Ethos of Sexual Violence against Women in Hockey

This paper discusses the culture of sexual violence against women in the hockey system and how the justice system fails to protect them. It explores the hyper-masculine nature of the hockey system and the impact it has on the treatment of women. The author argues that the hockey system perpetuates gendered solitude and a culture of sexual violence against women.

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Ethos of Sexual Violence against Women in Hockey
INTRODUCTION
Hockey is a complete society within which players and their coaches are commonly forced to
enact their masculinity through acts of sexual violence against young female fans, and
girlfriends. Laura Robinson’s Girl Unprotected elucidates the ghastly events behind the trial of
David Frost, a former Hockey coach and agent at the National Hockey League (NHL), wherein
all charges against him involving the sexual assault of two young women were abandoned by the
prosecutor, and a similar charge against Mike Danton was also dismissed during proceedings. By
so doing, the author depicts the hyper-masculine nature of the justice and hockey system, but
particularly displays how the young women brave enough to testify against David Frost were let
down by the justice system (Keating 24). This paper therefore completely agrees with
Robinson’s claim that the judicial system propagates gendered solitude, and a culture of sexual
violence against women in the hockey system.
BODY
Author’s Viewpoint. According to Robinson, it has become increasingly difficult to write about
the hockey system in Canada as a source of pride because of its longstanding bias against
women. This culture was particularly propagated when the coach was noted as having accused
weaker team players of being women, thus implying that women were not real human beings.
The coach’s discriminative slurs suggest that the conversations in hockey training camps are also

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sexually aggressive, or potentially homophobic. Despite being exceedingly organized, elite
Canadian hockey associations, including the Canadian Hockey League, rep leagues, and the
junior provincial associations, have never acknowledged that these characteristics may be fuelled
by their obvious gender solitude with regard to the female population. The national federation’s
outlook on the subject matter remains stagnant despite the mounting evidence proposing that
there exists cult-like tendencies in hockey teams because they value not the ideals, but rather the
presence of a hyper-masculine coach, a team of boys that blindly follow the rules, and the
domineering psychological influence that a coach commands on the team (Robinson 94).
Similarly, the author portrays hockey as a sport that glorifies only in the sport, and not its
potentially negative outcomes on the people of the society. This aspect is seen in national
endorsements which believe that the teams would come to ruin if members ever felt motivated
enough to question authority, especially the forceful tactics that coaches use during training.
When the news spread about the conspiracy murder charges filed against Mike Danton, two
witnesses from Deseronto approached the police to testify. They recounted many unpleasant
events which had happened to them and to Mike Danton, all which were illegal, such as sexual
assault by Frost and other members of the team, and how the coach forcefully took part in sexual
activities between the players and their girlfriends. In addition, no charges were successfully
levied on Frost outside of the town despite the additional statements recorded by two women
witnesses. These women claimed to having been part of sexual acts with Frost and hockey
players in other regions after having been lured under the guise that the players would, soon
after, become their boyfriends. Hence, to maintain the authoritarian and overly-masculine nature
of the game, it is possible that further investigations against Frost were either blocked or
dismissed by higher authority despite victim affirmations (Robinson 89).

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My Position on the Claim. I agree that the NHL openly endorses patriarchal authority structure in
which a coach, who has ultimate power over all members, forces the players to think of the team
as a second family. Since the players are banned not only from women, but also their families,
their dependency on family and close relationships is compromised, causing them to naturally
accept the hyper-masculine ideals in their immediate surroundings. Such practices then cause
into formation a feudal and undemocratic environments, which appear normalized due to certain
similarities with other systems that reflect male hierarchy, like, the military. Much like military
institutions, the men are removed from close contact with the society, and are slowly become
less able to relate with non-athletes, especially women. By so doing, their conversations about
women become naturally centered on their objectification and vilification because that has
become their new norm. Locker room conversations, as indicated in Girl Interrupted, will, thus,
be majorly based on discussions about women in an unacceptable and atypical manner, and the
likening of weaker players to women, whom they already perceive as mere objects. Inevitably,
players will become socially stunted since they slowly become torn by their will to succeed,
uncertain about their future, and confused about their inherent desire to bond with and please
their authority figures and team mates who bring them harm. Similarly, the national leagues
force them into these conditions, and oblige them to accept their coaches and team mates as their
patriarchal family -- a system which they are made to believe that they cannot survive without.
Such surrogacy leads to player dependency, and the acceptance of abuse to themselves and to
potential female victims as general affection. The NHL believes this to be the utmost ideal in
team building, regardless of its implications on the female population (Courtney 25).
In addition, the despite the rising concerns about rape culture in locker rooms at hockey
conferences (Courtney 44), the presence of heightened phallic masculinity and repetitive

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instances of sexual violence against unsuspecting women, the male fans, policemen, and national
leagues show open support to such behavior. They, therefore, praise sexual assault and rape to
prove the heterosexuality of the game, and repel all things feminine at the expense of its potential
outcome on the women. This proves that cases of sexual violence against women in hockey
circles are likely to be ignored because the hockey system considers sexual aggression as a
means of facilitating one’s own heterosexual standing (Robinson 101).
CONCLUSION
The hockey league still believes that there is no correlation between hyper-masculinity and
gender solitude in hockey, and sexual violence against women. Hence, everyone needs to be
encouraged to recognize the existence of such ethos to help bring about changes that may
eliminate all forms of unnecessary violence in hockey circles. In general, it is possible that if
women had been considered in a respectable capacity in hockey systems from the start, then any
issues of gender solitude or subsequent behavioral issues would have been avoided.

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Works Cited
Courtney, Szto. Racism and Canadian Multiculturalism. PhD Thesis. Washington, DC: Simon
Fraser University, 2011. Electronic Document.
Keating, Jack. "Violent Crime and Assaults Up While Property and Overall Crime." 18 March
2010. The Vancouver Province. Document. 28 March 2019.
Robinson, Laura. "Girl Unprotected." Davis, Roger and Laura Davis. Essay Writing for
Canadian Students. Vancouver: Pearson Canada, 2015. 326-328. Paperback.
Robinson, Laura. "Hockey Night in Canada." Sheehy, Elizabeth. Sexual Assault in Canada:
Law, Legal Practice, and Women's Activism. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2012.
73-86. Paperback.