On Aug. 7-9, Carleton Sexual Assault Support Services (CSASS) hosted a sexual consent and anti-sexual assault training program for Carleton varsity athletes and coaches.
Survey results released by the provincial government in March 2019 showed 63 per cent of university students who responded said they have experienced some type of sexual harassment.
But with their “Champions for Change” workshop, Carleton University is trying to tackle issues around sexual assault amongst varsity athletes.
The three-day training program was created by Bailey Reid, Carleton’s sexual assault support services coordinator, and JR LaRose, a retired Canadian Football League player.
The program involved discussions between male and female varsity athletes around consent, the bystander effect, “locker-room talk,” and how both coaches and players can combat sexual assault on Carleton’s campus, among other topics.
“You’re not part of the problem, you’re actually a critical part of the solution.” – Bailey Reid, Carleton’s sexual assault support services coordinator on varsity athletes
While he has participated in anti-sexual assault trainings before, Kwesi Loney, head coach of the Carleton men’s soccer team, said he often found them to be “missing something” and less “student-oriented” than Champions for Change.
“I think anytime you can bring young people together in a safe environment, with an open forum, it gives them the ability to truly speak their minds, and I think that’s the only time for change to come about,” Loney said.
The Champions for Change workshops focused on discussing what “youth and athletes want to know, rather than us doing a talk-down kind of training approach,” said Reid.
The workshop, as a result, was structured to have group discussions with male and female varsity players, as well as discussions where male and female athletes were divided into seperate groups, led by LaRose and Reid respectively.
Roberta Drummond, a winger on the Carleton women’s rugby team, felt it was important to split up the participants.
“Obviously the men feel more comfortable sharing stories with JR, and the women also feel more comfortable sharing stories with Bailey,” explained the biology student.
Having both male and female athletes in the room allowed them to get a better understanding “of what each gender goes through,” said Loney.
Sports and rape culture
A lot of times, sports and rape culture cross paths when sexual assault is the topic of conversation, and for those involved the subject can be complicated.
A study published in the American Economic Journal in Jan. 2018 reported that home football games increased college-aged reports of rape by 58 per cent, compared to away football games, which increased victimization by 15 per cent.
“If a rookie sees a veteran doing something, maybe just because of team culture, they’re not going to step up and say anything.” – Roberta Drummond, women’s rugby
Drummond in particular understands how the constant spotlight put on athletes can amplify certain incidents and create inaccurate stereotyping.
“I think varsity athletes, whether we always realize it or not, are sort of placed on—I wouldn’t say a pedestal—but we’re sort of held to higher standards on campus. And we’re in the spotlight 24/7,” she said.
But there is some connection between sports and rape culture, due to the “hyper-masculinity kind of culture,” said Drummond.
But Loney said he does not think the sporting environment fosters “that type of behaviour or actions.”
“I mean, you know, they’re a bit potentially higher profile. So, an incident does occur, it tends to be in the spotlight perhaps (and) I don’t think [sport culture and rape culture] have anything to do with each other. I think it’s completely separate, to be honest with you.”
As athletes, it’s important to attend anti-sexual assault training because of the higher standard they are held to on campus, compared to other students, said Drummond.
Coaches are important in supporting initiatives to combat sexual assault on campus because of the leadership role they play, Loney added.
“We are mentors, we are leaders—not just within athletics, but within the community,” he said.
Drummond agreed coaches are key in combatting a negative culture.
“It can’t just happen with the players. It has to start with the coaches, because coaches know what’s going on,” she said. “Like, you can’t say that coaches don’t know what’s happening. If you truly want to change the culture and change how the public views professional teams or varsity athletics in general, change needs to start at the top.”
Although we often think of varsity athletes as having a particular problem, every community has an issue with sexual violence, said Reid.
“I think it would be naïve to think that there was a community anywhere in society that doesn’t have sexual violence as an issue,” she said.
“I think certainly we do tend to think about varsity athletes as being part of the problem, but actually that was a really important part of this training, is that we actually said, ‘you’re not part of the problem, you’re actually a critical part of the solution.”
How effective is consent training?
While workshops such as this one are important, they aren’t all that is needed to create change, said Reid.
“I also am under no illusions that one training a year, one conversation a year about sexual violence is actually not going to do that much change,” she said. “We need the community members themselves to play a role.”
These workshops are a helpful learning tool for everyone, not just perpetrators, said Drummond.
“It would be awesome if every single person on campus had to attend these workshops. But that’s not realistic,” she said.
“If someone told me, ‘Well, those workshops are useless because a perpetrator is not going to go to that workshop,’ I would say yeah, you’re probably right, but what can you do now as a bystander?”
“When you’re at the bar and you see something weird going down, now you have the resources and you know what to do and you know how to step in, or you know who to tell,” she added.
Students can contact the CSASS by telephone at 613-520-5622 or by email at equity@carleton.ca
Feature image from file.
