On Friday morning, gymnast Aly Raisman shared a message about victim-blaming, on the heels of her coming forward and stating that she was sexually abused by a former USA Gymnastics team doctor.
The gold-medal-winning gymnast reminded people that it doesn’t matter what women wear when it comes to sexual abuse and that the finger-pointing directed toward women is “victim-shaming.”
But fellow gymnast Gabby Douglas thought otherwise. Douglas responded to Raisman’s tweet and said that women should learn to dress modestly. And it didn’t take long for another gymnast, Simone Biles, and social media to put her on blast.
Dressing modestly doesn’t stop someone from being raped or assaulted. And the fact that Raisman was assaulted by the same team doctor who probably treated Douglas had many people wondering how she could possibly turn into a victim-blamer.
There were those on social media who wanted to “cancel” Douglas:
There were also those who said her age, and the fact that she grew up in a strict religious household, should be taken into consideration. And as someone on Twitter stated, Not everyone is born “reading bell hooks”:
After dealing with the backlash, Douglas issued an “apology” and said she misspoke:
The damage may have already been done. Sometimes it’s probably best if people just keep their opinions to themselves. As the saying goes, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
There’s also this saying: “Clothes don’t sexually assault people; trash-ass people sexually assault people.”