Women’s History Month
Blueprint for Courage. For women’s history month, I would like to recognize the courageous young girls and women who spoke up about their child abuse.
I am talking about the survivors of sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics (USAG) team doctor and professor at Michigan State University (MSU).
For those who do not know the story, Dr. Larry Nassar treated gymnasts, dancers, and other athletes for the USAG, gyms, MSU, schools, and in private practice. He was well-known in the sport in part because of his Olympic and MSU connections. He treated thousands of patients over his 30 year tenure. He specialized in sports injuries; and, it turned out, child abuse.
To date, hundreds of young girls and young woman have reported being sexually abused by Dr. Nassar. But it took 20 years to get someone to listen.
Nobody listened. Not the Meridian Township Police in Michigan who investigated a complaint in 2004. Not the male and female coaches who subjected these young girls to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Not the FBI, who ignored the 2015 complaint sent to them by the USAG and in another case waited 15 months to interview victims. And their silence meant that Nassar continued to abuse young women and girls.
Not Michigan State University, who ignored and discounted almost a dozen complaints by young female athletes. Not the coaches who continued to send these gymnasts to elite camps where they were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. Not the US Olympic Committee (USOC), who gave USAG director, Steve Penny almost a $1M severance package after the abuse was revealed. Not the USAG and the US Olympic Committee (USOC), who allowed abusive coaches to move to different gyms.
And there was retribution for young girls who complained; one victim was inexplicably not selected for the 2016 Olympic team.
Not the parents of one victim who demanded she apologize to Dr. Nassar for lying. Not the department chair of MSU who was eventually convicted of sexual harassment. Not the professors who were Dr. Nassar’s colleagues who provided critical testimony on his behalf against a Title IX complaint filed by a victim in 2014. Not the MSU Office of Institutional Equity who allowed Dr. Nassar to handpick his reviewers, and who deleted inconvenient facts in their vindication report.
The institutions that were put in place to protect these young girls and women, chose to protect their abuser instead.
Yet, these little girls and young women persisted. One young woman insistently reported her abuse in 1997 to the MSU Gymnastics coach; only to be rebuffed. Another young woman filed the “unsubstantiated” Title IX complaint. A gymnastics coach overheard young girls talking about Dr. Nassar’s “treatments” and instead of reporting it to the police, reported it to USAG. The USAG, ignoring the law, sat on it for 5 weeks before turning it over to the FBI. It wouldn’t have mattered because the FBI inexplicably ignored the report (an FBI supervisor was trying to get a job at USAG during the time).
Finally, someone listened. A courageous young woman, Rachael Denhollander, contacted the Indianapolis Star in 2016 and agreed to reveal her abuse publicly. At the time, Dr. Nassar was a popular physician. Ms. Denhollander suffered ridicule, shame, anger, mockery, Internet trolls, and was accused of lying. Other victims followed; despite being shamed by a public who supported their abuser. The dominos continued to fall as more women contacted the newspaper, willing to tell similar stories.
A few more adults began believing them. A police detective at Michigan State University and the Michigan prosecutor in 2016 believed them. And finally, after decades of abuse and 20 years of thwarted attempts to report abuse, the girls were heard. What is particularly tragic is that had the first victim been listened to in 1997, hundreds of young girls would have been spared.
While these survivors will have to live with the memory of abuse, they recognize that the shame belongs to their abuser. One hundred twenty five survivors spoke directly and publicly to Nassar at his trial. Courtroom attendees stated it was an extremely moving experience. These young girls, standing tall, facing their abuser, ashamed no more.
Today, many of these young women have chosen to work to protect future victims. They are allowing their stories to be told and have testified at Congressional hearings.
Sexual abuse is serious problem in America. One in seven girls will be molested before they are 18. One in 25 boys will be molested. Only 1/3 of abuse is ever reported.
But these young girls and women have provided a blueprint of courage for future victims. Impressive, isn’t it.
