Gymnastics, culture and athlete experience

Barker-Ruchti, N. (2009). Ballerinas and pixies: A genealogy of the changing female gymnastics body. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26(1), 45–62.

Barker-Ruchti, N. & Tinning, R. (2010). Foucault in leotards: Corporeal discipline in women's artistic gymnastics. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27(3), 229–250.

Barker-Ruchti, N. & Schubring, A. (2016). Moving into and out of high-performance sport: The cultural learning of an artistic gymnast. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 21(1), 69–80.

Barker-Ruchti, N., Kerr, R., Schubring, A., Cervin, G. & Nunomura, M. (2017). ‘Gymnasts are like wine, they get better with age’: Becoming and developing adult women's artistic gymnasts. Quest, 69(3), 348–365.

Barker-Ruchti, N., Schubring, A. & Stewart, C. (2020). Gendered violence in women's artistic gymnastics: A sociological analysis. In M. Lang (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Athlete Welfare (pp. 57–68). Routledge. 

Barker-Ruchti, N. & Varea, V. (2024).

Surviving child sexual abuse in women's artistic gymnastics: ‘It's beautiful, because had I stayed in the past, I wouldn't have evolved as a person’.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport.

Abuse, maltreatment and safeguarding in sport

Bjørnseth, I. & Szabo, A. (2018).

Sexual violence against children in sports and exercise: A systematic literature review.

Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 27(4), 365–385.

Brackenridge, C.H. (1997).

‘He owned me basically…’: Women's experience of sexual abuse in sport.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 32(2), 115–130.

Brackenridge, C.H. (2001).

Spoilsports: Understanding and Preventing Sexual Exploitation in Sport.

Routledge.

This is a publisher search link, not yet a confirmed direct book page.

Brackenridge, C.H. & Fasting, K. (2005).

The grooming process in sport: Narratives of sexual harassment and abuse.

Auto/Biography, 13(1), 33–52.

Brackenridge, C.H. & Kirby, S.L. (1997).

Playing safe: Assessing the risk of sexual abuse to elite child athletes.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 32(4), 407–418.

Fortier, K., Parent, S. & Lessard, G. (2020).

Child maltreatment in sport: Smashing the wall of silence: A narrative review of physical, sexual, psychological abuses and neglect.

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54, 4–7.

Khomutova, A., Chroni, S.A., Kavanagh, E., Ruffault, A., Miles, A., Moesch, K., Fontanesi, L., Nery, M. & Vertommen, T. (2025).

FEPSAC position statement on safeguarding athletes in sport.

Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 80, 102897.

DOI still needs final confirmation.

Mountjoy, M., Brackenridge, C., Arrington, M., Blauwet, C., Carska-Sheppard, A., Fasting, K., Kirby, S., Leahy, T., Marks, S., Martin, K., Starr, K., Tiivas, A. & Budgett, R. (2016).

International Olympic Committee consensus statement: Harassment and abuse (non-accidental violence) in sport.

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(17), 1019–1029.

British Journal of Sports Medicine

Ohlert, J., Vertommen, T., Rulofs, B., Rau, T. & Allroggen, M. (2021).

Elite athletes' experiences of interpersonal violence in organised sport in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

European Journal of Sport Science, 21(4), 604–613.

Stirling, A.E. & Kerr, G.A. (2008).

Defining and categorizing emotional abuse in sport.

European Journal of Sport Science, 8(4), 173–181.

Stirling, A.E. & Kerr, G.A. (2008).

Elite female swimmers' experiences of emotional abuse across time.

Journal of Emotional Abuse, 7(4), 89–113.

Tuakli-Wosornu, Y.A., Burrows, K., Fasting, K., Hartill, M., Hodge, K., Kaufman, K., Kavanagh, E., Kirby, S.L., MacLeod, J.G., Mountjoy, M., Parent, S., Tak, M., Vertommen, T. & Rhind, D.J.A. (2024).

IOC consensus statement: Interpersonal violence and safeguarding in sport.

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 58(22), 1322–1344.

British Journal of Sports Medicine

Vertommen, T., Schipper-van Veldhoven, N., Wouters, K., Kampen, J.K., Brackenridge, C.H., Rhind, D.J.A., Neels, K. & Van Den Eede, F. (2016).

Interpersonal violence against children in sport in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Child Abuse & Neglect, 51, 223–236.

Coercive control, autonomy and high-control systems

Lalich, J. (2004).

Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults.

University of California Press.

Lalich, J. (2026).

Brainwashing versus ‘free choice’: Responsibility for criminal acts by cult members.

In R. Peels, N. Kloosterboer & C. Ranalli (Eds.), Responsibility for Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors: Individual, Group, and Structural Factors (pp. 39–49). Oxford University Press.

Roberts, V.L., Galea, N. & King, T. (2026).

Coercive control of athletes: An insidious form of organisational violence in sport.

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 60(1), 78–79.

Stark, E. & Hester, M. (2019).

Coercive control: Update and review.

Violence Against Women, 25(1), 81–104.

Stark, E. (2024).

Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life (2nd ed.).

Oxford University Press.

[>>Institutional responses and secondary harm]

Institutional responses and secondary harm

Christl, M-E., Tran Pham, K-C., Rosenthal, A. & DePrince, A.P. (2024).

When institutions harm those who depend on them: A scoping review of institutional betrayal.

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 25(4), 2797–2813

Nite, C. & Nauright, J. (2020).

Examining institutional work that perpetuates abuse in sport organizations.

Sport Management Review, 23(1), 117–129.

Smith, C.P. & Freyd, J.J. (2014).

Institutional betrayal.

American Psychologist, 69(6), p 575–584

Survivor knowledge, lived expertise and participation

Bellingham, B., Kemp, H., Boydell, K., Isobel, S., Gill, K. & River, J. (2021).

Towards epistemic justice doing: Examining the experiences and shifts in knowledge of lived experience researchers over the course of a mental health research training programme.

International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30(6), 1588–1598.

Ochocka, J., Janzen, R. & Nelson, G. (2002).

Sharing power and knowledge: Professional and mental health consumer/survivor researchers working together in a participatory action research project.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 25(4), 379–387.

Thornton, J.S. & Richards, D. (2023).

Learning from ‘lived expertise’: Engaging athletes and patients in sport and exercise medicine research and policy.

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(4), 189–190.