Unraveling Gender and Non-Accidental Violence in Women’s Gymnastics Research: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Figures & data

Figure 1. Gender as a social structure. Adapted from Scarborough and Risman (2017, p. 2).

Figure 2. Flowchart of literature search strategy and screening process.

Table 1. The matrix of violence and gender construction.

	Gender Absent (GA)	Gender Implicit (GI)	Gender Explicit (GE)
Violence Absent (VA)	Not in scope	17
Violence Implicit (VI)	16, 18, 22, 34, 37, 39, 45	10, 12, 13, 15, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 38, 41, 42, 43	11, 19, 20, 21, 23, 27, 30, 33, 44
Violence Explicit (VE)	40	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9	14

Table 2. The list of the reviewed articles where gender was absent.

GA & VI
16.	Bortoleto, M. A. C., & Schiavon, L. M. (2016) Artistic gymnastics - why do coaches resist change? Sports Coaching Review 5(1), 4.
18.	Cavallerio, F., Wadey, R., & Wagstaff, C. R. (2016). Understanding overuse injuries in rhythmic gymnastics: A 12-month ethnographic study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 25, 100–109.
22.	Costa, V. R., Rodrigues Marques, R. F., dos Santos Oliveira, M., & Nunomura, M. (2020). “Puppets” in women’s artistic gymnastics: the coach-gymnast relationship from Pierre Bourdieu’s lens. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 12(3), 367–380.
34.	Lavallee, D., & Robinson, H. K. (2007). In pursuit of an identity: A qualitative exploration of retirement from women’s artistic gymnastics. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8(1), 119–141.
37.	Oliveira, M. (2016) Unveiling the microculture of a high-performance women’s artistic gymnastics gymnasium. Sports Coaching Review, 5(2), 205–207.
39.	Schiavon, L. M., Paes, R. R., Moreira, A., & Maia, G. B. M. (2011). The formation of Brazilian female gymnasts taking part in the Olympic Games (1980–2004). Science of Gymnastics, 5, 5–14.
45.	Zurc, J. (2017). It was worth it-I would do it again!: Phenomenological perspectives on life in the elite women’s artistic gymnastics. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 9(1), 41–59.
GA & VE
40.	Smits, F., Jacobs, F. & Knoppers, A. (2016). ‘Everything revolves around gymnastics’ How elite athletes and their parents make sense of practices in women’s gymnastics that challenges a positive pedagogical culture. Sports in Society, 20(1), 66–83.

Table 3. The list of reviewed articles where gender was implicit.

