H
ero. That’s a big word,
a title not easy to
come by. Let’s think
about the classics: Superman,
Captain America, Spiderman,
Batman — the list goes on.
However, at the ESPYS this
year, we saw a new wave of
heroes claim their titles. Larry
Nassar, the former team doctor
for
USA
Gymnastics
and
Michigan State University, has
recently been sentenced to up
to 175 years in prison thanks
to the brave testimonies of
hundreds
of
the
survivors
of his sexual abuse. Their
speaking up was incredibly
important
in
breaking
the
culture of silence that normally
surrounds
women’s
sports.
Aly Raisman — a two-time
Olympian and three-time gold
medalist at the forefront of the
movement against Nassar — is
one of those many heroes. Her
testimony has been powerful
and moving and many have
felt encouraged by her words,
as many would never suspect
that such a strong, talented,
powerful woman could have
gone through such a traumatic
experience. The truth is, her
story is all too common.
At the ESPYS, 141 of Nassar’s
victims took the stage to claim
the
Arthur
Ashe
Courage
Award.
These
survivors
spoke with so much wisdom
when
they
accepted
their
award and it was an honor to
witness. Sarah Klein, Nassar’s
first victim, said, “Make no
mistake, we are here on this
stage to present an image for
the world to see, a portrait
of survival. A new vision of
courage.” She continued on to
talk about how important it is
to speak out against abusers,
no matter how difficult that
may be. The most shocking
part of the acceptance was
when Raisman listed all of the
years that there were claims of
sexual abuse against Nassar.
“1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004,
2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.”
For 10 years, those Nassar
abused were ignored. How
can these adults ignore young
women and girls telling them
about their abuse? Here we
have an example of when the
survivors weren’t silent, but
the system failed them over
and over and over again. The
people in positions of power
decided that the words of
these women were not strong
enough
to
stand
against
Larry Nassar. They let him
continue his abuse. This lack
of accountability from those
in charge is what continues
to drive this cone of silence
surrounding women’s sports.
It stops victims from coming
forward
and
allows
these
coaches, trainers, managers,
etc. to continue to abuse.
The Nassar scandal doesn’t
stand alone. Recently, there
have been allegations against
a former doctor for Ohio State
University. Those who came
forward revealed how badly
the situation was handled.
Based
on
Ron
McDaniel’s
story, it was clear that coaches
and administrators knew of
his abuse and continuously
failed
to
act.
McDaniel
spoke about how when his
teammates heard about what
had happened to him they
just
laughed
and
basically
said, “Yeah, that happens all
the time to everyone. It’s no
secret.” At the University of
South Carolina there have been
allegations of abuse against
the campus gynecologist. The
abuse is said to have spanned
over 30 years and, as of now,
200 women have come forward
with their stories. He did this
from the time he began his job
at the university until the time
he
stopped
working
there.
This shows there is a pattern
of abuse that goes ignored and
is hushed up by universities all
around the country. Women
and men have come forward,
sharing
their
stories
and
telling us they were brushed
off and not taken seriously by
university officials. Though
women in particular face more
of this kind of abuse than
men, especially in the sports
community, it is so important
to remember that there are
many people out there who
have gone through what you
have. Women and men alike,
despite all the differences, go
through similar issues, have
survived the same abuse and
stand strong through it all. If
there is going to be any kind of
progress, it needs to start with
administrators and the people
receiving these reports. Each
one should be taken seriously
and thoroughly investigated.
Dismissing
these
kinds
of
allegations should no longer
be, and never should have
been, an option.
Raisman’s
words
so
accurately depicted how the
system failed all 141 women
standing on that stage: “All
those years we were told, ‘You
are wrong. You misunderstood.
He’s a doctor. It’s okay. Don’t
worry, we’ve got it covered.
Be careful. There are risks
involved.’ The intention: to
silence us in favor of money,
medals and reputation.” But
she then reminded everyone
that nobody is alone when she
said, “We may suffer alone,
but
we
survive
together.”
These women are true heroes.
These women are the new
image of courage. They stood
up to their abuser despite
countless setbacks, showing
unparalleled
courage.
Let’s
use
these
women
as
an
example of what it means to
be brave and use their stories
to address the multitude of
issues — like victim-blaming
and payoffs — that exist within
the system. Let us no longer be
silent. Let us be brave. Let us
be courageous. Let us follow in
the footsteps of these heroes.
5
OPINION
Thursday, August 9, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
sleep and lower sleep quality.
Another
study
found
that
students who refrained from
using
their
phones
during
class wrote down 62 percent
more information from lecture
and scored a full one and a
half letter grades higher on a
multiple-choice test.
Aside from the question of
how phones impact the lives
of students, what are mobile
devices doing to us socially?
Upton Saiidi reported that “87
percent of millennials admitted
to missing out on a conversation
because they were distracted
by their phone,” corroborating
Melissa Dahl’s claims that the
presence of cell phones make us
less empathetic; simply placing
a mobile device on the table
during a meal reduces feelings
of “interconnectedness.” Cara
McCoogan and James Titcomb
provide us with the evidence
showing that the presence
of smartphones make us less
smart,
while
Mike
Elgan
writes about how they make us
distracted and unproductive.
“As a thought experiment,”
he writes, “imagine that an
employee who used to pay
attention
to
your
business
eight hours each day now pays
attention only seven hours a
day because he or she is now
focusing on Facebook during
that last hour.” He then goes on
to cite Flurry Analytics, whose
data put U.S. smartphone user-
time to be more than five hours
per day, and found that the
time spent using mobile apps
increased 69 percent from 2015
to 2016. The story to which
I relate most is one written
by Michael Gonchar for the
New York Times; it raises the
point that though technology
is supposed to make us feel
more connected to one another,
though it is supposed to help
us stay in touch all the time,
a lot of us actually feel that
it’s “getting in the way of real
socializing” and “making us
more alone.”
I know we can’t all go to
Maine for the summer, and we
can’t all go four days without
a phone because of safety
and
responsibility;
group
texts are quite necessary for
collaboration on projects and
a perfectly timed email tells
you that class is cancelled. But
summer is the perfect time to
take baby steps, to opt for that
one day at a time without your
phone. An even smaller step, a
movement in which Generation
Z is apparently participating,
is electing to get off social
media by deleting your apps
or accounts, thus removing
any
temptation
to
refresh
your news feed. We grew up
“digitally connected,” looking
at photos of lives where the
grass is always greener, or it’s
edited and filtered to look that
way.
Summer is the perfect time
to turn off text notifications
and only use your phone for
its map and camera, to try it
out and monitor whether you
feel less anxious or sleep more
soundly. It is the perfect time to
rehabilitate your relationship
with your phone, to reshape
your brain to focus on what’s
in front of you, a skill for which
you’ll be grateful when it’s time
to get back into schoolwork.
It is the perfect time to go on
a hike and not document it on
Snapchat or Instagram, to like
your day instead of a picture of
somebody else’s.
Summer is the perfect time
to recharge your mind instead
of your phone. So give it a shot.
I dare you.
Marlee Burridge can be reached at
marleebu@umich.edu.
Julia Montag can be reached at
jtmon@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION
Readers are encouraged to submit letters
to the editor and op-eds. Letters should
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Recharge your mind, not your phone by Julia Montag continued below:
“We have
an example
of when the
survivors
weren’t silent,
but the system
failed them over
and over and
over again...
the wordsof
these women
were not strong
enough.”
MARLEE BURRIDGE | COLUMN