Aly Raisman, twenty-three-year-old Olympic gold gymnast accused her team physician, Larry Nassar, of sexual misconduct. She decided to take a stand and not sit quietly as he was doing the same to other girls on the team. As many public figures are doing now, she took to Twitter and criticized the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for not bringing the allegations to light and sweeping it under the rug. It was not until she posted the tweet that the USOC decided to take action and fire him. A few of the board members were also let go as they only focused on the fact that, in their eyes, they did nothing wrong. What Raisman focuses on in the tweet is that there were many more people on the board that allowed the behavior to happen and did not speak up at any point.
A few gymnasts resigned from the team due to the lack of support from the USOC and their continued mindset that they are not at fault for what happened. Nassar is currently facing 140 lawsuits for sexual abuse, including 2012 Olympic gold gymnast Jordyn Wieber. Wieber testified against Nassar saying “I thought that training for the Olympics would be the hardest thing that I would ever have to do, but, in fact, the hardest thing I ever had to do is process that I am a victim of Larry Nassar.” Most shocking of all was US gymnast, Simone Biles, stepping forward saying that she had been sexually abused by Nassar. After hearing all of the women’s testimonies, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for the possession of child pornography, not to mention a separate case of molestation charges with a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison. The things that have sprung up on the media recently have come to show that this behavior needs to be stopped. People should not have to live in a world where their voice doesn’t matter and their attacker thinks that they did the right thing. These voices aren’t just another voice or another case. They are human beings that should be heard and treated with love and respect. Be the voice of change that others see in you!