Digital Violations: Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence in Canadian Sport

Violence Against Women. 2026 Mar 10:10778012261425945. doi: 10.1177/10778012261425945. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Through an analysis of 91 publicly reported legal cases of technology-facilitated sexual violence against women and children in Canadian sport, this paper examines the role that digital technologies play in sexual violence in sport and the criminal legal response to it. Drawing on feminist perspectives on law, sport, and gender-based violence and Science and Technology Studies, the paper explores how digital technologies can facilitate violence within sporting cultures commonly characterized by misogyny and toxic masculinities, and have varying impacts in a criminal legal system where digital evidence may be viewed as more credible than the victims reporting harm. Through this analysis, this paper reveals the intersections of technology, sexual violence, sport, and the law.

PMID:41804747 | DOI:10.1177/10778012261425945