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English Period 7

Mr. Aronson

Reasons for the Prevalence of Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence in

Professional Athletes

Intimate Partner Violence is classified as the domestic abuse of a person who is in an

intimate relationship with the abuser. IPV can be physical, mental, emotional, economic, or

sexual abuse of a partner. A more commonly known term (if somewhat too general) for IPV is

domestic violence. This pertains not just the spouses of the abuser but anyone within the home

who is being abused. Domestic Violence and IPV rates drop significantly as social class and

economic standing rise. For example, an upper middle class household would be less likely to

have a domestic violence or IPV problem than a family in a lower economic class. Although this

has been proven to be true time and time again, one group that does not fit in with this is

professional athletes. Professional athletes have a much higher rate of domestic violence and IPV

than is to be expected. Many have questioned, with this being said, why is domestic violence and

intimate partner violence so prevalent in professional athletes? Domestic violence and intimate

partner violence is commonly committed by professional athletes because the violence that is

inherent to the games they play on the field can accelerate or stimulate violence off the field, the
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social stature these athletes hold makes their actions seem more acceptable/there is a gross lack

of punishment, and finally, sometimes the “macho” sports culture that these athletes are

surrounded by make them feel the need to prove themselves men, with more conservative

attitudes towards women and their worth.

Because of most sports intrinsically violent nature, it is a fair assumption that it may be a

stimulant for violence off the field. “One of the NFL’s biggest problems off the field is domestic

violence,” according to Jon Shuppe from NBC News, “Over the last 14 years there have been 87

arrests involving 80 football players”(Wikipedia). We have all seen professional football players

tackle the opposing team members, but one of the major reasons that domestic violence is

frequently perpetrated by collegiate and professional athletes is because it's hard for them not to

take that violence home with them. Scholars and those interested in the psychology of violence

perpetrated by athletes, suggest that the violent behavior inherent to the sports environment,

particularly football, can be a potential accelerator of domestic violence in the home.

Another related suggestion about physical desensitization, made by Stanley Teitelbaum, a

Ph.D Clinical Psychologist is that, “A contributing factor to domestic violence among football

players may be they are desensitized to physical conduct because it is part of what they do all the

time. They're elite football players trained to be very aggressive and somewhat violent on the

field, that's the nature of the game and that's how they become important players. And sometimes

it's difficult for athletes to turn that off when they go back to their regular lives”(Rettner).

It can't be argued that athletes hold a certain social stature high above the rest of us, similar

to Hollywood celebrities. This may be a factor as to why they are often found to have committed

acts of domestic violence. The social standing comes with a sense of entitlement, and perhaps
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even thinking themselves to be above the law. This is only exacerbated by the lack of

punishment players face for the crimes they commit. For example, in the case of Giants kicker,

Josh Brown, the football league proved that they didn't really care about the heinous crimes he

had committed against his wife, and wasn't going to call him out or punish him. Brown was

arrested in 2015, charged with assaulting his wife. Police recorded that he had assaulted her

dozens of times, and once while she was pregnant. The Giants knew about Brown’s past crimes,

yet they re-signed him before the season began. The owner of the Giants, John K. Mara admitted

to knowing that Brown had been beating his wife.

Scott Goll, of the Bleacher Report speculates and makes another point that,

“ Pro athletes, I theorize, are used to getting what they want. They get the attention. They get the

money. To some extent, I believe there's a sense of entitlement ”(North). This being said, what

happens when a person of above average physical strength, a sense of entitlement and perhaps an

inherently aggressive personality has a disagreement with a partner? If they don't hear what they

want to hear or get what they want the way they are used to, maybe it reaches a point that the

dispute becomes physical.

There is significant evidence that players are not punished by the leagues they play for, or in

fact by the criminal justice system as harshly as a member of the general public. For example, in

1995, domestic violence cases involving professional athletes resulted in only a thirty six percent

conviction rate, whereas the general public conviction rate was seventy seven percent.

The NFL is extremely reluctant to punish athletes, seeming only to initiate more serious

suspensions if there is a public outcry. For example in the case of Ray Rice, after assaulting his

wife, he was only suspended for two games. Although when the video of him punching her in the
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face emerged, people were furious that the punishment wasn't more severe, which then led the

NFL to ban him from the NFL for life, which was later repealed anway.

In 2002, a journal by Brown, Nocera and Sumner, analyzed levels of aggression in male

athletes, along with how their levels of aggression related to their views on women, and levels of

sexual aggression towards women. They found that athletes with higher levels of aggression

that's the average person(which was most of the athletes), these athletes are likely to view

women as objects that they are entitled to, and entitled to do what they please with. They

concluded that the high levels of aggression found in elite athletes could lead to higher rates of

domestic violence and sexual assaults.

In society today, there is a disturbing trend in these elite athletes that they do not view

domestic violence and sexual assault as serious, and do not weigh the consequences of their

actions. Many athletes are surrounded by a subculture that objectifies women and views them as

“lesser beings.”

With all this being said, domestic violence and intimate partner violence are real, important

issues that are not only being perpetrated by athletes. While it is true that the violent nature of the

sports they play, the lack of punishments for domestic abuse crimes and the “macho” sports

culture do contribute to the high number of athletes committing domestic violence acts, it is an

issue that many “normal” people face everyday, and do those people really deserve to be looking

at the TV and see some football star getting away with the exact thing her husband or partner is

doing to her? Not only do the leagues needs to properly discipline their players, but the judicial

system needs to do its due diligence, no matter the social standing of the accused. How can we

fight these problems if we bend the rules for people just because they're famous or successful?
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Work Cited

Marlin, Kynan. "Domestic Violence is a crime, and athletes are not above it." ​The State Press,​  

The State Press, 24 Oct. 2016, 

www.statepress.com/article/2016/10/spopinon-harsher-punishment-for-athletes-involved-

domestic-violence. 

North, Anna. "The Link Between Athletes and Domestic Violence." ​Jezabel.com​, jezabel.com, 

13 Sept. 2011, ezebel.com/5839795/the-link-between-athletes-and-domestic-violence. 

Kay-Phillips, Jerri. "Unnecessary Roughness: The NFL's History of Domestic Violence and the 

Need for Immediate Change." ​Berkley.edu​, Berkley, 17 May 2017, 

scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=bjesl 

Rettner, Rachel. "Are Pro Athletes Prone to Violence." ​livescience,​ livescience, 23 Sept. 2014, 

www.livescience.com/47949-pro-athletes-domestic-violence.html. 

Repetto, Nicole K. "Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Pro Athletes." ​emich.edu​, 

emich.edu, 2016, 

commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1483&context=honors. 

"Athletes and domestic violence." ​Wikipedia​, wikipedia, Mar. 2017, 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletes_and_domestic_violence. 

 
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