What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics

“And it was not for any medical purpose; is that correct?” “What?” Larry blurted out in confusion and frustration. He had refused to put that in his statements and couldn’t be forced to, because it wasn’t in the statute. I gasped slightly as I realized what the judge was doing. She had the power to ask clarifying questions, and she was requiring hi

“You need to know,” he started, “this does not diminish your value. This doesn’t make me think less of you.” He looked over at me and I glanced back briefly. “All this does is give me direction for how to best serve and care for you. Honestly . . .” He laughed just a bit. “I’ve been wondering this whole time what I could possibly bring to the relat

My parents showed us that love was the foundation for everything, and they modeled what it looked like lived out. Love didn’t thrive on authority; it thrived on sacrifice. Love sought to communicate and understand. Love was humble, admitting wrongs and seeking to repair the damage. Love protected.

Who is going to find the survivors who have no one? Who is even going to see the survivor who isn’t on the news? Who will find these hurting people and tell them how much they are worth?

There were bright spots too, like the day Coach Tom Brennan accompanied one of his athletes to the witness stand, and the world got to see what it looked like when an adult responded properly to allegations of abuse.[1] I wanted to cry as I heard Tom explain that he’d been a longtime friend of Larry’s—a colleague, even. Larry was his advisor after

“I will take them all. And I will fight for all of them.”

The weight of how we fail our children pressed on me as an attorney for victims who’d been abused by priests told a Globe investigative reporter: “Mark my words, Mr. Rezendes. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.”[1]

They taught us that their authority was limited and would only be exercised for the right reasons and in the right way. This meant that they would discuss their decisions with us, hear and respect our input, and work with us to find a way forward. It didn’t mean that obedience wasn’t necessary or that we were allowed to argue them into changing the

Bullies and predators prey on the defenseless. They count on victims being unable to protect themselves. More important, they count on everyone else being too afraid to confront them. I hate injustice, but I hate silence and apathy in the face of injustice even more. Far too often, bullies’ belief that no one will challenge them is both well-founde