Ethos of Sexual Violence against Women in Hockey

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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).