AP: Sex assaults in high school sports minimized as ‘hazing’
The Georgia school district said it was investigating the baseball players for “misbehaviour” and “inappropriate physical contact.” What it didn’t reveal was that a younger teammate had reported being sexually assaulted.
Even after players were later disciplined for sexual battery, the district cited student confidentiality to withhold details from the public and used “hazing” to describe the incident, which it also failed to report to the state as required.
Across the U.S., perhaps nowhere is student-on-student sexual assault as dismissed or as camouflaged as in boys’ sports, an Associated Press investigation found. Mischaracterized as hazing and bullying, the violence is so normalized on some teams that it persists for years, as players attacked one season become aggressors the next.
Coaches frequently say they’re not aware of what’s happening. But AP found multiple cases where coaches knew and failed to intervene or, worse, tried to cover it up.