Sexual Violence in Children's Sport

Abstract

This chapter will address sexual violence in children’s sport, including definitions, prevalence rates, perpetrators, and methods of perpetration. Of all forms of violence in sport, sexual violence has received the most public and scholarly attention. Prevalence rates of sexual violence in sport vary widely, in part due to lack of consistent terminology, conceptualisation, and operationalisation of sexual violence. Most of the research on sexual violence has been focused on the coach-athlete relationship despite emerging research showing incidents of sexual violence between peers and teammates. The process of grooming athletes to experience sexual violence has been well-documented, although recent findings suggest that non-grooming methods of perpetrating sexual violence, including enlisting observers and perpetrating sexual violence against several participants simultaneously, needs further attention. Recommendations are made to further understand the barriers and facilitators to addressing sexual violence by sport leaders and intervening in the ongoing violence experienced through the policing of women’s bodies.