Kari Fasting

Norwegian School of Sport Sciences · Department of Social and Cultural Studies

Objective Interpersonal violence (IV) in sport is challenging to define, prevent and remedy due to its subjectivity and complexity. The 2024 International Olympic Committee Consensus on Interpersonal Violence and Safeguarding aimed to synthesise evidence on IV and safeguarding in sport, introduce a new conceptual model of IV in sport and offer more...

The challenges of combining work and family life has been considered a women’s issue, also reflected in research. In recent years, scholars have argued that the work-family interface may also concern male coaches. Therefore, the present study takes both genders into account. We made qualitative interview with 13 women and six men. The findings reve...

While earlier research on coaches’ careers and the development of coaching expertise appears ‘gender blind’, the focus of this article on the underrepresentation of women in elite-level coaching is how various forms of capital interact in recruitment to coaching. Using Bourdieu's analytic concepts, the study explores Norwegian female and male elite...

Flere studier og undersøkelser har vist at både kvinner og menn opplever mobbing og seksuell trakassering i Forsvaret. Dette har uheldige konsekvenser for de som utsettes for disse handlingene, og er ødeleggende for Forsvarets evne til å utnytte og beholde kompetent personell. I tillegg kan den uønskede adferden påvirke Forsvarets omdømme negativt...

The focus of this article is the opinions and attitudes towards coach–athlete sexual relationships presented through the voices of female (n = 24) and male (n = 12) elite-level coaches in Norway. The results are based on in-depth interviews and the data were developed around the following question: “There are examples of athletes that fall in love...

Most people will agree that participation in sport is a positive activity and that the sporting field is a safe arena. But since sport in many ways is a mirror of society, one should not be surprised that research over the last 20 years has shown that problems related to sexual harassment and abuse also occur in sport.

Norway has based its security on aid from great military powers, and is therefore a useful site for examining the idea of complicit masculinities: a position that benefits from the current social order, and thus complying with dominant group interests and hegemonic ideals. This chapter illustrates how such a position led Norway to take an active pa...

The aim of this article is to explore the experiences of female elite-level Norwegian coaches in football. More precisely, we wanted to find out the meaning of gender for these coaches’ football experiences. The results presented are based on five in-depth interviews with female elite-level coaches between 36 and 50 years of age. A feminist cultura...

Previous studies have shown that there is an underrepresentation of female coaches and a lack of opportunities for women to coach males, particularly at the elite-level. Very few studies, however, have focused on elite-level coaches’ demographics and whether these vary with respect to gender. The aim of this article is to get an overview of the gen...

The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of gender quotas as a means to equalise the gender representation in the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sport (NIF), with particular attention to the composition of executive boards. According to NIF's here. Law Book, a certain number of both genders is require...

Drawing on the perspectives of youth involved in breaking, also known as breakdance, the aim of this article is to explore how their experiences contribute to the doing, redoing and undoing of gender. The negotiation of gender is highlighted through the female breakers’ experiences in a male-dominated culture. The analysis is based on fieldwork and...

Research over the past 20 years has shown that sexual harassment and abuse do occur in sport, and that these may take many different forms. In the beginning of this chapter, these are defined and discussed. Thereafter, an overview of what we know about the prevalence, the forms, the impact, the risk factors, and the perpetrators of sexual harassmen...

Despite the well-recognised benefits of sport, there are also negative influences on athlete health, well-being and integrity caused by non-accidental violence through harassment and abuse. All athletes have a right to engage in 'safe sport', defined as an athletic environment that is respectful, equitable and free from all forms of non-accidental...

The main objective of the study presented in this article was to investigate men and masculinities, with a particular focus on the meaning of masculinities for recruitment and for the retention of female personnel. Field work and seven semi-structured interviews were conducted at an Air Force base. Analysis revealed three major themes: Positive att...

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a key foundational scholar on gender and sport, Kari Fasting, assesses sociological inquiry about sexual harassment in sport and its relation to the development of policy. The trajectory of this research on gender, sexual harassment and abuse (GSHA) in sport lies in feminist politics and advocacy. While...

One measure proposed in White Paper No. 36 was to undertake research amongst enrolled cohorts from the current Joint Selection Process for General Conscription and onwards. Based on this work, carried out at Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), this anthology aims to give some answers to why NorAF are unable to increase its female conten...

The occurrence of sexual harassment in sport was first revealed in studies in the mid-nineties, and during the last 10-15 years there has been an increasing focus on this problem both from scholars and from sport politicians. Most of the studies on sexual harassment in sport have been prevalence studies, but there is a marked variety of approaches...

