Prevalence of Sexual Harassment among Norwegian Female Elite Athletes Inrelation to Sport Type

Abstract

Although it is often assumed that the prevalence of sexual harassment is different indifferent sports, the assumption has not been empirically tested. This study considers whether the experience of sexual harassment varies by sport. The female elite athletes ( N = 553) in the study participated in 56 different sport disciplines. These were grouped as: 1) team or individual sports; 2) extent to which clothing required for competition is revealing; 3) gender structure (male- or female-dominated membership statistics); and 4) gender culture (masculine, gender-neutral or feminine). The data show that sexual harassment occurs in every sport group. Female elite athletes who participated in ‘masculine’ sports appear to experience more harassment than women in the other groups. We conclude that, when it comes to female athletes’ experiences of sexual harassment, sport type matters far less than sport participation per se.