Save the Girls: Exploring the Issue of Sexual Abuse Against Female Athletes
Despite passion, determination, and love for their respective sports, many female athletes unfortunately end their careers at an early age. An article by The Week points out that more than half of female athletes stop playing sports at the age of seventeen— and this statistic is largely because of sexual violence and a lack of safe spaces. Unfortunately, this isn't limited to just one sport. There are various studies included in The Week's report that outline how coaches across different sports have sexually abused young athletes.
These traumatic experiences not only affect female athletes’ performance, it can also have a negative impact on their personal lives. Therefore, it is crucial to save these girls by understanding the issue of sexual abuse against girls in sports.
The Concerning Issue of Sexual Abuse Against Female Athletes
Athletes need to have a deep level of trust in their coaches to achieve success in their sport. However, abusers may misuse this trust to take advantage of these players.
To illustrate, a review on sexual violence in sports revealed that many female athletes experienced severe forms of sexual abuse when they were children and teenagers. Unfortunately, most of the time trusted coaches were the perpetrators.
The review highlighted that one of the biggest problems in the coach-athlete relationship is the unbalanced power dynamics. Since coaches have power and influence over athletes, they exploit their authority to be able to abuse their victims. As such, it’s no surprise that the review revealed that coaches with authoritarian styles are more likely to sexually harass young athletes.
Aside from that, the review pointed out that coaches often conduct a grooming process to lure innocent individuals into abusive situations. During the grooming process, the coaches build connections with their athletes before slowly overstepping boundaries. Some of these abusers even try to gain the trust of the athletes’ parents, team members, and other coaches to build immunity against accusations. Given that the victims are young individuals, these strategies force them to become helpless against the perpetrators.
How Can We Protect Female Athletes?
Female athletes have to deal with barriers that can prevent them from pursuing long careers in their sport— including sexual abuse. Now that more athletes are pushing against these barriers, it’s important that we pursue justice for victims and protect young athletes.
Recognizing that the participation levels of girls are low in youth teams, the Women’s Sports Foundation is urging institutions to improve their staff and their protocols. The foundation states that administrators must be proactive at the grassroots level by assessing their programs and improving athletes’ protection.
Because these traumatic experiences continue to happen to numerous female athletes, sports administrators must coordinate with criminal justice professionals as they can bring abusers to justice and support girls during investigations. Through their training, police officers and criminal investigators can assist female athletes in seeking justice, as well as prevent further victims. Creating a comprehensive protocol against abusers in partnership with law enforcement means sports teams can provide a safer environment for girls.
On top of that, local citizens can further protect women and girls in sports by contacting lawmakers in their area. By engaging with lawmakers, you can encourage them to sponsor bills that protect the rights of female athletes like the Save Girls’ Sports Act. Emphasizing the importance of these bills to lawmakers can put an end to gender discrimination, and protect girls from potential abuse.
Just one instance of sexual abuse is already one too many. Now that several prominent female athletes are voicing out their experiences, it's important to improve sports team practices across the country and to push for legislation that can prevent sexual abuse from ever happening again.
Specially written for WomensLiberationFront.org
By: Raizel Jillian
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