Part 3 GLOBAL ISSUES: HARASSMENT AND ABUSE RESEARCH

As mentioned in the introduction we also have another sport study that
surveys the participants’ experiences with sexual harassment. This is a
comparative study among female sport students in three different countries:
Czech Republic, Greece and Norway. ix The goal of the research project has
been formulated as follows: to develop knowledge about the influence and the
meaning of gender relations in the lives of female sport students. Women who
at the time of data collection were studying in sport departments of academic
institutions participated in this study. The total number of participants was
616, all of whom had to answer the same questionnaire. In the Czech
Republic and Greece the students were recruited from the universities where
it is possible to study sports. The participants from Norway were recruited
from four colleges. Ages ranged from 17 to 45 years with a mean of 21.75.
With the exception of seven individuals, the participants reported that they
exercised regularly. In addition to this sample, 10 Norwegian sport students
who have been harassed by their coach have been interviewed. The results
from this part of the study have not yet been analyzed.
To avoid the different opinions about what sexual harassment constitutes,
the students were asked if they ever had experienced the following situations:
a) Unwanted physical contact, body contact (for example
pinching, hugging, fondling, being kissed against your will,
etc).
b) Repeated unwanted sexually suggestive glances, comments,
teasing and jokes, about your body, your clothes, your private
life, etc.
c) Ridiculing of your sport performance and of you as an athlete
because of your gender or your sexuality (for example ‘Soccer
is not suitable for girls’).
For each of these questions, the participants were asked to mark whether
they had experienced it from a male or female coach, a male or female peerathlete,
a male or female member of the sport management team, a male or
female teacher, a male or female peer-student, a male or female family
member, and/or from other males or females outside sport/family.
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