In this chapter we will present and discuss selected parts of empirical material produced through qualitative fieldwork conducted at Joint Selection to the The Norwegian Armed Forces’ (NorAF) Officer Candidate School in 2010. The purpose was to examine factors that may contribute towards inhibiting recruitment and admission to the Officer Candidat...

Based in the Gender Action Plan for the African Union Region 5 in Africa (Appendix 3), the study presented in this report is part of a project aimed to educate coaches and athletes about gender based violence (GBV), and to develop strategies to reduce harassment and abuse in Zambian sport. To reach these goals it was necessary to uncover the most c...

The focus of this paper concerns the meaning of breaking in the lives of young people living in Oslo, Norway. Meaning arises in the process of interaction with other people (social interaction) and self-reflection. The data are produced by the use of fieldwork (eight months) among young breakers at two sites in Oslo referred to as the Location, and...

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of how men aged 40–90 years with different educational and ethnic backgrounds talk about their own bodies, and how social dimensions, especially masculinity and age, are reflected in their talk. Eighteen men from a small rural town in Norway were interviewed. The findings indicate tha...

This chapter begins by defining sexual harassment and abuse and summarizing what is currently known about the prevalence in sport. It outlines the key elements of the psychological impact of sexual harassment and abuse on female athletes by health care providers. It also provides a summary of symptoms that may be observed and which may indicate pos...

In this article, we explore the influence of the intersection of race, gender, and class as systems of power and oppression (Collins, 2000) in the experiences of female and male black Norwegian athletes. Data are drawn from a larger doctoral study in which in-depth interviews were held with nine female and eight male black Norwegian athletes aged b...

The hip-hop culture has evolved from the ghettos of The Bronx, New York in the 1970s, into a global phenomenon. Despite such prominence there is an absence of academic research on the hip-hop culture element: breakdance. Through eight months of participant observations and 17 qualitative interviews, this study investigates the identity construction...

This report contains the result of a baseline study on women’s leadership and participation in sport within Southern Africa. It is a result of expressed needs and wishes of key sport representatives within the African Union Sports Council Region 5, and a part of the implementation of The Gender Action Plan of the Region. This plan was validated at...

El presente informe recoge los principales resultados del Proyecto del Plan Nacional I+D+i DEP2010-19801 Investigación social de las necesidades, barreras e innovaciones en la oferta deportiva a las mujeres adultas en España. Este proyecto tiene como objetivo generar el conocimiento necesario para que las organizaciones deportivas españolas incorpo...

Throughout history, football has been the largest sport for men in Norway, as it is today. But now, it is also the largest organized female sport in our country. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the results from a study about female and male football players and their coaches' attitudes towards the football players' sexualities....

I dette kapitlet vil vi presentere og diskutere utvalgte deler av et empirisk materiale fra et feltarbeid utført på Felles Opptak og Seleksjon til Forsvarets befalsskoler i 2010. Hensikten med studien var å undersøke forhold som kan bidra til å hemme rekruttering og opptak til Forsvarets befalsskoler. Empirien baserer seg på feltobservasjoner av en...

Female coaches are strongly underrepresented in the world of sport. The role of the female coach has therefore received broad attention from scholars during the last three decades. Theoretical and empirical studies have focused on individual, cultural and structural gender barriers in trying to explain this underrepresentation. The purpose of this...

Det overordnede målet med denne pilotstudien har vært å øke kunnskapen om sammenhengen mellom maskulinitetskulturer i Forsvaret og i hvilken grad disse bidrar til eller står i motsetning til å rekruttere og beholde kvinnelig personell. Gjennom et opphold ved en av Luftforsvarets avdelinger og påfølgende intervjuer med befal har pilotstudien søkt å...

Female coaches are strongly underrepresented in the world of sport. The role of the female coach has therefore received broad attention from scholars during the last three decades. Theoretical and empirical studies have focused on individual, cultural and structural gender barriers in trying to explain this underrepresentation. The purpose of this...

In a rapidly changing world. The globalization of the hip-hop culture and breakdance gives young people around the globe a framework for expression and a source for identity formation. The hip-hop culture was originally created in the ghettos of New York, in the early 1970s. Today the tradition of hip-hop culture and breakdance has grown into a wor...

The study investigates whether sport is an especially risky environment for sexual harassment to occur. It explores female students’ experiences of sexual harassment in organized sport and compares them with their experiences in formal education, by addressing the following research questions: (1) Are there any differences in female sport students’...

This bibliography gives an extensive interdisciplinary overview of studies on gender issues in a military context in Scandinavia. It covers 226 references of journal articles, books/chapter in books, reports, and graduate theses from military and non-military institutions. The references have been categorized in themes such as “Gender and recruitme...

