Perpetrators of sexual harassment experienced by athletes in southern Nigerian universities

Abstract

Evidence in literature and reports showed that both male and female athletes are sexually harassed in their course of participating in sports. The purpose of the study was to find out the perpetrators of sexual harassment experienced by athletes in southern Nigerian universities. A cross-sectional survey design was employed for the study. A 22-item structured questionnaire was used to generate data from athletes (N=1 214) which included males (n=789) and females (n=425) in federal (n=856) and state (n=358) universities. The data analysis was based on athletes who indicated that they have experienced one form of sexual harassment or the other. Percentage was used to analyze the data. Results showed that among the athletes who experienced gender harassment, 8.97% of them had it from the directors of sports, 34.31% from the coaches, 96.55% had it from fellow athletes and 4.33% from spectators. Among the athletes who experienced unwanted sexual attention, 2.57% had it from directors of sports, 29.52% from coaches, 86.35% from fellow athletes and 1.49% had it from spectators. For athletes who experienced sexual coercion, 3.15% had it from directors of sports, 23.16% from coaches, 79.74% had it from fellow athletes and 0.37% from spectators. It was recommended among other things that a sexual harassment intervention programme should be designed and mounted for all the perpetrators of sexual harassment on athletes with much attention to the athletes and coaches.

Key words: Perpetrators; Sexual harassment; Athletes; Southern Nigerian
universities