He Took a Part of Me, but He Didn’t get the Best of Me
A look at how Simone Bile’s story of sexual abuse opened the voices of many.
Sexual assault has been a growing problem within our country since its birth. One out of every six women are sexually abused in their lifetime. Of the thirty percent of women abused, an portion of them come from being sexually assaulted by their doctors. Because doctors have been successful in covering their assaults, it can be hard to win a prosecution. I believe Simone Biles got her justice in the case of her rapist, Larry Nassar,because she is an Olympic star. Biles combated the dominant patriarchy that silences the female voice by bravely speaking her truth about her rape. Because she was able to be heard, other victims were also heard that otherwise wouldn’t.
Sexual assault with the doctor and patient is especially troubling because doctors are allowed to examine the body and can argue against rape and say that it was just a “check up”. Physicians examine the female pelvis and often check the breast for abnormalities such as cancer or other defects. Because of this, millions of women in the United States make routine checkups with their doctors in order to make sure they are in good health. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, forty-four million people get annual checkups. Of the forty four million,83 percent of women have routine checkups say they have had a routine checkup. When a woman gets her physical, her privacy is invaded and she is at a vulnerable place. When a doctor inappropriately touches (whether its caressing the breasts or groping the vagina) the female patient, that vulnerability is heightened and become mentally and physically disturbed. In a survey of nearly 500 women conducted by Women’s Health and RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), “27 percent said they’d been violated by a doctor — reporting everything from lewd comments to masturbation, inappropriate touching, and even rape”.
Simone Biles is the 2016 all around Olympic gold medalist in individual all-around, vault and floor gold medalist, and balance beam bronze medalist. Before Simone made history in her gymnastic ability, she endured sexual abuse by a physician named Larry Nassar. Larry Nassar is 54 year old a white middle aged doctor of the USA Gymnastics national team . Nasser was accused by over 140 women of sexually assaulting them. Some of his victims include members of the US Olympic team champions such as Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman. In Nassar’s plea, he admitted to sexually abusing patients under the lie of offering medically necessary treatment in instances as far back as 1998. These included girls as young as 13.
The structural intersectionalities within this story is explained by the background of Simone Biles . Simone Biles was born to a mother who abused drugs and was in in out of jail throughout her life in Ohio. Kimberle Crenshaw, a prominent leader in critical race theory and Civil Rights activist, defines structural intersectionality by referring to “how a person’s legal status or social needs are marginalized”. Crenshaw states that African American women are marginalized by the white patriarchy that does want them. She states that the eugenic movement,“ sought to have genetically inferior’ women removed from social circulation for as many of their childbearing years as possible.” Because Simone Biles’s mother is black, a drug addict and a woman she is arguably being considered as “eugenically inferior” in patriarchal society, who did not want Simone Biles in the first place. Simone Biles was intersected in a world where white people (especially white men in power) deemed Simone as a product of the eugenically inferior society; and a position where female voices as silenced. Because of this, her voice or worth would not be important to white society until she was more than a “ghetto black girl.”
Simone Biles also had to escape the structural intersectionalities that were in favor of white male authority. Nassar had power as a white doctor and as a part of a thriving sports institution that stood stands national pride in the Olympics. Kimberle Crenshaw points out that police officers protect each other and often ignore acts of sexual assault. She states,“correctional employees continue to engage in abuse because they believe they will rarely be held accountable, administratively or criminally”. Because Nasser was in such a high economic position it yielded him power as a white man in charge. So when Simone spoke out, the structural order was disrupted. Because Simone Biles has a bigger title that Larry Nassar, her voice was credible to the entire world and encouraged other voices to come forward. Simone states, “For far too long I’ve asked myself ‘Was I too naive? Was it my fault?’ I now know the answer to those questions. No. No. It was not my fault”. By exposing her truth, Biles was able to expose the heinous sexual abuse that she was enduring during her Olympic career. Her voice helped others speak out.
Rachel Denhollander was a former gymnast who was raped by Nasser when she was six. She came out to the public about her assault when she was 15. Kimberle Crenshaw wrote that in the prison system, “Few people outside the prison walls know what’s going on ..fewer still do anything to address the problem”. The same was evident in the cases of the institution that protected Larry Nassar for years. Rachael Denhollander stated, “ the institutions that allegedly allowed the abuse to continue for years are “diseased” and “rotting from the inside out.” People knew that Larry was a habitual rapist and did nothing to stop it. It took one of the biggest voices in Olympic history for Larry to be finally put in prison. I believe that women, especially women of color have no voice unless they are popular figures in society. If Simone Biles didn’t have fame, I strongly believe her struggle and all the other girls would be unnoticed. Biles said, I will not and should not carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar. Nobody should be held prisoner of their hurt. All rape victims stories must be heard. If not, many more Larry Nassars will be raping their next victims.
