`HE OWNED ME BASICALLY...'

Abstract

Many women have, at some time, been the subject of sexual harassment or abuse in their working lives. This paper explains how similar experiences also occur in sport and why they have particularly devastating consequences for girls and women. Sexual harassment and abuse arise from the culture of sport and from the opportunities for exploitation of power and authority which this affords coaches. Results from studies of personal accounts of abuse by former women athletes are presented and used to test various explanatory theories of abuse.