Sexual misconduct includes any kind of inappropriate or unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature. It includes sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual grooming.

Sexual misconduct is never ok. It does happen, and we need to make sure everyone involved in sport and recreation is safe and free from this harmful behaviour.

Sexual misconduct is unwanted, inappropriate or illegal sexual behaviour. It can be unlawful and is unacceptable in sport and recreation.

You or someone you know may experience or be affected by harmful sexual behaviour. It can affect anyone. Sexual misconduct includes:

• unwanted sexual touching, contact, staring or leering

• unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against you

• forcing or pressuring you into sexual activity

• unwanted sexual attention or comments, for example, asking about your sexual preferences or history, or making sexual comments about you

• an adult making any sexual contact or comments towards someone under 16, regardless of whether the young person consents to the behaviour

• an adult developing a relationship with a child, young person, or vulnerable person to lead to sexual contact. This is often known as grooming

• someone using a position of power or trust to enter into a sexual or intimate relationship

• someone taking, sharing or showing images of a sexual nature without your consent

• sending you unwanted sexually explicit or suggestive emails, texts, or other social media messages.

Sexual abuse is sexual activity where consent isn’t or can’t be given. It is illegal. Always take complaints seriously: it can happen to anyone, and the abuser can be someone you know.

Abusers sometimes use their position of power or trust to start an unwanted or inappropriate sexual or intimate relationship. In sport and recreation, it could be a coach, support person, or teammate targeting vulnerable or younger participants.

Sexual abuse often involves grooming or coercion. For adults, grooming can make it seem like the sex is consensual but it may not be.

Sexual harassment is unwelcome or offensive sexual behaviour. It can be discrimination and against the law. Making offensive sexual jokes, asking you unwanted sexual questions about your sex life or unwanted sexual advances are all forms of sexual harassment.

It can be a single incident or repeated behaviour. It is still sexual harassment even if the person doesn’t know or realise they are being offensive.

Read sexual harassment guidelines from the Human Rights Commission – tikatangata.org.nz

Grooming can happen at any level of sport and recreation. It can happen to anyone, of any age. Often the person grooming others is friendly, trusted, and gets on with everyone.

Grooming happens over time, and can be in person, online or over social media. It’s when someone slowly builds a trusted relationship to break down barriers with the intention of sexually abusing a person. They may also build relationships with the person’s friends, teammates, family and whānau.

It’s hard to spot if you don’t know what to look for. Recognising the behaviour early on helps stop it progressing further.

Grooming behaviour you might see or experience yourself.

• Targeting a vulnerable person, for example, someone who is having a hard time at home.

• Building trust and friendship. Spending more time with them than necessary, buying gifts, making them feel extra special by acting like their best friend.

• Isolating and controlling a person; building loyalty. Creating a situation where they are alone with the abuser through restricting access to friends and family. Making them feel they can only rely on the abuser.

• Making the person being groomed feel guilty or bad. Saying they owe them for the time and effort the abuser has spent on them.

• Sexual abuse and secrecy. Pushing verbal or physical boundaries over time. For example, sexually explicit jokes or inappropriate touching. Threatening the person if they tell anyone what’s happened.

Child grooming

Recognising child grooming and what you can do

Anyone can experience sexual misconduct. It’s not your fault and you’re not alone. It can happen at any level of sport and recreation. While it can be more likely to happen to women, men can also be sexually abused or harassed.

The risk of sexual misconduct is greater when:

• there’s opportunity, for example, at an overnight training camp

• there are vulnerable team members who may be seen as easy targets

• there is a power imbalance, for example, a coach targeting an athlete

• organisations or clubs don’t have adequate training or policies about preventing sexual misconduct.

It is the abuser who is ultimately responsible for causing sexual harm. But recognising when sexual misconduct is happening, and knowing what to do, can help protect people.

Sport and recreation organisations are responsible for taking the right steps to protect you and others against harm. They should have policies, guidelines and education resources that promote awareness and help protect participants from sexual misconduct.

It’s everyone’s responsibility to act if you suspect someone is being sexually abused, sexually harassed or groomed. If you know what to look for you can take action to protect people.

It is important to remember that everyone who experiences sexual abuse or misconduct responds differently. Instead of only focusing on specific signs, it is important to notice patterns or unexplained changes in health, behaviours, and attitude. This can help you recognise that something might be wrong and take action to support that person.

While these signs could be for any number of reasons, you may notice the following changes in someone who is being sexually abused or harassed.

• Changes in a person’s appearance, unexplained or uncommon injuries, stress-related symptoms like repeated stomach aches, headaches.

• A loss of self-esteem, confidence or mana.

• Sudden or unexplained changes in mood, increased anxiety, or signs of depression.

• Risk-taking behaviour or self-harm.

• Suicidal thoughts or attempts.

• Poor performance, losing interest or dropping out of the sport or activity.

• Sexual knowledge or behaviour that is not age and stage appropriate.

• Preferring to be alone or avoiding team gatherings and social events. Making excuses not to attend practice.

• Avoiding certain individuals, places, or activities without a clear reason.

Learn how to safeguard and protect participants