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Contrasts the respective approaches of a contributor, Michael Burke to two moral issues in sport. Information on coach-athlete sex exploitation; The incongruity in an article on boxing.

The study investigates whether sport is an especially risky environment for sexual harassment to occur. It explores female students’ experiences of sexual harassment in organized sport and compares them with their experiences in formal education, by addressing the following research questions: (1) Are there any differences in female sport students’ experiences of sexual harassment in sport and education? (2) Are there any differences in female sport students’ experiences of sexual harassment from coaches and teachers? (3) Are there any differences in female sport students’ experiences from peer students and peer athletes? A total of 616 female students from three different European countries, Czech Republic, Greece and Norway, answered a questionnaire. The results revealed that the students had experienced more sexual harassment in an educational setting than in a sport setting. Further analysis showed that this was primarily due to sexual harassment from peers in school. In Greece and Norway, there was no difference between occurrences from teachers and coaches, yet in Czech Republic coaches appear to harass more than teachers. The difference between sexual harassment occurring from peers in sport and in education is discussed in relation to whether the sense of belonging/camaraderie that a sport club member may experience might function as a barrier for sexual harassment to occur—because it embarrasses or hurts a teammate. In addition, sport clubs and teams are governed by their respective sport rules and possibly by additional club/team rules, which may also establish extra inside-club/team boundaries for acceptable and nonacceptable/harassing behaviors. This article concludes that greater emphasis ought to be placed on education; not only toward shaping safer teacher/coach behaviors, but also toward the student/athlete behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the perceptions and the occurrence of sexual harassment among male student athletes with male coaches. Most research in this field of study has been conducted from a male perpetrator-female victim paradigm and has thus been biased towards the study of female student athletes with male coaches. A sample of 98 male student athletes from an inner city university in the Johannesburg area participated in the study. They were asked to indicate their perception of the seriousness and acceptability of specific coach behaviour and how often such behaviour occurred. Through factor analysis four categories of coach behaviour were identified, namely Unwanted sexual behaviour, Physical and verbal behaviour with a sexual undertone, Sexist and discriminatory behaviour, and Acceptable behaviour. The results from the factor analysis indicated that the male student athletes clearly differentiate between coach behaviour that is very serious and unacceptable, or not. One in five of the participants reported that they experienced unwanted sexual behaviour, while two out of five reported the occurrence of unacceptable physical and verbal behaviour with a sexual undertone. The results suggested that the gender bias in sexual abuse research might not be justified anymore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a review of essays including "Spoilsports: Understanding and preventing sexual exploitation in sport," "The Dome of Silence: Sexual harassment and abuse in sport," and "Sexual Harassment in Sports: Issues, impact, and challenges." The author declares that the three essays provide empirical evidences of sexual abuse in sport especially in women. It reveals that sexual exploitation involves discrimination, harassment and abuse. The essays question the role attribution that cultures confer on coaches. They emphasize the necessity of effective implementation of policies concerning sexual abuse in sport.

Sexual harassment at institutions of higher learning is not a new phenomenon but discussions of this problem in the sporting arena are still scarce. Many studies have focused on student-teacher relationships, few investigations have researched athlete-coach relationships, and hardly any have conducted comparative analyses. This study compares the perceptions and the experiences of sexual harassment of athletes and students. It is not a surprise that most harassing behaviors are ext ended from men towards women. Thus, this investigation analyses and compares female student/male teacher interactions with female athlete/male coach relations. The findings indicate that sexual harassment is slightly more prevalent in academia than in athletics. However, in order to guarantee a safe learning environment for all participants in both domains, it is necessary to formulate clear guidelines, to set up educational workshops and to implement intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual harassment research was first undertaken in the workplace and educational settings. Research on sexual harassment in sport is scarce but has grown steadily since the mid-1980s. Even so, very little is known about the causes and/or characteristics and/or consequences of sexual harassment in sport settings. This article reports on the findings from interviews with 25 elite female athletes in Norway who indicated in a prior survey (n = 572) that they had experienced sexual harassment from someone in sport. The consequences of the incidents of sexual harassment that were reported were mostly negative, but some also reported that their experiences of sexual harassment had had no consequences for them. Thinking about the incidents', a 'destroyed relationship with the coach', and 'a more negative view of men in general' were the most often negative consequences mentioned. In addition, a surprising number had chosen to move to a different sport or to drop out of elite sport altogether because of the harassment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definitions of sexual harassment in sport are more problematic than in other social settings, as sport naturally requires more physical contact, and traditionally legitimizes male domination. This study examines perceptions of what is considered sexual harassment of female athletes by male coaches, treating them as cultural phenomena related to gender and to the society in which it is examined. The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine which coach behaviors are perceived as sexual harassment by student-athletes in Israel; (2) to examine whether these perceptions are similar to, or different from, perceptions of Israeli coaches on the one hand, and American student-athletes on the other hand; (3) to assess the harassment incidence in the lives of Israeli student-athletes. The survey sample included 301 female students and 75 coaches from the College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences and from the Coaching School at the Wingate Institute, Israel. Participants answered a 27-item questionnaire (adapted from Volkwein et al., 1997), describing various coach behaviors, marking to what degree they perceive each behavior as potential harassment. In addition, student-athletes were asked to mark how often they experienced such behaviors, and to report whether or not they were personally harassed. A factor analysis of the 27 items identified four factors: verbal or physical advances, non-instructional/potentially threatening behavior, sexist behavior, and instruction-related behavior. Statistically significant differences were found between coaches and female student-athletes in the degree of severity in which they relate to the behaviors in the first factor. Israeli student-athletes have stricter standards compared to American students in their perceptions of sexual harassment in sport. Harassment experiences related to sport were reported by 14 percent of the respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual harassment at institutions of higher learning is not a new phenomenon, but discussions of this problem in the sporting arena and in related research are still scarce. Most studies have focused on student-instructor relationships, while few analyses have analysed coach-athlete relationships. This study examines American female college athletes' experiences with, and emotional responses to, sexual harassment in sport by coaches. The findings clearly demonstrate that the athletic world does not differ with regard to occunences of sexual harassment compared to other social domains. Thus, in order to guarantee a safe learning environment in athletics for all participants, it is necessary to formulate clear guidelines, set up educational workshops and implement intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]