I don't care if they are the president.
I don't care if they're your family member or friend.
I don't care if they are someone you ave known and trusted for years.
And I especially do not care if they contributed to winning a country gold medals.
Larry Nassar is not a name many people know, but it's a name everybody should know. He, like many other sexual abusers, will be hailed by parents of gymnasts from the United States women's National Team and Michigan State University's gymnastics team. He is a doctor, responsible for the health and wellbeing of the girls in his care. But over the past months, over 16 years, several of which were members of world and Olympic teams, have accused him of sexual assault.
Nassar is not the first person involved int he sport to be accused of sexual assault. Several other women's coaches over the years have been accused of sexual assault, such as Marvin Sharp, who was Women's Gymnastics Coach of the year in 2010. The accusations made against him were ignored because he made medal-winning gymnasts.
Nassar has been dismissed by USA Gymnastics, but USA Gymnastics still denies any wrongdoing, even though they let Nassar be a part of their organization for years, and only dismissed him when the accusations about him became public. Over 30 people have come forward to say that they have been sexually abused by Nassar. And yet what does Nassar get? Support.
Why are we so reluctant to believe victims of sexual assault? Of course, there are false accusations, but false accusations in cases of rape and sexual assault are as low as the percentages of false reporting for other crimes. So why do sexual assault perpetrators get a free pass? Why do people such as Larry Nassar get nothing but support from parents and other gymnasts?
Because we can't believe that the man next door, who watches our kids and says hi to us in the morning, could be a sex offender. We see sex offenders as the creepy men in episodes of TV shows with mustaches and no family. We don't see sex offenders as people who are completely normal; people with jobs, with families, and are prominent figures in society.
Some also say that the accusations against Nassar could not possibly be true because they were not sexually assaulted by him. The accusations against Nassar could not possibly be true because their daughter was not sexually assaulted by him, so all 30 of the others must be lying. Sex offenders are not going to assault everyone they meet. No matter how many people come forward, some will not believe that Nassar is guilty.
It is time to start believing the victims; sex offenders live with us, and they are people we trust and love, and we need to believe the victims.
