Stopping abuse and harassment in sport - PowerPoint Presentation

Stopping abuse and harassment in sport Dr. Sandra Kirby Professor Emerita University of Winnipeg March 20, 2019

Who am I? sport scientist for athlete safeguarding Safe Sport International (SSI) Founding Board Olympian Researcher in safe sport since 1993 IOC Consensus Statement developments (2005-2016) UNICEF - violence against children publications First national study in the world on sh /a in high performance sport and first book. Many publications

The Long Goal? So all can participate in a respectful and equitable sport environment free from all forms of violence So all participants have a positive, enabling, safe and joyful experience in sport

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children” -Nelson Mandela

Overview 1. Give a brief overview of the field 2. Provide definitions and their contexts in sport 3. Present baseline data – what we know from the research 4. Where do we go from here? Safe Sport:

Overview 2. Sport is -vehicle for holistic growth and dev.; enjoyment and fulfillment -where the children are – in every country -important to the building of cultures, of nations -sport is important to the ethos and future of Canada -home to many cases of abuse of athletes, including sexual abuse -where sport related efforts and initiatives fragmented, piece-meal and uncoordinated (  redundancy and cross-purpose; less scrutiny) -may have a privileged status  and escape the common scrutiny Why sport?

Overview 1. Who is more at risk? Starting with the human rights perspective UN Declaration on Human Rights +++++ and Canada as signatory e.g. Child rights in sport linked to child rights in other domains UNCRC 1989 e.g. the Girl Child (1995) e.g. UNCRP with Disabilities e.g. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms – the law Sport in Canada – our stated values Starting on principles

Who is at risk? All ages and types are susceptible to intended harm in sport – but especially: Elite athletes Child athletes; particularly the girl child Para athletes LGBT+ athletes Indigenous athletes Economically, geographically, linguistically, ethnically etc. marginalized * Note: overlapping categories

Adults also at risk Vulnerability is seen as situational and not explicitly that of an individual Self-neglect Domestic abuse Discriminatory Organisational Physical Sexual Financial/material Neglect and acts of omission Emotional or psychological (Reference, UK legislation, the Care Act 2014)

2. Definitions: what harm? The IOC Consensus Statement: harassment and abuse (non-accidental violence) in sport 2016 (Canadians  Kirby, Mountjoy ) Psychological– THE gateway to non-accidental violence  in tended harms Non-sexual and gender harassment – e.g. Pasternak twins… Sexual harassment and abuse Racial and homophobic discrimination Physical abuse & forced exertion (physical, deprivation, dangerous training) Neglect Interpersonal violence – bullying and hazing Disordered eating Self-harm 2. Definitions: what harm?

Safe Sport definitions: BJSports-2016-Sept-50-17-1010-F1

3 more terms Gender-based violence  Abuse of power and control over another person based upon their gender identity, gender expression or perceived gender The Government of Canada’s  It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence (2017) laid our foundation to build upon existing efforts and sets a direction for further research and practice.  Non-accidental harm  perpetrated against athletes knowingly or deliberately or negligently (Brackenridge, 2016:3) Runs counter to successful athletic performance Maltreatment  Volitional acts that have the potential to result in harm Intent of the perpetrator is irrelevant in all cases

3. Baseline data 22.8% high performance athletes had sexual intercourse with persons in authority over them in sport (Kirby) 2-8% of children in sport are victims of sexual abuse (Parent) 81% of 10,000 participants experienced homophobia in sport (7 countries); verbal (13-16%), physical (13-23%), 86-89% LGBT* closeted; unsafe 70% (with Kirby, Demers expert panel) 65-85% Canadian athletes experience psychologically abusive coaching practices (Kerr & Stirling) In Canada, Indigenous students in Residential Schools (Truth and Reconciliation report, Canada) – levels unknown Disabled 31% vs 9% non-disabled children victimized (about 4x) (Sullivan & Knutson)

Recent data from Belgium [ Vertommen et al ., 2015] Type of IV TOTAL SAMPLE % N = 4043 ETHNIC MINORITY % N=334 LGB ATHLETES % N=308 ELITE ATHLETES % N = 112 DISABLED ATHLETES % N=183 Psychological Moderate or severe experiences 26,1 24,834,6*42,0*41,6*PhysicalModerate or severe experiences10,216,4*18,2*23,2*30,3*SexualModerate or severe experiences12,817,6*24,4*25,9*31,4*

Stage of Imminent Achievement: Brackenridge and Kirby

The child athlete Exposure to sexual violence - 29% - 51% all athletes experience unwanted sexual comments/advances (CAN figures 2000; NOR figures 2002) 8.6% athletes sexually assaulted under age 16 (CAN 2000) – rates 2-20% (Brackenridge et al 2008)

The athletes with impairments Psychological abuse: 49.7% (all – 32.4%) Physical harm: 32.4% (all -11.3%) Sexual harm: 33.5% (all 14.3%) ( Vertommen et al 2016); Yetsa /Kirby et al 2019) Exclusions and discriminations in sport (Hargreaves, 2000)

Para athletes NOTE: Higher status in sport, than outside sport Bullying behaviours by peer athletes (social exclusion, body talk, ‘you are worthless’) -tend to “internalize pain … self blame” -intellectually and dev. impaired athletes’ desire for friendship is greater so athletes would complain less -large proportion visually impaired athletes report having been bullied –  verbal attacks, low supervision areas -may initiate fights to become bully (v  bully, as a defence )

Canada - Manitoba In Canada – CBC cases athletes under 18 340 coaches  600 athletes; 222 convictions (213 men; 9 women) Sports ---most sports which serve youth, many involve schools “coaches” or “teacher/coaches” Manitoba works hard on safe sport! Manitoba - 10 cases: 6 convictions, 1 pending In Sport Manitoba Support Line (Dec 2015 – Dec 2018) 142 complaint-based calls/ +11 e-mails Verbal/emotional maltreatment by coach of youth athlete 30% Bullying/peer harassment 25% Team selection/playing time 16% Adult bullying 9% Hazing 5% Spectator abuse/harassment 4% Other 4.5%