From forced kisses to power imbalances, research suggests violence against women in sport is endemic

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From forced kisses to power imbalances, research suggests ********* against women in sport is endemic

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Former Spanish football federation chief Luis Rubiales may face significant consequences for his non-consensual kiss of

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But this is not the norm for perpetrators of gender-based ********* in sport.

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—which reviewed 25 years of studies examining women’s experiences of gender-based ********* in sport—found perpetrators are rarely held to account.

More commonly, they are free to continue abusing victims with impunity.

Even after millions of people watched Rubiales’ actions, it was obvious that

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, that powerful organizations attempted to coerce her into

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, and that it took

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standing with Hermoso to ****** back with a resounding “no.”

The shocking reality of gender-based ********* in sport

Women’s sport is championed as a platform for empowerment and equality but previous studies have shown gender-based ********* is highly prevalent,

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across psychological, physical and ******* *********, depending on how the ********* has been defined and measured.

There have been many

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and

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cases of ******, bringing to light some of the concerns about how perpetrators were able to continue their ****** for so long.

Our research systematically gathered and analyzed the collective voices of women who experienced gender-based ********* in sport to understand their experiences better and to inform future prevention and response initiatives. Participants included current and former athletes, coaches, umpires and managers.

The research found women in sport experience multiple types of ********* (*******, physical, psychological, financial), often by more than one perpetrator. Coaches or other authority figures are the most common perpetrators, followed by male athletes or members of the public.

We found a “normalization” of these violent behaviors in the sporting context; they were seen as expected and were

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in order to get results.

Beware of ‘sporting family *********’

When women do speak up and complain, our research highlighted that organizational responses are impotent at best, actively malevolent and cruel at worst.

Complaints often go nowhere, codes of conduct may not exist, and there is a strong

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because “everyone knows everyone.”

In some cases,

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and told they’d imagined the ******, a deliberate strategy by the organization to put “success” and “winning” before the safety of women.

Instead, women are left to

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by avoiding the perpetrator(s) or

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entirely.

Luis Rubiales, the former Spanish football federation chief, has been charged with one count of ******* ******** and one of coercion.

Justice is

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when women act as a group to voice their experiences and confront abusers.

Importantly, our research found the unique context of sport as an extended or surrogate family created the conditions for “sporting family *********.”

Athletes spend significant time within the sporting family unit, creating close relationships with their coach, other authority figures and teammates.

The coach as a father figure

The

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was a consistent theme across several studies, with some athletes stating the coach knew more about them than their parents.

If a coach was regarded as “the best,” often no one questioned him. This gave coaches enormous power, which they used to isolate women they abused from both the sport family and their actual family, exerting coercive control to

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Finally, our research found women are still seen as inferior to men and treated as “other” in the sporting context. Consequently, there is a hostility to women, who are perceived as a threat to the hegemonic masculinity of sport.

This was a particularly strong theme in non-traditional female sports such as judo and

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, and for women in management or

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Power is a key factor running through all our findings, and while women may be able to exercise some power through collective resistance, power often ******** with men and sports institutions that are complicit.

Initiatives to address gender-based ********* in sport must recognize the many forms of ********* women experience, and the different ways in which power and ********* play out.

Some positive signs, but much more is needed

There are some positive signs of change. A recent report into

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made several recommendations that are now being actioned.

And in the ***, laws that prohibit coaches from

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are being developed and acted upon.

Also, several collective survivor advocacy groups have been established, such as

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,

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and

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Of course, this still shows the extent of the collective voice needed to push for change.

While we applaud this and the reckoning of Rubiales’ actions, and cheer for the collective voice standing with women like Jenni Hermoso, it would be negligent to forget the many silenced women’s voices in sport who bear the brunt of ********* within a space often considered their family.

Provided by
The Conversation

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under a Creative Commons license. Read the

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Citation:
From forced kisses to power imbalances, research suggests ********* against women in sport is endemic (2024, April 16)
retrieved 16 April 2024
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