On Sunday night’s ESPN’s EPSY Awards in Los Angeles, over 140 women stood onstage at the Microsoft Theatre to accept the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. The award is for athletes who exhibit bravery beyond their sport.
The women are connected because they all have the same abuser: former Michigan State University Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Three of them spoke:
Three representatives – Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, former gymnast Sarah Klein, and softball player Tiffany Thomas Lopez – spoke about how they continue to speak about the harassment they faced. Klein called the women onstage a “portrait of survival, a new vision of courage.”
“For 30 years the United States Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, and Michigan State University all placed money and medals over the safety of child athletes,” Klein said. “It is time to start caring about children’s safety more than we care about adults’ reputations.” They also thanked the law enforcement officials who helped convict Nassar, including Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.
The audience gave a standing ovation.
The photo conjures many emotions. It helps show us the scope of just one assailant allowed to go unchecked. In a world where abusers still get celebrated, it’s important to see survivors celebrated. However, what really struck me is how this number of victims was preventable. Investigations showed how the people around Nassar were so corrupted that they were willing to ignore his abuse.
In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have a stage of victims to celebrate for their bravery. Outing an abuser shouldn’t be seen as exceptional; it’s only seen as such because we still silence and shame victims. Until we as a society actually listen to survivors and hold abusers accountable, survivor stories will still be considered outside the norm.