Crossing the line : violence and sexual assault in Canada's national sport / Laura Robinson.

When Sheldon Kennedy of the Boston Bruins revealed that while a junior player with the Swift Current Broncos he was molested more than 300 times by his coach, Graham James, a sportlight was thrown on the situation of abuse of and by young players.

The abuse takes many forms. It may be overtly sexual. It may be an overwhelming pressure on players – removed from the support of their families and often living far from home – to perform and to fit in. It often takes the form of degrading hazing rituals, many of which have violent sexual overtones, designed to take the players beyond their inhibitions and the normal limits of their aggression.

In Crossing the line, Robinson shows how the institutionalized abuse in hockey turns the players themselves into abusers. Yet when accusations are levelled against the players, team managers and owners rally around to protect them, applying pressure to have the charges dropped or the accuser discredited.

- Adapted from book jacket.

Crossing the line can be found on the shelves at GV 847 .R56 1998