Sexual Assault and Harassment of Female College Athletes
Sexual harassment and sexual assault run rampant in Female Athletes of all ages, but incident rates in college athletics elude to a huge problem that is ignored by officials and the media. USA Today reported that 1 in 4 college athletes have experienced sexual harassment or assault by the hands of a college employee. Today there are over 110,000 female college athletes with means that over 27,500 athletes have been sexually assaulted or harassed. This number is an underestimate of the actual number of females affected because sometimes cases of assault or harassment will go unreported. Some athletes may not be aware that assault has actually taken place because they believe that the actions of the victimizer are normal. A large percentage of the cases involve medical professionals like physical therapists, team doctors, or trainers. An athlete may be unaware of assault that is occurring because the medical professional will ensure that what they are doing is necessary for their treatment. There is a lot of fear and shame surrounding assault, so the victim may not be too traumatized or ashamed to report the incident of abuse. In 2018, it was revealed that the Team USA Gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar, had been assaulting gymnasts for over 15 years. He would perform inappropriate exams that were not medically necessary and would threaten the gymnasts to keep quiet, bribe them with money, or convince the victims that the genital exams were necessary. These aspiring Olympic gymnasts did not come out about the abuse because they were afraid no one would take them seriously or it would jeopardize their lifelong dream of competing in the Olympics. Nassar assaulted 300 athletes in his career before he was stopped. Many coaches admit that they heard claims of assault from the athletes, but the coaches did not do anything to stop him because they either did not believe the claims to be true or did not want to risk losing their job by being involved in sexual assault claims. Although this specific incident occurred outside the NCAA, it is a good example because of the media coverage it drew. Similar cases are happening inside NCAA jurisdiction, but officials are trying very hard to silence the victim and sweep it under the rug.
Sexual Assault is extremely detrimental to anyone, but especially athletes that are already so pressured by society. Assault will affect an athlete for the rest of their career and their life he physical consequences of sexual assault like reproductive harm will make the athlete suffer from chronic pain, or the inability to have children. The mental harm that assault causes can end athletes’ career and force the athlete to have lifelong mental illness. In my personal experience, no coach or program has ever worked to educate me on sexual assault or harassment. This is one of the issues that causes assault to still be so prevalent today. Female athletes are not being taught to look out for abusers, or what is and is not appropriate for a trainer to do in an exam. A lot of coaches and institutions try to pretend that sexual assault does not happen, and they are not prepared to deal with any situation regarding assault and harassment. Many athletes are unaware that sexual assault and harassment are even an issue that they will be faced with because there is little to no awareness or education being provided to young girls. Survivor bias is also an issue that affects the female college athletes. They believe that it will never happen to them or that since it hasn’t happened to them it is not a big issue in society. The aforementioned shame that is associated with being a victim of abuse will also prevent young girls from being educated. Society deems sexual assault as taboo so not very many institutions will provide athletes with education or resources. This is an uncomfortable topic to discuss so many female athletes will not want to hear about it or discuss it which just prevents victims from being validated and getting the help they need.
The first step in resolving the issue of sexual assault and harassment in female college athletics is awareness and education for athletes, coaches, trainers, and anyone involved with the athletes. Removing the shame from the survivor and empowering them to share their stories is an important step. The NCAA needs to mandate an educational course be taken by athletes, coaches, trainers, etc. about the signs of assault. Athletes also need access to resources and help in case they are assaulted. The University of Virginia at Wise has just adopted the Tracy Rule that requires background checks be performed on athletes and bans athletes from participating in athletics if they have been found guilty of sexual or violent offenses. This is a major victory for the community, but colleges everywhere need to adopt this rule, or the NCAA should make this a requirement of all schools. The NCAA/college administrators also need to do a better job interviewing the candidates for positions like trainers and adopt a zero-tolerance policy on sexual assault or harassment. Another solution to this issue would be ensuring an athlete and medical professional are not left alone and to allow the athlete the option of requesting a supervised exam either with a nurse, teammate, or family member present.