People in a position of authority

Sexual abuse is when a person, like a coach, a therapist, a volunteer or other, wants to engage in sexual activities with you. It can happen in a myriad of ways and does not necessarily include physical contact. Sexual abuse can be very frightening, but it’s never the victim’s fault! ^{[3; 4; 5; 10; 14; 26; 32; 33]}

You may also be the victim of a subtler form of sexual violence. In this case, we are talking about sexual harassment. This is when people say sexually connoted things, make sexually connoted gestures or display sexually connoted behaviours that are not wanted and which often occur repeatedly. Examples of sexual harassment are when people whistle at us, make offending sexual jokes, make suggestive, vulgar gestures, etc. These behaviours are just as unacceptable coming from your coach or any other professional. You do not have to accept these. ^[1]

Examples of sexual abuse with physical contact

Examples of sexual abuse without physical contact

To encourage an athlete to touch someone sexually or to be touched sexually
To suggest an exchange of favours or privileges against sexual activities
To kiss an athlete on the mouth or any other part of his or her body
To have sexual relations with the athlete (oral, vaginal or anal)
To force an athlete to have sexual relations (rape)

To exhibit one’s genital area in front of an athlete
To ask an athlete to undress
To ask an athlete to caress or masturbate
To make an athlete watch sexually explicit images or movies
To make sexually connoted calls, or to send sexually connoted texts, sexts or emails
To use the Internet to communicate online with underage children and teenagers and to attract them outside of their homes for sexual, pornographic or criminal purposes

People in a position of authority

Physical abuse

Emotional abuse

Sexual abuse