If We Can’t Talk About It, We Can’t Change It: Stigma in Sports | We Ride Together

At #WeRideTogether, our mission is to make sport environments safe for all athletes. We are committed to creating the radical change to fulfill that vision by addressing education and awareness, creating a safe place for survivors to find resources and share their voices, and eliminating the stigma around these necessary conversations. This blog post unpacks the concept of stigma and its impacts on individuals and communities in relation to safe and healthy sporting environments and the protection of all athletes.

What is stigma, and what does it have to do with sports?

Simply put, stigma is when an individual is seen as less than or different because of an identity or experience, leading to judgment, exclusion, shame, and/or unfair treatment.

“Stigma is a social phenomenon. It is groups that are the target of stigma, but it is individuals who pay the price.”¹

Some common stigmas include mental health stigma, addiction and substance abuse stigma, illness-related stigma such as HIV/AIDS or disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ stigma. This means that people may judge or avoid someone with a mental health condition, or blame or shame someone with an addiction instead of recognizing addiction as a health issue. People with an illness or disability may be excluded or unfairly treated because others do not understand their condition.

Or, people may experience discrimination or rejection based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. For example, when looking at sexual stigma in sports, “Felt stigma can shape behaviors – such as sports involvement patterns. Enacted stigma includes overt expressions of sexual stigma; thus, it entails mistreatment in sports contexts because of sexual prejudice.”²

In sports, many stigmas can affect athletes, including those listed above. For example, stigma towards those who are victims or survivors of abuse may lead to silence, shame, fear of losing playing time, fear of not being believed, isolation, blame, not asking for help, and/or pressure to protect the team, coach, or organization. Stigma in sport may also arise from minimizing harm, normalizing harmful behaviors, experiencing sanctions for anti-doping violations, menstruating, and other health conditions like eating disorders and REDs (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport). Research has found “through the testimonies of athletes, stigma was evidenced through reputational damage, public condemnation, and exclusion from communities.”³

These stigmas may sound like:

“Mental health struggles are a weakness.”
“Winning matters more than well-being.”
“Real athletes push through pain.”
“Speaking up will ruin the team.”
“If you stayed, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

These phrases elucidate how social conceptions can discredit, label, condemn, and/or exclude individuals with an attribute or experience.

The bottom line – stigma tells individuals, victims/survivors, athletes, etc., to stay silent. Stigma grows in such silence. And the less we talk about something, the more people are isolated and cut off from support, feeling unsafe and misunderstood.

Why is there stigma?

Stigmas can develop at the individual or internalized/personal level through collective and public influences, as well as through systematic and institutional influences. “Public stigma is a belief about others’ perceptions, and personal stigma is one’s own beliefs…and personal stigma may harm self-esteem when one sees oneself as part of a stigmatized group.”⁴

Stigma arises in human behavior through “othering.” Based on our judgments, fears, desires for peace and harmony, need for control, competence, survival, and learnings from society, our families, our religion, our experiences, etc., humans categorize attributes. What can happen, though, is that our beliefs are not challenged or updated with accurate information, and such groupings can foster stigma that harms us and others.

What about Stereotypes, Bias, Prejudices, Discrimination, and Taboos?

Stereotypes, bias, prejudices, discrimination, taboos, and stigma are all connected, and these concepts can intersect, overlap, and lead to one another.

Stereotypes are oversimplified beliefs about a group that can lead to assumptions and bias. Bias is unfair favoritism towards groups that can affect decisions and the treatment of others. Prejudice is a negative attitude and irrational opinion about others that can lead to unfair treatment, exclusion, and harassment. Taboo topics are socially forbidden subjects, often shaped by cultural norms that foster secrecy and disapproval. Together, these concepts, relying on negative generalizations, cognitive distortions, and intolerance, can feed into stigma.

Together, these forces influence how stigma is built and reinforced, shaping how people are treated.

What are the impacts of stigma?

When someone experiences stigma, they may not seek the help they need or face barriers, judgment, or harm in seeking it. Research has found that “stigma has been linked to poor mental health, physical illness, academic underachievement, infant mortality, low social status, poverty, and reduced access to housing, education, and jobs.”⁵ Stigma can cause self-doubt and impact one’s lifelong decision-making, health and wellbeing, inclusion, access to resources, and reputation. They may experience further abuse and misconduct interpersonally and systematically.

“Now I have an indelible stamp which is still a problem today to get a new job.”⁶

“When you realize [you went] from the point of being number one and everybody wanting to stand next to you to suddenly finding yourself at the bottom, with everyone turning their back on you..these are the really hard times.”⁷

“If we’ve had education about energy deficiency or something similar, then you’ve already established that it’s something that should be openly discussed. This makes it feel like it’s not a personal issue but rather a topic that we should address – it’s nothing strange.”⁸

“You don’t want them to think that you’re not handling the pressure…That’s the thing with athletes, like you’re not really supposed to show your weaknesses kind of thing, ‘cause that like lets your competitors know, so that’s why a lot of the time you wouldn’t go see the psychologist or whatever, just ‘cause that becomes your weakness.”⁹

“The organization’s only concern was protecting their reputation, not the athletes … My teammates and fellow survivors wanted someone to hold accountable that wasn't him, and they blamed me. We were all sent on the road together a week later, and I faced extreme bullying and ostracization from them.”¹⁰

“One barrier for parents is the stigma of reporting, particularly if it concerns a boy child.”¹¹

What can we do to reduce stigma?

