In organized team sports, leadership on and off the field is constantly invoked as a highly prized ideal. Yet when it comes to men speaking out about other men's sexism or violence toward women, few high school boys, or adult men, have been willing to provide that leadership. This is not an insignificant failure. According to the U.S. surgeon general, battering is the leading cause of injury to women. One in four women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.
Sexual harassment is a daily fact of life for millions of women and girls.
And things aren't getting better. One recent survey showed that 25 percent of teens know someone in their school who has been in an abusive relationship. Most gender violence is perpetrated by men who are not athletes. But when male athletes in high school, college or the pros are caught treating women in stereotypically sexist, physically abusive or sexually assaultive ways, because of their status and prominence in male culture they reinforce the idea that being disrespectful to women is part of the very definition of being a man. When individual male athletes or entire men's sports organizations take an active public stance against gender violence, they set a powerful example for other men and boys.