing together many of the leading researchers working in child and athlete protection in sport from around the world, this book is important reading for all advanced students, researchers, policy-makers or practitioners working in youth sport, physical education, sports coaching, coach education or child protection.

"This work looks to increase awareness of sexual abuse in sports. Topics covered include the experiences of elite female athletes, sexual harassment of women in athletics as compared to the world of academia, the prevalence of sexual abuse in organized competitive sports in Australia, and defining appropriateness in coach-athlete sexual relationships." --Independant Publishers.

This text provides an overview of all sorts of behaviour related to sexual harassment, its impact on the world of sport and on the participants. It answers questions raised by health and physical education students, athletes and sport personnel.