Gymnastics Research Paper

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The U.S.A. Gymnastics team is currently facing a large problem that is very prevalent in today’s society, rape, one of the worst crimes there is. The article, “ Who has the U.S.A. Gymnastics’ Back at This Point? The U.S.O.C., for some reason,” by Juliet Macur discusses this issue. The U.S.A. Gymnastics has failed to protect their athletes from Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar, the national team’s doctor, who has been molesting the female athletes. This case is now known as one of the worst sexual-abuse scandals in sports history, and is bigger than the scandal that took place at Penn State five years ago, which ended with head coach, Joe Paterno, and athletic director, and a university president without jobs. Decertification is a term that has been thrown …show more content…

The girls coming clean to the public as one can be defined as collective effervescence which is, getting together as a group with shared interests involving some form of energy and shared purpose. They are all coming together to voice their concerns and their stories, because they have all experienced the same tragic fate. Social solidarity is becoming more visible when they voice common sense, and made it known that the actions of Dr. Nassar are not in accordance with established rules and norms of society. It is now time that they are heard, and that changes are made. As individuals they would not be able to make a huge impact, but as a team they will be able to get the justice they deserve. Talking about rape in any situation is extremely difficult because it is a he said/she said scenario. When one man or woman comes out to talk about what happened to them, they can easily be brushed to the side, because rape is sometimes hard to prove. Sadly, because of this lots of cases get dismissed, and the victims do not get the satisfaction of knowing they are safe from their rapist because they have been put in jail. In this case, because the U.S.A. gymnasts are all coming out about what Dr. Nassar did to them, they are being taken extremely seriously. It is easier to convict someone of rape when there is substantial evidence backing the case, and when there is more than …show more content…

Rape is a very traumatic thing, and the act of being raped stays with a victim for the rest of his/her life. There are so many victims who do not discuss being raped with anyone because they are ashamed it happened to them, and they are afraid if they come out it might happen again. A plan of action needs to be put in place when victims talk about their experiences, so they are taken seriously, and so they are given the results they deserve. The U.S.A. gymnasts are using gender strategy by developing a plan of action to discuss their experiences, which takes lots of emotional preparation for pursuing this case. By standing together as one, not only are they united, but they are able to protect each other. Each victim and their families have been betrayed by Dr. Nassar, betrayed by anyone who knew about their situation and kept quiet, and betrayed when given a settlement of money to remain quiet about the

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