BLAMING THE VICTIM: RESISTANCE IN THE BATTLE OVER GENDER EQUITY IN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Abstract

This article examines the May 9, 1995, U.S. congressional oversight hearing of the Office of Civil Rights and its enforcement of Title IX in athletic departments. Sage's “blaming-the-victim” framework, used to study other persistent problems in intercollegiate athletics, was employed to analyze the testimony of witnesses at the hearing and position statements prepared by various men's sport associations prior to the hearing. An argument is made that the men's sport associations were successful in creating resistance to the enforcement of Title IX by convincingly representing male athletes as victims and females as victimizers prior to and during the hearings. Finally, a case is developed to suggest that long-term solutions to the problems associated with Title IX and gender equity exist only when an ideological shift occurs to allow for sport participation to be viewed as a basic human right.