Who’s Protecting Our Girls?

Fortunately and unfortunately, Netflix has a plethora of documentaries to enlighten souls like mine. Over the last two weeks I have watched two that have had a particularly large impact on me. The last time this happened, it was six years ago, I watched “Forks Over Knives and went vegan.

This, however, feels different. One documentary I’m referencing is called “Athlete A”. The other is a docuseries called “Jeffery Epstein: Filthy Rich”. Watching these films just days apart from each other have truly haunted my consciousness. In these two films, we see hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of young girls handed over to predators. When I say young, I mean it, majority under 18. Some as young as 12.

I watched these films and thought to myself, how does this happen? And yes, this shit happens in America.

Let’s start with USA gymnastics. Let’s talk about ALL the people responsible for the young lives in their care. The documentary uncovered that disgraced Dr. Larry Nassar was sexually assaulting the hundreds of young girls who were sent to him for medical care. It’s upsetting, of course, but I cannot stop thinking about everyone else. These gyms were occupied with plenty of adults.

What about the coaches you may ask? Well, the documentary shows that they were abusive themselves. They yielded the verbal abuse as well as physical abuse. They tore down these young girls, athletes, Olympians by calling them cruel names. Manipulation was prevent as these athletes were taught never to question authority. The coaches forced these young athletes to compete on injuries or encouraged eating disorders. Oh, and they knew about Nassar but did NOTHING about him. The abuse was from every single adult in charge.

The negligence by USA Gymnastics is outstanding. It’s as though they wanted young girls to be abused. When abuse was reported to coaches, did they call the police? Nope. When coaches escalated abuse to high level and ultimately the president of USA Gymnastics, were the police called? But of course not. This abuse was not only prevalent, it was systemic. The police should have been called the moment abuse was reported. Who was protecting our girls?

Because I watched “Athlete A” first, I had this question on my mind when I watched the docuseries “Jefferey Epstein: Filty Rich”. The scale of abuse was almost as large if not larger. He had created a child molestation pyramid scheme. These procession of young, innocent victims weren’t just abused by Epstein, he passed them around to his friends.

This monster, owned mansions all over the world in addition to his private island. All of this locations were staffed. All of these locations needed to be cleaned, lawns maintained, cable installed and yet, no one blew the whistle. Forget the fact that he was a pedophile who was hunting young girls constantly, was no one outraged when they saw young girls coming and going at all hours?

Well, I was outraged when one of Epstein’s former staff (for years) said he only became upset when he imagined it was his own fucking daughter being abused by Epstein. One day, a new co-worker said to him, are you ok with this? You have a daughter right? Would you be ok if it were her? The new co-worker immediately quit when he saw what was happening.

Is that really what is required of us to have empathy and do the right thing? This long time employee of Epstein’s was quiet, and chose to look away for years until someone called him out. What if this same employee had a son? What if he didn’t take action by quitting and helping the docuseries in their research?

I don’t want to know the answers of those questions. I’m just disappointed in humanity.

The point I am trying to make is that society is sending our young girls into the reach of this monsters and nothing is being done to stop this from happening again. Shit, it’s most likely happening right now. USA Gymnastics told parents to send their kids to a “training ranch” where parents are NOT allowed. This is where the abuse thrived. Parents, devoted parents, sent their girls into the arms of abusers and missed all the signs.

I think of how grateful I am to my insanely strict parents. They would have killed my dreams before sending me anywhere parents aren’t allowed. They would have been up those coaches butts, asking a million questions. It would have embarrassed me like crazy. Sadly, this distrust my parents held would have protected so many young girls as it protected me.

Only Larry Nassar has been charged and is currently incarcerated. Many of the coaches have not been charged and I am unsure if future charges will arise. USA Gymnastics, the organization has hardly paid any consequences for protecting monsters like Nassar and promoting a system abuse. Jeffrey Epstein was finally arrested after decades of roaming free to abuse, only to die mysteriously in his cell before the trial began. That my friends is the justice system in the US.

USA Gymnastics and Jeffrey Epstein are predators that have major defenses like the best criminal attorneys (even ones accused of abusing minors). They have friends in high places within politics as well as law enforcement. Epstein’s bestie was Bill Clinton. There are photos of Bill on Epstein’s plane and on his pedophile island. Yes, the same Bill Clinton who was our President and had sex with an intern who was in her early 20’s. These are incredible powerhouses to go up against, especially as a young girl.

Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Epstein’s attorney, was legally allowed by law to harass these young women who were courageous enough to go on the stand. He questioned every sexual act, constantly referred to them as prostitutes and even divulged confidential abortion information. He was accused by survivors as well. He’s yet to face any charges. Shit, he still practices law. He still gets to wake up every day, in incredible wealth I imagine, and live the life of his dreams. This is the country we live in. Men like these, are who we value and protect as a society. Not the hundreds, maybe thousands of young girls that Epstein abused.

So, they evade justice, once again. We’re left with survivors who fight everyday for justice, healing and prevention. They’re labeled whores, prostitutes (legally) and every other ugly name you can call a woman. These were victims who became survivors. These young girls were failed by us. They needed us to believe them. Future generations will need us to believe them too so we can stop this abuse. Future generations need us to stand up and say no more. We will not serve up our little girls to pedophiles.

So, I ask myself and you, who else is out there abusing young girls like this? We know the Catholic Church has covered up abuse of young boys for decades but young girls haven’t been spared by Catholic Priests either. There seems to be no shutting that down. Talk about protection and friends in high places. So, where else do we look?Other sports organizations? Other playboy, billionaire private islands?

But mostly, we as a people, we need to value our little girls. We need to respect their innocence and fight to make sure they can skip victim hood and go straight into adulthood. Our girls should be focused on learning and their education not surviving abuse. This includes our beautiful girls of color. “Hood Feminism” by Mikki Kendal tells us that 45–60% of Black Girls under 18 will be or have been sexually assaulted. Who is protecting our little girls?

Playboy billionaires, coaches, Drs, uncles, cousins, you name it, we need to protect our girls from predators in any form in which they appear. I don’t have the answers on how to do it. I can say that we need to believe and support survivors who speak out. Enough victim blaming. Enough of allowing the media to bash those who are brave enough to speak out. Enough. Enough. Enough.

So, who’s protecting our little girls? I would say, not enough of us. Not the coaches that pretended not to know or the parents who didn’t listen when their children were crying out for help. Definitely not the FBI agents who let Athlete A’s file sit on their desks instead of investigating. Not the janitors, administrators, house staff and criminal defense attorneys. And most certainly, all of us that question, doubt, mock or simply refuse to believe victims when they are brave enough to go public.

We can change. We can value our little girls and end this abuse. We can protect our girls and future generations. This is what comes to mind as solutions and what I will practice moving forward.

Step 1. Believe victims. No conditions required.

Step 2. See something, say something

Step 3. Teach all young people consent. Nothing gruesome. All young children should believe that to be touched, they should give their permission. That’s it.

Step 4: Ask questions, your child’s coach wants to send them away to retreat without your supervision. Demand to know why. As a parent, it’s your right and responsibility to ask difficult questions in order to protect your child.

Step 5. Fight to make sure local, state & federal courts charge predators to the full extent of the law.

To all of the survivors, keep healing and fighting. I’ve got your back and I will continue to ask “Who’s protecting our girls?”