The resignation of the CEO and board of Hockey Canada within the wake of a sexual assault scandal will not be sufficient to trigger significant change within the sport’s culture, in accordance with hockey commentator Tara Slone.
Slone, the previous host of Hometown Hockey and Top of Her Game on Sportsnet, stated altering leadership is not going to accomplish something if the established order is upheld.
“I feel hockey presently has a built-in culture of entitlement, a built-in culture of misogyny, a built-in culture of secrecy,” Slone stated.
“One of the first issues that I’d wish to see shift, and I do know that lots of the sponsors want to this, is, to create a culture of enjoyment the place hockey is enjoyable and cultivates a great, well-rounded human being, versus just harvest winners.”
She stated hockey is a really insular culture that’s predominantly white.
If hockey is to foster a spirit of inclusion, Slone stated, it must search for individuals who have experiences exterior the “hockey norm.”
Slone stated Hockey Canada’s announcement that an interim board shall be appointed to look at the governance of the group forward of an election scheduled for Dec. 17 raises questions on how appointments shall be made.
Not restricted to hockey
Wendy MacGregor, an impartial secure sport marketing consultant, informed CBC Radio’s Information Morning that the issue will not be restricted to hockey.
She stated it’s pervasive in so-called “energy and efficiency sports activities” and crew sports activities like hockey, soccer, basketball and rugby.
MacGregor stated statistics present that male athletes are more prone to be concerned in sexual violence than the overall inhabitants.
Aggression is rewarded in energy and efficiency sports activities, MacGregor stated, and that type of aggression can be related to sexual drive in a optimistic means in that culture.
That results in athletes growing a sense of entitlement to intercourse, she stated.
MacGregor stated quite a lot of points should be addressed together with the truth that on the age of 14 or 15, teammates and coaches turn into the first affect on gamers relatively than their households.
Closed establishments like sports activities groups, the navy and fraternities can result in a hypermasculine and homogenous group identification that does not enable for impartial pondering, MacGregor stated.
She stated this may perpetuate “homophobic, racist and sexist ideologies” typically.
One answer, MacGregor stated, is to encourage athletes to take part more in native occasions and social causes in order to construct a connection to their neighborhood and a way of social accountability.
The emphasis on consuming and partying in crew bonding can even result in harmful outcomes, she stated.
“This extreme consuming culture and bragging about sexual exploits is definitely an ideal parallel to the behaviours which have been studied of convicted sexual offenders,” she stated.