Sexual Assault in Canadian Sport

Exposing the issue of rampant abuse that happens regularly in Canadian sports organizations.

Sexual assault by and against Canadian athletes happens with alarming regularity, with only a few high-profile cases garnering media attention. Through a detailed examination of more than three hundred 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 and the betrayal many victims experience by those same institutions. Curtis Fogel and Andrea Quinlan argue that both the Canadian sports system and the criminal justice 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 sports.

Curtis Fogel is associate professor and chair of the Department of Sport Management at Brock University, and in 2016 was appointed research fellow in Canadian Studies at University of California, Berkeley.

Andrea Quinlan is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo. She is the author of The Technoscientific Witness of Rape: Contentious Histories of Law, Feminism, and Forensic Science.