Last week we watched many brave young women come forward and testify about the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of US Gymnastics Team doctor Larry Nassar. Among the women were many Olympic metal winners- girls we all knew by name and rooted for without having any idea what they were enduring behind closed doors. And along with the abuse were the many stories of cover ups and folks looking the other way, which in many ways is the most heartbreaking part of the entire saga.
And yet, even as this awful case was receiving national attention there were still women within the #metoo movement claiming that sexual harassment is just as bad as actual sexual abuse. While it should be pretty obvious to anyone with even half a brain that’s not the case, these women press on, doing nothing but harm to their own cause and showing yet again how many celebrities are completely out of touch with the real world.
To be clear, I’m not saying sexual harassment is OK. It’s not. But abuse is way worse.
Not sure? Ask me about that day when I was 6 and a much older boy attempted to sexually assault me on the school bus. Read the blog of my lifelong friend, distant relative and amazing woman J Lynn who is working through the aftermath of her rape in 2014 at https://stopthisworld.com/ Read a few of the statements from the women Larry Nassar assaulted (you won’t be able to get through more than a few without feeling physically ill).
News flash- more than one thing can be bad, and we can think about more than one thing at a time. We don’t have to minimize rape to bring attention to harassment, nor should we. Victims of both deserve better.