Sexual assault by and against athletes is a pervasive and long-standing problem in Canada, but reports are commonly minimized, doubted, and dismissed by sport administrators, police, and judges. Through a detailed examination of over 300 cases appearing in news media and legal files across Canada from 1990 to 2020, Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport uncovers an enduring institutional tolerance of sexual assault in Canadian sport – and the betrayal that many victims experience by those same institutions. Curtis Fogel and Andrea Quinlan argue further that both the Canadian sport system and the criminal legal system have failed to ensure victims’ safety and often undermine sexual assault prevention and trauma-informed care.

Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport opens new avenues for critical dialogue about sport, law, masculinities, and gender-based violence. Crucially, it also offers constructive strategies to increase safety in sport.

Curtis Fogel is an associate professor in the Department of Sport Management at Brock University. In 2016, he was appointed as a Research Fellow in Canadian Studies at University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Game-Day Gangsters: Crime and Deviance in Canadian Football (2013). His research interests include sports law, ethics, doping, and violence.

Curtis Fogel's profile page

Andrea Quinlan is an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo. Her research examines the intersections of law, science, technology, and medicine in legal responses to sexual violence, as well as the influence of feminist anti-violence movements on sexual assault policy, law, and institutional practice. Her forthcoming book is titled The Technoscientific Witness of Rape: Contentious Histories of Law, Feminism, and Forensic Science.

Andrea Quinlan's profile page

"Through unobtrusive content analysis of court reports, legal case files, victim impact statements, newspaper accounts, and victim autobiographies, the authors identify a widespread "rape culture" in Canadian sport."

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