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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport

Exposing the issue of rampant abuse that happens regularly in Canadian sports organizations.

Sexual assault by and against Canadian athletes happens with alarming regularity, with only a few high-profile cases garnering media attention. Through a detailed examination of more than three hundred cases appearing in news media and legal files across Canada from 1990 to 2020, Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport uncovers an enduring institutional tolerance of sexual assault and the betrayal many victims experience by those same institutions. Curtis Fogel and Andrea Quinlan argue that both the Canadian sports system and the criminal justice system have failed to ensure victims’ safety and often undermine sexual assault prevention and trauma-informed care. Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport opens new avenues for critical dialogue about sport, law, masculinities, and gender-based violence. Crucially, it also offers constructive strategies to increase safety in sports.

248 pages | 14 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2023

Law and Legal Studies: Law and Society

Sociology: Sociology of Arts--Leisure, Sports

Sport and Recreation


Reviews

"Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport is an excellent overview of the organizational and legal response to sexual abuse in sport, denying leaders the opportunity to ignore the issue based on ignorance. It provides an excellent factual and analytical discussion of a critical social issue that has been silenced, and thus tolerated, for decades."

Margery Holman, coeditor of Making the Team: Inside the World of Sport Initiations and Hazing

"If you are interested in safe sport, read this book. Fogel and Quinlan capture, as no others have, the painful dynamic in sexual assault cases between sport organizations in Canada and our criminal justice system - one that leaves the athletes at the heart of sexual abuse alone and unserved by either. The broad reach of the research, through decades of cases of sexual abuse on or by athletes, allows the reader to clearly see the trajectory of sport organizations’ responses, from early concern and good intention of the 1990s to later protectionist, bureaucratic positions that sport organizations have taken over the well-being of the athletes harmed. It is the story of patterns of abuse continually emerging only to then be pushed under the 'insensitive' system responses."

Sandra Kirby, coauthor of The Dome of Silence: Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport

Table of Contents

1 Sport, Sexual Assault, and the Law: An Introduction

2 Athlete-Perpetrated Sexual Assault: Misogyny, White Male Privilege, and Entitlement in Competitive Men’s Sport

3 Group Sexual Assault: A Theatre for Performing Violent Masculinities

4 Sexually Violent Hazing: Power, Humiliation, and Group Dominance Bonding

5 Sexual Exploitation by Authority Figures: Institutional Tolerance and Betrayal within the Canadian Sport System

6 Breaking the Cycle of Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport

Appendix A: Reports of Athlete-Perpetrated Sexual Assault

Appendix B: Reports of Athlete-Perpetrated Group Sexual Assault

Appendix C: Reports of Sexually Violent Hazing

Appendix D: Reports of Sexual Assaults Involving Authority Figures in Sport

Notes; References; Index

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