GENDER AND CULTURAL BIAS IN PERCEPTIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SPORT

Definitions of sexual harassment in sport are more problematic than in other social settings, as sport naturally requires more physical contact, and traditionally legitimizes male domination. This study examines perceptions of what is considered sexual harassment of female athletes by male coaches, treating them as cultural phenomena related to gender and to the society in which it is examined. The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine which coach behaviors are perceived as sexual harassment by student-athletes in Israel; (2) to examine whether these perceptions are similar to, or different from, perceptions of Israeli coaches on the one hand, and American student-athletes on the other hand; (3) to assess the harassment incidence in the lives of Israeli student-athletes. The survey sample included 301 female students and 75 coaches from the College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences and from the Coaching School at the Wingate Institute, Israel. Participants answered a 27-item questionnaire (adapted from Volkwein et al., 1997), describing various coach behaviors, marking to what degree they perceive each behavior as potential harassment. In addition, student-athletes were asked to mark how often they experienced such behaviors, and to report whether or not they were personally harassed. A factor analysis of the 27 items identified four factors: verbal or physical advances, non-instructional/potentially threatening behavior, sexist behavior, and instruction-related behavior. Statistically significant differences were found between coaches and female student-athletes in the degree of severity in which they relate to the behaviors in the first factor. Israeli student-athletes have stricter standards compared to American students in their perceptions of sexual harassment in sport. Harassment experiences related to sport were reported by 14 percent of the respondents.