Sextortion is corruption due to its inherent abuse of power.
The abuse of power and the improper solicitation of sexual favors are the key elements in the definition of sextortion. This is how Whitney Bragagnolo and Yanei Lezama conceptualize it in the development of their doctoral thesis titled Sextortion in sport: an applied ethics approach to misconduct.
Although sextortion occurs across various sectors and industries, its study within the sports system has been limited, despite being a persistent and structural phenomenon.
Sextortion is shaped by asymmetric power relationships, such as those between executives, coaches, athletes, volunteers, and staff within public or private sports organizations.
One of the systemic — and at times deliberate — failures of the sports governance model, which is characterized by self-reinforcing autonomy, is its tendency to treat sexual violence as an isolated, individual act. This perspective ignores its structural roots: abuse of power, a culture of censorship, and gender dynamics that enable sextortion and other forms of exploitation — many of which are tolerated within elite sport.
Although gender dynamics have primarily affected women, it is important to recognize that the system also reproduces functional roles that allow some women to act in support of perpetrators, often as a strategy to preserve privileges within the power structure. This was affirmed by one of the athletes we interviewed for this article.
In sport, sextortion is manifested as covert pressure to engage in sexual acts in exchange for benefits such as sponsorships, contracts, playing time, or the opportunity to remain in competition. The threat of losing these opportunities constitutes a central coercive mechanism.
At least five structural factors can be identified that facilitate sextortion in sport, alongside other forms of corruption: (1) concentration of authority without oversight, (2) deep power imbalances within sports structures, (3) a culture of silence, (4) values associated with sport such as relentless self-overcoming, and (5) inadequate legislation that reinforces the autonomy of sports organizations. This article describes how private actors use discursive strategies in the global governance of sport by relying on the model of self-reinforcing autonomy..
See, for example, Human Rights Watch’s 2021 report on the institutionalized acceptance of abuse in sports contexts, which documents how power structures conceal patterns of systematic violence.
In the sports systems, formal regulations coexist with informal practices that significantly influence the behavior of athletes, coaches, administrators, and volunteers. These dynamics foster the formation of power and favor-exchange networks, where personal connections, unconditional loyalty, and a culture of silence serve to protect perpetrators and reproduce corrupt structures.
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