Athletes’ Perceptions and Experiences of Sexual Harassment in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand the perceptionsand experiences of athletes about sexualharassment. 194 female and 178 male athletes fromdifferent sport branches (e.g. boxing, football, gymnastics,swimming, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, andvolleyball) were participated in this study. The questionnairewhich was developed by the researchers includesthe questions about knowledge for the sexualharassment behaviors, experiences and views for themeasures. Descriptive analysis and Chi-square analysiswere applied to analyze data. The findings of thestudy showed that the most rated sexual harassmentbehaviors by female athletes were asking about yoursexual life (76%), making compliments or commentabout your body (71%) and making sexist jokes (66%).Whereas the most stated sexual harassment behaviorsby male athletes were sending sexually-explicitmaterials (e.g., photo, email, SMS) (70%), repeatedunwanted sexually suggestive glances (72%), and sendingflirting request message ( 51%). In addition, 27per cent of male athletes reported that they exposed tosexual harassment mostly in the locker rooms whereas26,3 per cent of female athletes reported that they exposedto sexual harassment mostly in sport areas. Themost stated reactions to sexual harassment by sexuallyharassed female athletes were saying warnings words(24,2%), and showing no reaction (24%). However, themost stated reactions to sexual harassment by sexuallyharassed male athletes were ignore perceive joke (27%)and show physical response (11,2%). The overall findingsof this study show that some female and male athleteshave experience sexual harassment in Turkey.

Özet

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