University of Tasmania
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‘I hurt myself because it sometimes helps’: former athletes’ embodied emotion responses to abuse using self-injury

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 09:11 authored by Jennifer McMahonJennifer McMahon, McGannon, KR
In this paper, narrative analysis using a story analyst approach is used to explore how three former athletes (i.e. amateur and elite swimmers) selfmanaged their abuse experiences post-sport with a focus on the use, and meaning, of ‘indirect self-injury’ forms. Using the concept of ‘emotion work’, the swimmers’ stories show how they reconfigured the emotions associated with the legacy of abuse by using indirect selfinjury (e.g. eating disorder; abuse of prescription medications; excessive alcohol use; promiscuity) as embodied resources, after they were left to fend for themselves post-sport. As acquired resources within their selfstories, indirect forms of self-injury assisted them to reconfigure the trauma of abuse into something that was more manageable (i.e. ‘emotion work’). While ‘emotion work’ was storied as successful for the three swimmers in the short term, the potential long-term health consequences of self-injury (i.e. kidney disease; liver damage; unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, death) were imminent. These findings highlight the need for sporting stakeholders to extend their duty of care to athletes, particularly abused athletes, post-sport.

History

Publication title

Sport, Education and Society

Volume

26

Pagination

161-174

ISSN

1470-1243

Department/School

Faculty of Education

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Other culture and society not elsewhere classified; Other education and training not elsewhere classified; Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) not elsewhere classified