A feminist appraisal of ethical concerns among women in sport psychology : subtitle a pilot study

• Main Author: Landau, Coreen Kayla
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12838

The struggle over women's involvement in sport is taking place during a time when male egos feel jeopardized by the demands of social change and gender equality. Sport, historically, has been a setting tainted by issues of race, class, and gender discrimination, and has contributed to the production and maintenance of "masculine" power: "images of ideal masculinity are constructed and promoted though competitive sport" (Costa & Guthrie, 1994, p. 342). Difficult ethical issues are prevalent in the world of sport, in particular in the area of sport psychology. Each individual has a sense of morality that governs decision-making, however, most people are relatively unaware of their basis of moral judgment (Malloy et al., 2000). Here a review of the literature that examines ethics in sport and sport psychology from a feminist standpoint is complemented by interviews with prominent female sport leaders in high performance sport. This pilot study will help to determine what kinds of further research are needed to improve the experiences of women engaged in sport.