What we believe about certain things or groups carries huge weight in our actions and those of others. The more we increase our self-awareness and make informed choices, the more we can dismantle prohibitive and harmful belief systems that can negatively impact others.

Self-evaluate. What prejudices and biases may I have that are impacting my current perceptions? What subjects do I feel are taboo, and why? Am I acting and thinking out of fear? It can be helpful to increase our awareness of why we think the things we do and to challenge whether those thoughts and beliefs are still accurate and truly reflect how we want to operate.
Educate and re-educate. Approach topics that you may have strong opinions about or are unfamiliar with with curiosity. Seek to understand the facts behind mental illness, survivorship, disability, etc., to gain more accurate perceptions. Have factual, educational conversations with youth and athletes early and often to reduce stigma.
Normalize and Empathize. Rather than judge or alienate, acknowledge the statistics and realities that each human may and can experience being “othered” for some aspect of their identity or experience that they have had. Supporting ourselves and others in getting the help they need as soon as possible reduces further harm and costs, personally and publicly.
Be mindful. Do no further harm in perpetuating existing stigmas. This includes watching our language and behaviors when we speak about, speak to, and treat others.
Engage as a safe, active bystander. If you see someone enacting a stigma or engaging in abuse or misconduct, do your part to intervene safely, interrupt the behavior, and support the person in need.

What to do if you are dealing with stigma?

Experiencing stigma is never your fault, and you are not alone. Nothing is wrong with you regarding your identity or experience that makes you less worthy of respect, support, or feeling safe. Stigma is truly about others’ misunderstandings and fears, some of which we may have internalized.

Now is the time to find safe avenues to share your experience and access resources or support. It can be very scary and difficult to make that choice. A trusted friend, a safe adult, a therapist, or a service can be an outlet for you to share your experience without backlash. It may be helpful to weigh the pros and cons of staying silent versus seeking support. You may want to consider which doors may open, such as protection and healing, if you speak up, and which stay closed if stigma goes unchallenged. These strategies may help you increase agency and open up options.

Dually, align with others. You do not have to carry stigma alone. It can be empowering and healing to serve as an ally for someone else experiencing stigma. Together, we can shed light on what’s been silenced and shift our culture in a positive direction where support, safety, and inclusion are the norm.

If you or someone you know needs support, visit our crisis resources.

‍

Kathryn McClain, MSW, MBA
Program and Partnerships Director at #WeRideTogether
kmcclain@weridetogether.today

To Learn More About Stigma (Examples)

Andersen et al., 2002
Knoester & Allison, 2023
Lockett et al., 2026
Kaier et al., 2015
Major & O’Brien, 2005
Lockett et al., 2026
Lockett et al., 2026
Höök et al., 2026
Gulliver et al., 2012
#WeRideTogether, 2026
Tuakli-Wosornu et al., 2023

References

Andersen, M. M., Varga, S., & Folker, A. P. (2022). On the definition of stigma. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 28(5), 847–853. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.13684
Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., Gallinaro, J. G. M. E., Falcão, R. S., Gouttebarge, V., Hitchcock, M. E., Hainline, B., Reardon, C. L., & Stull, T. (2019). Mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes: A systematic review on cultural influencers and barriers to athletes seeking treatment. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(11), 707–721. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100710
Gulliver, A., Griffiths, K. M., & Christensen, H. (2012). Barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking for young elite athletes: A qualitative study. BMC Psychiatry, 12, 157. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-12-157
Höök, M., Knight, C. J., & McGawley, K. (2026). Stigmatised health topics in sport: An action research approach to enhance knowledge and communication. Journal of Sports Sciences, 44(5), 574–592. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2025.2598171
Kaier, E., Cromer, L., Johnson, M., Strunk, K., & Davis, J. (2015). Perceptions of mental illness stigma: Comparisons of athletes to nonathlete peers. Journal of College Student Development, 56, 735–739. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2015.0079
Knoester, C., & Allison, R. (2023). Sexuality, sports-related mistreatment, and U.S. adults’ sports involvement. Leisure Sciences, 45(8), 764–786. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2021.1895009
Lockett, I., Blank, C., Patterson, L., Westmattelmann, D., Lux, D., & Petróczi, A. (2026). From violation to stigma: A literature review of athletes’ lived experiences following anti-doping sanctions. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 8, 1651135. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2026.1651135
Major, B., & O’Brien, L. T. (2005). The social psychology of stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 393–421. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070137
Tuakli-Wosornu, Y. A., Goutos, D., Ramia, I., Galea, N. R., Mountjoy, M. L., Grimm, K., et al. (2022). “Knowing we have these rights does not always mean we feel free to use them”: Athletes’ perceptions of their human rights in sport. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 8, e001406. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001406
Tuakli-Wosornu, Y. A., Kirby, S. L., Tivas, A., & Rhind, D. (2023). The journey to reporting child protection violations in sport: Stakeholder perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 907247. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.907247
Tweedie, J. W., Smith, A. C. T., & Ordway, C. (2026). Online abuse, sport and women athletes: A narrative review. Communication & Sport, 0(0), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795261426282
#WeRideTogether. (2026). Alice’s story. https://www.weridetogether.today/survivor-stories/alices-story