Bio:
Laura Robinson is a former national champion in rowing; a provincial champion in cross-country skiing and cycling, and former member of the national cycling team. In 1990, she was named as one of the top ten most influential people in Canadian cycling after winning a two year battle for equal prize money in bike races in the City of Toronto. From 1985 to 1988, she worked with a small team of people who supported Justine Blainey's right to play hockey on a boy's team, which resulted in victories at the Supreme Court of Canada and at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and were one of the first groups to successfully use the sex equality guarantees of section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 1990 this work led the Canadian Olympic Committee to appoint her one of five women to represent Canada at the International Olympic Academy ? a school that studies issues in sport run by the International Olympic Committee. She has written extensively on the Flying Fourteen ? the women ski jumpers who took the Vancouver Organizing Committee to court, arguing that their Charter rights to equality were infringed because there was no women's ski jumping at the Olympics.
Since 1990, Laura has been a full-time sports journalist, writing six books that have garnered a number of national and international awards. She was also the first Canadian journalist to write about sexual harassment and abuse when her piece, 'Sexual Abuse: Sport's Dirty Little Secret' was published in the Toronto Star in 1992. In 1993 she partnered with CBC TV's the Fifth Estate on a documentary on the sexual abuse of athletes that won North America's top journalism award, the Investigative Researcher's and Editor's Award, and was short-listed for the Roland Mitchener Award for public service in journalism. In 1996 she and the fifth estate followed up with 'On Thin Ice? - an unflinching look at sexual abuse within junior hockey. Her book Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada's National Sport (1998) won the Human Kintetics Award from the University of Windsor, and she won the prestigious Play the Game Award in Copenhagen, Denmark for her years of research into the rape culture of Junior Hockey. Other titles and awards include Black Tights; Women, Sport and Sexuality (deconstructing commodification of female athletes), Great Girls: Profiles of Great Canadian Athletes (children?s book; number one best-seller), Cyclist BikeList: The Book For Every Rider (2010 silver medal Book of the Year Award, American Librarian's Association); Grey-Bruce Woman of Distinction Award and the Debowin Citation, or Truth Award, from the Union of Ontario Indians after her research showed there was not a single Aboriginal athlete on Canada's team to the Vancouver Winter Olympics. She also covers international sports events, and runs a girl's skiiing program sponsored by the Canadian Federation of University Women. On June 8, 2012, Laura will receive an Honourary Doctorate from York University's Faculty of Health in recognition of her commitment to equality in sport and physical activity.
Title of paper:
'National Dream or Nightmare: Sexual Violence and the Glorification of Hockey at the Vancouver Olympics and Stanley Cup Playoffs'
Abstract:
This paper examines the history and patterns of sex discrimination associated with highly-competitive sports events such as the Olympics, and also discusses elevated levels of sexual assault occurring at the Vancouver Olympics and Stanley Cup play-offs in Canada.