Doctor Larry Nassar: Victims Of Sexual Abuse In Sports

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The idea of one's child being a victim of a form of child abuse especially sexual abuse, is a huge fear that many parent have. A parent believes that it is their job to make sure their children never have an experience in which they are sexually assaulted yet, in reality a parent cannot control everything. Together they should help each other out yet, they cannot prevent anything. On average every family unit in the united states have at least one child in a sport. This is on average, other families may have more meaning that they are constantly battling the clock to get where they need to be. Sexual abuse in sports oftentimes in more common due to the lack of credibility that athletes get in reporting questionable treatments or action, due …show more content…

Doctor Larry Nassar was accused by over 150 female athletes of being a victim of Nassar so called “Treatment” a majority being part of elite gymnastics and some being former olympic athletes such as Aly Raisman and Mckayla Maroney . Nassars accuses go back over thirty-six years, many parents, spectators, and victims balmes the United States Olympic committee for not taking any actions to the reports and allegations against Nassar. Nassar was sentenced to forty to 175 years in federal prison on the fifth of february of 2018. Over the course of seven days all the any athlete who wanted to speak at Nassars hearing were welcomed, one of the most impactful was giving by former olympic gymnast Aly Raisman after giving a speech later named “You are Nothing”. In Raisman’s speech she discusses how she was required to see Nassar and after she came forward and brought attention to the situation USOC only action was to question Nassar, leading to a simple denial. There were various situation in which other athletes came forward yet were USOC took no action to the accusations and labeled them rumors. Raisman expresses that sexual abuse is a horrible topic and allows Nassar to feel as comfortable as the athletes did during their treatments with him. An emphasis on the idea that many females encounters with Nassar could have been prevented easily if …show more content…

Athletes often times fear getting turned down, being classified as a lair or false advertisers whether by their parents, coaches or other sources. Young athletes will not normally address a parent due to the fear of their parents not believing them. Aly Raisman once said, “I wouldn’t allow myself to believe that the problem was you. From the time we are little, we are taught to trust doctors”(1). In addition, this shows that growing up most kids are manipulated into believing that an adult is always right which is not necessarily true. Initially this argues that many athletes will make themselves believe that a doctor knows better than oneself does. Aly Raisman shows how in the Nassar case, the action of not believing a child lead to a far larger and serious case then what could have been prevented. Athletes should not have to fear that one day at practice they would be the next victim, that they would be hurt by an adult or other athlete in an act of sexual abuse.In the book, Human Rights in Youth Sport, it states, “Individuals who occupy an important place of trust in the lives of children, must protected, not put them in jeopardy or harm them”(David,14). Meaning, not only is it a parents job to secure the safety of their children but also the job of the other adult who choose to work around young athletes, those adults make the

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