Today brave women showed that they will not be defined by what happened to them. They showed what being a survivor is like when they went in front of the Senate committed and national news cameras, talking about what happened to them. Sexually abused girls found the courage to fight for themselves years ago. They trusted the system to stop a monster from doing it to others.
Gymnasts Recount FBI Mishandling Of Their Allegations About Larry Nasser
The gymnasts set to appear are Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman. They are four of hundreds of women and girls who said Larry Nassar sexually abused them while claiming he was treating them.
NPR
“The scars of this horrific abuse continue, the impact of this man’s abuse will never be over.” Simone Biles
These women were just girls trying to stop a monster. The FBI and the other adults, let it go on so that the monster would do it over, and over, and over again. They allowed him to abuse other girls. While he was protected from facing justice, justice was denied for his victims.
The abuse for these women did not end there. They talked about how social media users attacked them. If you remember Simone Biles during the Olympics sitting out competition to take care of her mental health, you remember what it was like when so many were calling her names.
Critics want to relegate Biles — who announced Saturday she was skipping at least two individual competitions after pulling out of the team and all-around finals — to being a quitter. They’ve attacked her as a “national embarrassment” and argued she should no longer be able to compete for USA Gymnastics. Not only do such comments seek to erase her hard work, they perpetuate the win-at-all-costs mentality that pushes people over their limits.
NBC News
Can you imagine what that was like for Simone Biles now that you heard her testimony? She was far from a “national embarrassment” but the entire nation should be embarrassed for what she, and all the others, went through when they were abused by the monster, abused by the FBI, abused by everyone they turned to for help and continued to be abused. They continued to fight all that, and do what they were trained to do as gymnasts while fighting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
These women managed to put the monster behind bars and fought for all the other little girls out there fighting off their own monsters. Justice was eventually provided because these women did not give up on doing the right thing, and no matter how hard it was at times, did not give up on themselves.
Remember, it’s your life…get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD
