It’s true that SafeSport does address bullying in the training and regulations, and I’m sure they regularly receive complaints about bullying. But it wasn’t created to address a bullying epidemic … it was created because sports had been giving rapists and child molesters easy access to victims and allowing them to fly under the radar even when people knew something was wrong.
Have there been any long term suspensions for bullying? I haven’t heard of any, but I also haven’t followed the list all that closely. It seems like the vast majority of the suspensions I’ve heard of have been for sexual misconduct of some sort, as well as a few due to criminal records. Without looking up the statistics, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, it’s also been >95% men, most of whom are trainers that work with minors, and the few women have often been suspended due to willful ignorance of a man’s sexual misconduct rather than perpetrating the abuse themselves. I do recall someone mentioning one woman suspended for sexual misconduct with student above, so there are rare exceptions, but overall it’s a very strong trend.
IMO, that is exactly who I would expect it to be … not the 40-year-old lady who rides as an amateur at a dressage barn full of adults. Hence, my comment that the oft-quoted phrase that “it’s always who you’d least expect” isn’t really accurate, but rather a way of rationalizing when you’ve been fooled by a predator.
