We are failing women in sports
author: konstantin kharitonov | sports editor
Its time to stop/Airman Clayton Lenhardt
#metoo needed most in sporting organisations
Recently, The Athletic had put out an interesting development to the ongoing story in regard to the horrific sexual assault committed at Michigan State.
USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar was recently sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on top of a 60-year sentence for sexually assaulting 150 women, with some being as young as 13 years old.
According to a report from the sporting news outlet, the president of the NCAA knew about it seven-and-a-half years ago.
Yes, that’s right, the National Collegiate Athletic Association president, Mark Emmert, had been told this information regarding Nassar’s abuses of women 6 years before the allegations first arose. He was also told of other incidences of Michigan State athletes sexually abusing and assaulting women – 37 reports to be exact.
And yet, nothing. For almost 6 years, the NCAA president did nothing. So, many whistleblowers finally having the courage to share their story to Kathy Redmond, founder of National Coalition Against Violent Athletics, who then relayed these messages to Emmert, and the association did nothing to address it.
These women are our sisters, our cousins, our girlfriends, our wives, and our soul mates. Yet, we allow people in positions of power to know that they have been hurt and beaten, and have them do nothing to punish the accuser or even get some actual help for them.
Relating to being extremely tone deaf, a hockey blogging website by the name of Oilersnation recently posted (and quickly deleted) an article asking whether or not convicted domestic abuser Slava Voynov would be a good fit for the Edmonton Oilers.
Just think about that. How tone deaf does someone have to be to think that a wife beater is someone an NHL team should look at? Then again, this is a league that did not suspend Patrick Kane after rape allegations came in, or Evander Kane, who had been caught assaulting women on camera. Just remember, young girls, as long as that athlete is important, there is nothing anyone can do for you.
That is the message we are sending out to our daughters: that they don’t matter, that an athlete’s career is more important than they are, that they pain and suffering while in sports is something they have to deal with on their own. And we wonder why so few women ever go into sports.
Sexual assault is not going to magically disappear once all the ‘bad apples’ are all gone.