The aim of this paper is to present some results from the study titled The Officer Candidate School Study 2010 (survey) for the IUS 2011 Conference in Chicago. The Officer Candidate School study 2010 is a research project that consists of one survey and one field study. This paper outlines findings from the survey and the report “The Officer Candid...

Coaches can easily dominate athletes and this unbalanced power distribution may be strengthened by authoritarian behavior; i.e. negative feedback, directive communication, coach-led decision making, taskcentered role orientation, and goal orientation on performance. An unwanted risk emerges when the power is abused, which can lead to the occurrence...

This article presents data from a cross-cultural study titled ‘Gender Relations in Sport — The Experiences of Czech, Greek, and Norwegian Female Sport Students’. The main research question asked is: what are the amounts and the forms of male and female sexual harassment experienced in a sport setting by female sport students in Czech Republic, Gree...

Some sociologists have argued that sport is a male-dominated institution and sexist culture in which female athletes experience various forms of discrimination, including sexual harassment from coaches and male athletes. Some research does indicate that female athletes suffer higher rates of sexual victimization from authority figures in sport than...

Sport scientists face difficulties in gaining access to data on sexual abuse in sport through conventional research sources and also in verifying media reports of such cases. One potential alternative source of data is court reports. The study reported here used a small number of court reports to examine issues confronting those researching sexual...

Norges Idrettsforbund og Olympiske og Paralympiske Komité (NIF) har en uttalt målsetting om en åpen og inkluderende idrett. Hvordan kommer dette til uttrykk i den praktiske virksomheten? Denne artikkelen, som bygger på data fra en undersøkelse om likestilling og mangfold i den organiserte idretten (NIF), retter søkelyset mot arbeid med inklusjon av...

This article examines race and racism in sport based on the experiences of black Norwegian athletes. The findings are based on in-depth qualitative interviews with nine female and eight male black athletes. Race and racism concepts are explored to draw attention to different approaches of understanding racism in sport, from the individual to the in...

The results presented in this article are from a larger research project on issues related to women in sport in the Czech Republic. The article tries to answer research questions related to whether there are any relationships between the experience of sexual harassment among female athletes inside and outside sport, and at different sport performan...

This bibliography gives an extensive interdisciplinary overview of studies on gender issues in a military context. It covers more than 2500 references of international reviewed articles, reports, books, and theses from military and non- military institutions. The references have been categorized in themes such as “Masculinities”, “Gender, Sexual Ha...

This paper presents a secondary analysis of supporting documents from the UN Study on Violence against Children. The purpose of the analysis is to identify sport-related material in the documents and gaps in research knowledge about the role of sport in both preventing and facilitating violence against children. This is a complementary document to...

Sexual harassment in sport has become an active research field within the past decade yet we know relatively little about the characteristics of the harassing coach. How are harassing coaches characterized by their victims, that is, the athletes themselves? Do they demonstrate specific kinds of behaviours? One purpose of this article is to address...

Hensikten med artikkelen er å rette fokus mot tv-kommentatorers diskursive fremstilling av herrehåndball og antyde hvilke maskuliniteter som konstrueres og manifesteres gjennom norsk TV 2s formidling av herrehåndball. Artikkelen er basert på empiri fra arbeidet med masteroppgaven Håndballkrigeren – et kjønnet perspektiv på fjernsynets formidling av...

Hvor fysisk aktive er kvinner og menn? Hvilke aktiviteter driver de med? Utøver de aktiviteten sin i idrettslag eller på egen hånd? Hvor mange kvinner og menn er aktive medlemmer av et idrettslag og hvilke idretter driver de med? Hvordan er kjønnsfordelingen blant trenere og dommere i norsk idrett? Er det fremdeles slik at menn leder norsk idrett?...

Contents Welcome note........................................................................................................5 Yannis Theodorakis University of Thessaly, GRE, President of the Dept. of PE & Sports Science Preface.........................................................................................................................7...

IntroductionNumber of women in sports governing bodiesWhy are there so few women in sports governing bodies?Conclusion

The examination of sexual harassment in sport has become an active research field within the past two decades. It is especially important for sport psychology consultants to understand this issue because they have professional opportunities to influence both individual and organizational responses to it. This article uses interview data from an inv...

Abstract Drawing on interviews with two elite female athletes from different sports, one from a study in Norway and the other from a study in England, this article explores the process of ‘grooming’ in the context of sport. Both athletes experienced,grooming,for sex by their male coaches,yet were able to stop the process at a particular point. Groo...

Drawing on interviews with two elite female athletes from different sports, one from a study in Norway and the other from a study in England, this article explores the process of 'grooming' in the context of sport. Both athletes experienced grooming for sex by their male coaches yet were able to stop the process at a particular point. Grooming has...

