The Dimension of Child Sexual Abuse in Sports in Turkey

Abstract

This study examines individuals who do elite-level sports sexual abuse experiences in childhood. A questionnaire, a quantitative data collection technique, was used in the research. In addition to the questions with demographic information, sexual abuse questions were asked to reveal the experienced abuse. A total of 206 people, 82 men and 124 women, were included in the study, in which the sample group consisted of people doing sports at the elite level. According to the obtained data, 33.5% of the participants were exposed to at least one type of sexual abuse. Female athletes (43.5%) experienced more abuse than male athletes (18.3%). In the study, it was determined that the most common forms of abuse that children are exposed to are "sexual comments about appearance or body", "troubling snuggling/contact" and "receiving sexual messages/e-mails/letters". It has been observed that child athletes who do individual sports are exposed to more abuse than team sports. "Older athletes" and "coaches" were ranked the highest when asked who the perpetrator was. Additionally, they were asked whether they shared the abuse they experienced, and most participants (66.7%) declared that they did not share their experiences with anyone. As a result, the data obtained from the study show that sexual abuse in sports poses a threat to children and child protection initiatives should be developed for children to do sports safely.

Keywords

• sexual abuse
• sexual abuse in sport
• sexual violence

Türkiye’de Çocuk Cinsel İstismarının Spor Kurumundaki Boyutu

Abstract

Çalışmanın amacı; Türkiye’de elit düzeyde spor yapan bireylerin çocukluk döneminde maruz kaldıkları cinsel istismarı incelemektir. Araştırmada, nicel veri toplama tekniği olan anket kullanılmıştır. Ankette, demografik bilgiler ile birlikte, cinsel istismara maruz kalıp kalmadıklarına ilişkin sorular sorulmuştur. Örneklem grubunun elit düzeyde spor yapan kişilerden oluştuğu çalışmaya, 82’si erkek, 124’ü kadın olmak üzere toplam 206 kişi dâhil olmuştur. Elde edilen verilere göre katılımcıların %33,5’i, çocukluk döneminde cinsel istismara maruz kalmıştır. Kadınlar (%43,5), erkek (18,3) sporculara göre daha fazla istismar edilmiştir. Çalışmada, çocukluk döneminde en fazla maruz kaldıkları istismar türünün "görünüş ya da beden ile ilgili cinsel yorumlar", "rahatsız edici düzeyde sokulma/temas" ve "cinsel içerikli mesaj/e-mail/mektup alma" olduğu belirlenmiştir. Yine bireysel spor yapan sporcular, takım sporları yapan sporculara göre daha fazla istismara maruz kaldıklarını bildirmiştir. Failin kim olduğu sorularında, “yaşça büyük sporcular” ve “antrenörler”in ilk iki sırada olduğu tespit edilmiştir. İstismar edildiklerini biri ya da birileriyle paylaşıp paylaşmadıkları sorusuna, katılımcıların büyük bir kısmı (% 66,7), kimse ile paylaşmadıkları cevabını vermiştir. Sonuç olarak çalışmadan elde edilen veriler, spordaki cinsel istismarın çocuklar için tehdit oluşturduğunu ve çocukların güven içinde spor yapmaları için çocuk koruma mekanizmalarının geliştirilmesi gerektiğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

• Cinsel istismar
• cinsel şiddet
• sporda cinsel istismar

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