24 | NOVEMBER 3 • 2022 

R

achael Denhollander, 
the first woman to 
publicly accuse former 
USA Gymnastics’ team doctor 
Larry Nassar of sexual abuse 
in 2016, which eventually 
led to his 2018 conviction 
to serve life in prison, will 
be speaking at a free event 
7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 
9, at Temple Israel in West 
Bloomfield. Titled “What is a 
Child Worth?”
, the program 
is in partnership with Jewish 

Family Service of Metro 
Detroit.
This event, for teens and up, 
is intended to bring attention 
to abuse in the general 
community. It will examine 
the link between abuse and 
mental health challenges and 
encourage people to seek help 
and support, if needed. 
Echoing the same 
messages found in her 2019 
autobiography What is a Girl 
Worth? Denhollander, the 

child gymnast turned attorney 
and advocate for survivors 
of child sexual abuse, will 
begin the evening suggesting 
the teens and adults in the 
audience to consider two key 
questions: 
• How do we understand 
our own value and the value 
of others? 
• What can motivate us to 
choose a harder right path, 
such as coming forward and 
speaking out against abuse, 
rather than an easier wrong 
path, such as keeping silent 
and allowing a culture of 
abuse to persist in athletic, 
academic or even religious 
institutions?
“All of us are faced with 
making even small decisions 
in such situations,” said 
Denhollander, 37, whose 
courage to speak out about 
the abuse she endured by 
Nassar encouraged more 
than 300 current and former 
gymnasts — some Olympic 
medalists — to do the same, 
resulting in his life sentence 
in a Michigan prison. 
“Most of the time these 
decisions can feel like small 
ones, but they put us on a 
trajectory of who we will 
become. When it comes to 
big decisions, like standing 
up to an abuser or a corrupt 
institution where abuse is 
taking place, this will prove 
to be the biggest test of how 
proactive we can be to protect 
our community.” 
Denhollander, now 
a mother of four and a 
practicing attorney in 
Kentucky, explained that 
sexual and child abuse crosses 
every social, economic and 
geographic demographic. But 
in high-stakes environments 

such as competitive sports, 
the situation can become 
more precarious. 
“There are some consistent 
dynamics going on in high-
performance environments 
such as gymnastics and 
the performing arts,” 
Denhollander said. “(Parents) 
entrust their children to 
mentors who say they will 
take their career to high 
places. And, in gymnastics, it 
is a high-touch environment 
where coaches are spotting 
you and touching you to 
correct your positioning, 
which can create a breeding 
ground to desensitize children 
to certain touches. The 
important lesson to teach 
children is the difference 
between acceptable and 
unacceptable forms of touch.” 

DENHOLLANDER’S STORY
A latecomer to gymnastics, 
Denhollander began her 
training at age 11 in a 
Kalamazoo gym. From 
the beginning, her parents 
asserted to her and her 
sister, who was a competitive 
synchronized ice skater, that 
no program, no matter how 
prestigious, was worth their 
health or safety. She said they 
only selected programs held 
in facilities where parents 
could fully observe what 
was going on at practices 
and turned down any 
programs where parents were 
discouraged from watching 
practice or traveling with 
their athlete children during 
competition meets. 
“I came from a very healthy 
attitude toward sports and 
athletics, and my parents estab-
lished with me all the necessary 
safeguards and open commu-

OUR COMMUNITY

Temple Israel and Jewish Family 
Service present program on sexual 
abuse with gymnast who was a 
victim of Larry Nassar.

What Is a 
Child Worth?

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rachael 
Denhollander

