Former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. On Dec. 7, a federal judge in Michigan sentenced him to the maximum 60 years on child pornography charges. From the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal:
Nassar pleaded guilty in July to three federal charges after investigators said he possessed at least 37,000 graphic videos and images of child pornography, including images of prepubescent children engaged in sex acts.
He also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for trying to destroy the evidence.
If that wasn't terrible enough, there are the acts Nassar is most infamous for committing: sexual assault of girls on the USA Gymnastics team, including McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas of the 2012 "Fierce Five" team. In November he pleaded guilty in two different Michigan state courts on charges related to those.
This might never have happened if it wasn't for the dogged reporting of The Indianapolis Star, which investigated sexual abuse in gymnastics, finding at least 368 gymnasts abused over the last 20 years, policies in which USA Gymnastics did report all allegations of abuse against coaches, allowing them to go from gym to gym without anyone knowing their past, and revealed the allegations against Nassar. Michigan State University, Nassar's employer, didn't fire him until the Star's report came to light. The school is facing lawsuits representing 140 victims, and on Dec. 4 Michigan's attorney general demands the school turn over to him any findings from its own internal investigation. Michigan State had received complaints about Nassar beginning in 1997, but it took the Indianapolis Star shining a light to finally get action.
The day before Nassar's sentence, another high-profile youth coach was involved in a court hearing. On Dec. 6, a DuPage County (Ill.) judge sealed new sexual assault complaints against Rick Butler, who has coached numerous high-level volleyball players at his Aurora-based gym. Those claims were first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, which did an investigative report on Butler. USA Volleyball had banned him for life in 1995 over sexual assault allegations, but then partially lifted in the ban in 2000, allowing Butler to coach again. Butler has denied the accusations, and as of yet faces no criminal charges. But USA Volleyball may soon expel him again.
The #MeToo movement America is having right now when it comes to acknowledging sexual assault and harassment is attributable to many things, the most important being victims who are speaking out and demanding justice. But when you look at how these stories have come out, whether it's in sports, politics or any other field, what they often have in common is that they started with well-sourced, well-reported media investigations that exposed not only the abuse, but the power imbalances that abusers exploited to not only commit the acts themselves, but also make it clear to victims that they had too much to lose to speak out, assuming anyone would believe them anyway.
Of course, it's hardly the case that victims are believed, and that all who might be perpetrators might face consequences. But what is true is that without a free, healthy media, we don't even hear anything about the likes of a Larry Nassar in the first place.
