
Shreds of Memory:
A First-Person Narrative of Sexual Acquaintance-
Exploitation in a Youth Sport Experience
Lars Dzikus
The University of Tennessee
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ABSTRACT Studies on childhood sexual abuse often represent perpetrators and survivors as faceless “them” with brief excerpts from interviews, removed from the person who lived the experience. This study provides an in-depth, first-person narrative from a survivor of sexual exploitation in sport. Inspired by autoethnography, the narrative draws on personal memories to illustrate the profile of the groomer/seducer and his target. The text discusses the processes of gaining access, grooming, seducing, resisting, doubting, and distancing, as well as long-term effects. The paper is aimed to help raise awareness about the significance of sexual exploitation in youth sport for sport psychology professionals. Whereas previous research has mostly provided “snippet” accounts across cases, this narrative allows the reader to follow the development of an abusive coach-athlete relationship from beginning to end. The author calls practitioners to action and for further research to examine how the culture of sport contributes to sexual exploitation. In order to view this article in it's entirety, you must purchase this issue of Athletic Insight which is available through our partnership with Nova Science Publishing. Yearly subscriptions to the journal are also available for purchase. We thank you for your continued patronage.
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