Although it is often assumed that the prevalence of sexual harassment is different indifferent sports, the assumption has not been empirically tested. This study considers whether the experience of sexual harassment varies by sport. The female elite athletes (N = 553) in the study participated in 56 different sport disciplines. These were grouped a...

This essay is a review of Europen research on minority women and sport. The essay present and discusses the constrainsts for minority women's participation in soprt, their actual participation level and organization forms, and the integration outcome of their involvement in soport. The major finding is that sport organizations rarely offer sport ac...

Kari Fasting, Gertrud Pfister & Sheila Scraton: Disrupting gender? A cross-national study of female soccer players’ perceptions of masculinity and femininity Traditionally football has been a masculine sport, even though there has been a dramatic increase in the number of female footballers in many countries since the beginning of the 1970s. Throug...

Although it is often assumed that the prevalence of sexual harassment is different in different sports, this assumption has not been empirically tested. This study considers whether the experience of sexual harassment varies by sport. The female elite athletes (N = 553) in the study participated in 56 different sport disciplines. These were grouped...

The aims were to examine the percentage of female elite athletes and controls reporting sexual harassment and abuse (SHAB), and whether a higher percentage of female athletes with eating disorders (ED) had experienced SHAB. A questionnaire was administered to the total population of female elite athletes (n = 660) and controls (n = 780) aged 15-39...

The study opens with a description of the development of women's football in Norway. It can be traced back to the beginning of the twentieth century, but it was only in 1975 when the Norwegian Football Association formally recognized it. Prior to 1975, the pioneers of women's football struggled hard to get women's football accepted. Today, women's...

This paper compares the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse among 660 Norwegian elite female athletes and an age-matched control sample of nonathletes. It also explores differences in the prevalence of harassment and abuse in sport and work or school settings and compares harassment and abuse perpetrated by male authority figures and peers in...

The questions asked in this study were: what kind of views do Egyptian women have on the relationship between Islam and physical activity/sport, and what consequences do different interpretations of Islam have for Egyptian women’s involvement in physical activity and sport? The data were gathered during a four-month field-study in Egypt, and consis...

The questions asked in this study were: what kind of views do Egyptian women have on the relationship between Islam and physical activity/sport, and what consequences do different interpretations of Islam have for Egyptian women’s involvement in physical activity and sport? The data were gathered during a four-month field-study in Egypt, and consis...

Although female athletes are successful in all types of sport, in many countries sport is still a male domain. This book examines and compares the sporting experiences of women from different countries around the world and offers the first systematic and cross-cultural analysis of the topic of women in sport. Sport and Women presents a wealth of ne...

Sexual harassment research was first undertaken in the workplace and educational settings. Research on sexual harassment in sport is scarce but has grown steadily since the mid-1980s. Even so, very little is known about the causes and/or characteristics and/or consequences of sexual harassment in sport settings. This article reports on the findings...

This special issue of the Journal of Sexual Aggression draws on the contributions to a Symposium on ‘Sexual Harassment in Sport – Challenges for Sport Psychology in the New Millennium’, held at the Xth Congress of the International Society for Sport Psychology, Skiathos, Greece from May 28th to June 2nd 2001. The symposium, which was organised by t...

What are female athletes’ expectations and evaluations of coaches? Is gender still important? These are the main questions discussed in this article. It is based on existing literature and on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 38 elite female soccer players from Germany, Norway, Sweden and the USA. The results showed that the following gen...

This article investigates national similarities and differences with respect to how women enter the world of football and whether gender relations continue to impact on both their access to and opportunities in the sport. The data comes from 40 semi-structured interviews with top-level women footballers in England, Germany, Norway and Spain. Early...

In this text I will present a short overview of the emergence of women’s soccer in Europe, describe the current situation in various countries and discuss explanations for the gender hierarchy in this game. Besides informing about general trends on the continent, I will provide examples primarily using the situation in the countries with large numb...

The questions asked in this paper are: what is it that women who participate in recreational sport appreciate most or enjoy most about their sports? What are the differences and similarities among women who participate in aerobics, tennis or soccer? Thirty one Norwegian women (ages 19 to 36 years) participated in the study. The research method used...

This paper is a description of the theoretical, methodological and practical challenges that have been encountered during the process of researching the experiences and meanings of sport in the lives of women in England, Germany, Norway and Spain. Based upon a review of previous literature and research on women and sport we found that there was lit...

This article focuses on the fact that women and men belong to two different cultures. Concerning sport participation, there exists a double standard in the way girls and boys are socialized into sport. As a result, sport has never played an important part in many women's lives. This is illustrated by data from different empirical studies that have...