GI & VA
17.	Carbinatto, M. V., Gamarano de Freitas, E., & Dessupoio Chaves, A. (2016). Women’s artistic gymnastics coaches in Brazil: From opportunity to Olympic Games. Sports Coaching Review, 5(2), 163–173.
GI & VI
10.	Barker-Ruchti, N. (2008). “They must be working hard”: An (auto-)ethnographic account of women’s artistic gymnastics, Cultural Studies <–> Critical Methodologies, 8(3), 372–380.
12.	Barker-Ruchti, N., Kerr, R., Schubring, A., Nunomura, M., & Cervin, G. (2016). “Gymnasts are like wine, they get better with age”: Becoming and developing adult women’s artistic gymnasts. Quest, 69(3), 348–365.
13.	Barker-Ruchti, N., & Schubring, A. (2016). Moving into and out of high-performance sport: The cultural learning of one women’s artistic gymnast. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 21(1), 69–80.
15.	Bloodworth, A., McNamee, M., & Tan, J. (2017). Autonomy, eating disorders and elite gymnastics: ethical and conceptual issues, Sport, Education and Society, 22(8), 878–889.
24.	Eagleman, A. N., Rodenberg, R. M., & Lee, S. (2014). From ‘hollow-eyed pixies’ to ‘team of adults’: Media portrayals of Olympic women’s gymnastics before and after an increased minimum age policy. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 6(3), 401–421.
25.	Kerr, G., Berman, E., & Souza, M. J. D. (2006). Disordered eating in women’s gymnastics: Perspectives of athletes, coaches, parents, and judges. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 18(1), 28–43.
26.	Kerr, G. & Dacyshyn, A. (2000). The retirement experiences of elite, female gymnasts, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 12(2), 115–133.
28.	Kerr, R. (2014). From Foucault to Latour: Gymnastics training as a socio-technical network. Sociology of Sport Journal, 31(1), 85–101.
29.	Kerr, R., & Barker-Ruchti, N. (2014). Women’s artistic gymnastics in Australia and New Zealand: A Foucauldian examination of the relationship between sport governance and consumption. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 39(5), 396–411.
31.	Kerr, R., Barker-Ruchti, N., Schubring, A., Cervin, G., & Nunomura, M. (2019). Coming of age: Coaches transforming the pixie-style model of coaching in women’s artistic gymnastics. Sports Coaching Review, 8(1), 7–24.
32.	Kerr, R., & Moore, K. (2015). Hard work or child’s play? Migrant coaches’ reflections on coaching gymnastics in New Zealand. World Leisure Journal, 57(3), 185–195.
35.	Neves, C. M., Filgueiras Meireles, J. F., Berbert de Carvalho, P. H., Schubring, A., Barker-Ruchti, N., & Caputo Ferreira, M. E. (2017). Body dissatisfaction in women’s artistic gymnastics: A longitudinal study of psychosocial indicators. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(17), 1745–1751.
36.	Nunomura, M. Kerr, R., Cervin, G., Schubring, A., & Barker-Ruchti, N. (2019). The code of points and the career development in women’s artistic gymnastics. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 11(1), 5–14.
38.	Oliver, M. F. E., & Palmer, C. (2018). Marvel, machine or malnourished: exploring the sociology of the body in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 12(1), 235–262.
41.	Smits, F., Jacobs, F., & Knoppers, A. (2022). ‘Can you deny her that?’ Processes of governmentality and socialization of parents in elite women’s gymnastics. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(May). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.829352.
42.	Stewart, C., Schiavon, L., & Bellotto, M. (2015). Knowledge, nutrition and coaching pedagogy: A perspective from Brazilian Olympic gymnasts. Sport, Education and Society, 22(4), 511–527.
43.	Stirling, A. E., Cruz, L. C., & Kerr, G. A. (2012). Influence of retirement on body satisfaction and weight control behaviors: Perceptions of elite rhythmic gymnasts. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 24(2), 129–143.
GI & VE
1.	Cervin, G., Kerr, R., Barker-Ruchti, N., Schubring, A., & Nunomura, M. (2017). Growing up and speaking out: female gymnasts’ rights in an ageing sport. Annals of Leisure Research, 20(3), 317–330.
2.	Edelman, M. & Pacella, J.M. (2019). Vaulted into victims: Preventing further sexual abuse in US Olympic sports through unionisation and improved governance. Arizona Law Review, 61, 463–504.
3.	Fisher, L. A., & Anders, A. D. (2020). Engaging with cultural sport psychology to explore systemic sexual exploitation in USA gymnastics: A call to commitments. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 32(2), 129–145.
4.	Jacobs, F., Smits, F., & Knoppers, A. (2017). ‘You don’t realise what you see!’: the institutional context of emotional abuse in elite youth sport. Sport in Society, 20(1), 126–143.
5.	Mountjoy, M. (2019). ‘Only by speaking out can we create lasting change’: what can we learn from the Dr Larry Nassar tragedy? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(1), 57–60.
6.	Novkov, J. (2019). Law, policy, and sexual abuse in the# MeToo movement: USA gymnastics and the agency of minor athletes. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 40(1), 42–74.
7.	Pinheiro, M. C., Pimenta, N., Resende, R. & Malcom, D. (2014) Gymnastics and child abuse: an analysis of former international Portuguese female artistic gymnasts, Sport, Education and Society, 19(4), 435–450.
8.	Way, A. K. (2021). Cruel optimism as organizing strategy in USA Gymnastics: The threat of high-stakes organizations in precarious times. Human Relations: doi.org/10.1177/00187267211054689.
9.	Salim, J., & Winter, S. (2022). “I still wake up with nightmares” The long-term psychological impacts from gymnasts’ maltreatment experiences. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology: doi.org/10.1037/spy0000302.

Table 4. The list of reviewed articles where gender was explicit.

GE & VI
11.	Barker-Ruchti, N. (2009). Ballerinas and pixies: A genealogy of the changing female gymnastics body, The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26(1), 45–62.
19.	Cervin, G. (2015). Making meaning of the 1970s east-west gymnastics tours: Diplomacy, detente, and professionalising women’s artistic gymnastics. Sporting Traditions, 32(2), 85.
20.	Cervin, G. (2020) “Ringing the changes: How the relationship between the International Gymnastics Federation and the International Olympic Committee has shaped gymnastics policy”. Sport History Review, 51, 46–63.
21.	Chisholm, A. (1999). Defending the nation: National bodies, US borders, and the 1996 US Olympic women’s gymnastics team. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 23(2), 126–139.
23.	Duarte, L. H., Carbinatto, M., & Nunomura, M. (2015). Artistic gymnastics and fear: Reflections on its causes. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 7, 7–21.
27.	Kerr, R. (2006). The impact of Nadia Comaneci on the sport of women’s artistic gymnastics. Sporting Traditions, 23(1), 87–102.
30.	Kerr, R., Barker-Ruchti, N., Schubring, A., Cervin, G., & Nunomura, M. (2018). The role of setting in the field: The positioning of older bodies in the field of elite women’s gymnastics. Sociology, 52(4), 727–743.
33.	Kerr, R., & Obel, C. (2015). The disappearance of the perfect 10: Evaluating rule changes in women’s artistic gymnastics. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 32(2), 318–331.
44.	Weber, J., & Barker-Ruchti, N. (2012). Bending, floating, flirting, flying: A critical analysis of 1970s gymnastics photographs. Sport Sociology Journal, 29(1), 22–41.
GE & VE
14.	Barker-Ruchti, N. & Tinning, R. (2010) Foucault in leotards: Corporeal discipline in women’s artistic gymnastics, Sociology of Sport Journal, 27, 229–250.

Scarborough, W. J., & Risman, B. J. (2017). Changes in the gender structure: Inequality at the individual, interactional and macro dimensions. Sociology Compass, 11(10), e12515. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12515

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