Women under the dome of silence: sexual harassment and abuse of female athletes

Sexual harassment and abuse in sport is a significant and often hidden problem for female athletes. Sport remains a complex cultural phenomenon and, in an effort to understand the nature and scope of the problem of sexual harassment and abuse, it has been necessary for researchers to consider "not just the athlete and her coach but also sport organizations, the police, child protection and legal agencies, other coaches, peer athletes, siblings and parents" (Brackenridge 2001:44). The research started with Crosset's study on male coach/female athlete relationships and Brackenridge's (1986) article on codes of practice for coaches. By 2001, some 26 pieces of research had been completed by 33 different researchers in eight countries and WomenSport International had formed a Task Force of Sexual Harassment in Sport to inform governments and sport practitioners around the world. Canadian researchers such as Lenskyj, Holman, Kirby and Greaves, Kirby, Greaves and Hankivsky, and Donnelly figure prominently among them.

Research findings reveal consistancy on four points. First, they all agree that sexual harassment and abuse affects significantly more female athletes than male athletes and that for male athletes, there is even more of a problem of under reporting than for the female athletes. Second, all agree that like sexual abuse in other institutions, sexual harassment and abuse is debilitating, shaming, isolating and traumatic to its victims (Kirby et al.). Third, all agree that athletes do not know what to do about abuse they experience and, if they do lay a complaint, are unlikely to be satisfied with the outcomes or with the penalties for the abuser. And fourth, all agree that sport organizations and practitioners are not doing enough to identify the problem areas and people and to protect their participants from harassment and abuse. With those results in mind, we argue here that a "dome of silence" exists to keep athletes complacent in sport and that seven imperatives (patriotism/nationalism, militarism, competition, media sport, the work ethic, heterosexism/hypersexuality and familism) dictate the shape and strength of that "dome of silence."(1)

The experience of female athletes

In the original survey of 1200 Canadian national team athletes (Kirby and Greaves), the authors addressed four questions about sexual harassment and abuse: did athletes think these were important issues; what had athletes seen and...