{"id":31461,"date":"2022-10-06T04:42:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T04:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=31461"},"modified":"2022-10-09T16:27:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T16:27:55","slug":"abuse-in-womens-professional-soccer-was-an-open-secret-the-bystander-effect-and-structural-barriers-prevented-more-players-from-speaking-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/abuse-in-womens-professional-soccer-was-an-open-secret-the-bystander-effect-and-structural-barriers-prevented-more-players-from-speaking-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Abuse in women\u2019s professional soccer was an \u2018open secret\u2019 \u2013 the \u2018bystander effect\u2019 and structural barriers prevented more players from speaking\u00a0out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Heather Hensman Kettrey<\/a>, Clemson University<\/a><\/em> and Robert Marx<\/a>, San Jos\u00e9 State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An investigation has found<\/a> that widespread abuse of players in U.S. women\u2019s professional soccer existed despite some of the behavior of coaches being \u201can open secret.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on more than 200 interviews, the report<\/a> \u2013 led by former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates \u2013 highlighted systemic verbal and emotional abuse against players, and sexual misconduct by coaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The allegations open a number of important questions regarding how such behavior was allowed to continue in a post-#MeToo society and after high-profile instances of abuse in other U.S. sports, notably women\u2019s gymnastics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as social scientists who<\/a> study sexuality and violence<\/a>, we have another question: What are the barriers preventing people from reporting instances of abuse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of bystanders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The report into women\u2019s soccer notes that although certain players did \u201cdoggedly\u201d report misconduct, others were hesitant to come forward. Many players mentioned structural barriers<\/a> to reporting. For example, some said that even if they had wanted to report misconduct, \u201cthey did not know how or where to make their report.\u201d Others thought it was \u201cfutile\u201d to report misconduct, given the failure by teams and the league to address the issue. These statements indicate serious structural issues within women\u2019s soccer that need to be addressed by those in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, some players did not feel a sense of responsibility for taking action. These players said they thought it was<\/a> \u201cnot their story to tell\u201d or they did not want to act on \u201crumors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reflects what the research tells us about a phenomenon known as the \u201cbystander effect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 50 years of research has documented a bystander effect<\/a> in which witnesses fail to intervene, often because they assume someone else will take action. Research applying the bystander effect specifically to sexual assault<\/a> and misconduct<\/a> has revealed that witnesses fail to intervene for a number of common reasons: they do not notice the misconduct; do not believe it is their responsibility to intervene; do not believe they have the skills to intervene; or are inhibited by the belief that those around them will negatively judge them for intervening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Witnesses to sexual misconduct often fail to intervene for one or more of those reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report on women\u2019s soccer found that players<\/a> often didn\u2019t think it was their responsibility to report, or they feared retaliation if they did \u2013 often through unfavorable trades to other teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is clear from the report is that some sort of \u201cbystander training\u201d is needed in women\u2019s soccer to help stop further abuse. Such training has proved to be effective with other populations, such as college students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bystander training programs strive to sensitize people to the warning signs of sexual assault and misconduct \u2013 like a young man leading a young woman into an isolated place \u2013 and provide them with skills so that they will know how to intervene when necessary. For example, these programs<\/a> might teach participants to speak up when hearing sexist jokes or witnessing sexual harassment, walk a friend home when he or she has had too much to drink, start a conversation with a young woman who appears to be uncomfortable with her date, or call the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bystander training appears to help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We were curious about the effects these bystander programs have on the behavior of witnesses to sexual misconduct. So in a 2018 study, we analyzed data<\/a> from over 6,000 college students across the United States and found that programs designed to prevent sexual assault by increasing onlookers\u2019 interventions do have a meaningful effect on bystander behavior. Compared to peers who did not participate in a bystander program, college students who did participate reported a greater ability to intervene and greater intentions to intervene, should a situation require it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most important, those who participated in a bystander program reported actually engaging in more bystander intervention behaviors than those who did not participate in a program. On average, these participants reported two more instances of bystander intervention in the months following the bystander program than their peers who did not attend a bystander program. Simply put, bystander programs are successful at encouraging bystanders to intervene when witnessing sexual misconduct or its warning signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although we looked specifically at college students, we believe the findings apply to other populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report of widespread abuse in women\u2019s soccer reminds us that sexual misconduct is common in society and that its prevention is a communal responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As researchers who study sexuality, violence and prosocial behavior, we believe that bystanders need to keep their eyes open and speak up on behalf of potential victims. Our research demonstrates that having been educated about bystander strategies leads to greater intervention. As a society, we should strive to become better bystanders by noticing warning signs, knowing strategies to intervene and remembering that we have a collective responsibility to prevent sexual misconduct and assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: Portions of this article originally appeared in a previous article published<\/a> on Oct. 5, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Hensman Kettrey<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Clemson University<\/a><\/em> and Robert Marx<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development, San Jos\u00e9 State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heather Hensman Kettrey, Clemson University and Robert Marx, San Jos\u00e9 State University An investigation has found that widespread abuse of players in U.S. women\u2019s professional soccer existed despite some of the behavior of coaches being \u201can open secret.\u201d Based on more than 200 interviews, the report \u2013 led by former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":31462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[42],"tags":[5982,12707,9851,3627,2594,3552,5980,3329,155,12708,12709],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31463,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31461\/revisions\/31463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}