An Eliasian analysis of students’ views on guidelines against sexual harassment and abuse in sport

Abstract

This article explores an important measure in current prevention policies in sport: guidelines against sexual harassment and abuse. Because little is known about how people involved in sport understand and relate to such guidelines, it fills a gap in current research on sexual harassment and abuse prevention in sport. We draw on ‘video elicitation’ focus group interviews with sport students in Norway. Our analysis is guided by Norbert Elias's sociology of knowledge and particularly his concept of ‘degrees of involvement and detachment’. First, we found that the students had limited knowledge about the sexual harassment and abuse guidelines. Second, we saw how their discussions alternated between different positions when reflecting upon the guidelines’ usefulness. From a relatively detached position, the students supported the general idea of guidelines. From the more involved position they voiced concern related to conduct regulations that conflicted with valued aspects of sport practice and mentioned problematic aspects of sport culture that the guidelines do not target. In a blend of involvement and detachment, the students drew on their sport experiences to reflect critically on both the potentials and limitations of the sexual harassment and abuse guidelines. Finally, we draw some implications of the analysis for the improvement of prevention work.

Sexual Harassment or Just Coaching? Sport Students Making Sense of Possibly Sexualising Coach Behaviours

“…The discussion in the interviews was nuanced and revolved around several topicsamong them, coach-athlete sexual relations (Stefansen et al 2019), guidelines against sexual harassment and abuse in sport (Solstad et al 2021), and how the ages of the athlete and the coach influence the evoked scripts.…”

“…As part of the interviews, the students watched four short video vignettes involving a coach (about 25-26 years old) and an athlete (about 20 years old) in situations that could or could not be interpreted as having a sexual or intimate dimension. The vignettes are part of a series of short videos entitled 'The coach's responsibility', which were originally produced by The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports to spark debate among athletes about grey area situations (see Solstad et al 2021). 4 Hence, it suited our purpose well.…”

“…Our data come from a focus group study among first-year bachelor-level sport students (Stefansen et al 2019;Solstad et al 2021). Along with a broad range of topics from physiology, coaching, sociology and history, the study programme they attended included (but had, at the time of the interviews, not yet covered) sexual harassment and abuse.…”

“…We considered them a particularly suitable group for this study since they, as young adults and students, were well-positioned to reflect on grey areas in sport as insiders to contemporary sport cultures. It is worth noting that the students had been active in sport at a time when sexual harassment was receiving increased attention within the sport community both in Norway (Solstad et al 2021) and internationally (Rhind and Owusu-Sekyere 2018). Still, as shown by Solstad et al (2021), they were generally unaware of the mandatory guidelines against SHA in Norwegian sports organisations that were issued in 2010 (Fasting and Sand 2014).…”