- Montse Martín is a professor of a sports career at the University of Vic of Catalonia. Organized by the University of the Basque Country, he has offered a talk in Donostia-San Sebastián on April 6. Research is being carried out at European level, in cooperation with universities and sports agents from five other European countries. This is the title of the research: Prevalence and characteristics of different violence against minors in sport. He explained that a piece of information has taken them very surprisingly: in sport, the boys bear more all kinds of violence than the girls. "We didn't expect more boys than those who are sexually assaulted, but we expected very similar numbers, which could have increased. This is associated with a lower level of protection, that is to say that in the top positions of sport there are men and boys are not offered much protection, thinking socially that being of the same sex they can do nothing. We have forgotten to protect children from this perspective," he said.
Here you can read the summary of the Montse Martí conference on European research (in this article). In this article, we collect the data that they have gathered around the gender variable:
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Psychological violence: 66% of girls and 72% of boys have suffered it.
Physical violence: 36% of girls and 50% of boys.
Negligence: 27% girls and 41% boys.
Non-contact sexual violence: 33% girls and 39% boys.
Sexual violence with contact: 14% of girls and 26% of boys.
Montse Martín recognizes that these results have caused them curiosity: “It encourages us to investigate, as it is an innovative fact that in the sports field boys have suffered more violence than girls. In physical violence the differences are more evident than in psychological violence, it is easier to physically clap a boy in sport (by running ten rounds in the field, for example) than a girl. We didn't expect boys to be more sexually assaulted, but we expected them to be very similar numbers. This is associated with a lower level of protection, that is to say that in the top positions of sport there are men and boys are not offered much protection, thinking socially that being of the same sex they can do nothing. We forget to protect children with this approach. If there is such symbolism in girls, in families and in society, ‘it can happen’, without looking at the boys: How is your coach going to rape you? It’s impossible!’ When preparing prevention work, we must take this into account.”
Below shows the figures of violence suffered in the Spanish State, by gender, outside of sport and within sport, and are very significant:
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Girls have experienced more psychological violence outside sport (76%) than inside sport (66%). And what to say about non-contact sexual violence: 66% of girls have suffered violence outside of sport, compared with 33% who have suffered it in sport. As in the case of sexual violence with contact, girls have experienced more violence outside of sport than in sports: 37% for non-sports and 14% for sports. Montse Martín is surprised by: “36% of men have experienced sexual violence with contact outside the sport, very similar to the number of girls (36%). On the contrary, we went to the sports area, where 26% of the boys suffered, compared to 14% of the girls. What does this mean? That sport protects girls more from sexual violence than boys. In other words, as a child, you are more at risk of sexual violence outside the sporting sphere than within the sport”.