Socio-cultural structures of sexual violence in sport from the perspective of survivors

In recent media discourses on sexual violence in sport, sport is often portrayed as a field of particularly favourable opportunities and specific socio-cultural conditions for the emergence of sexual violence. This presentation aims to systematically reconstruct the socio-cultural structures of sexual violence in sport from the perspective of those affected – i.e. from the perspective of victims or as we prefer to call them – survivors. The study is based on the EU-funded project VOICE, which aims at combatting sexual violence in sport through the voices of those affected and via a participative approach. A research study in seven European countries gathered the in-depth reports of 72 survivors (of which 20 interviews were led in Germany). The qualitative analysis of the interviews provides in-depth insights into the relevance of gender relations and the culture of male hegemony in sport, the culture of trust, family and loyality in sport as well as selection processes and disciplining regimes in sport. With the help of the voices of survivors, the presentation attempts to sensitise for the specific socio-cultural structures of sport which might predispose sexual violence in sport and thus need to be considered in prevention work.