“I am no longer a victim. I am a survivor.”
Aly Raisman is a now retired American Olympic Gymnast. Her highest acclaims include gold medals in Gymnastics in both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics. Recently, Raisman came into the spotlight after speaking her truth about sexual harassment on the USA Gymnastics team under physician Larry Nasar. Aly Raisman has been an ardent supporter of justice for both herself and her fellow teammates who suffered under Nasar. Like many other #MeToo figures, she empowered more women to speak out against sexual assault.
Nationality: American
Industry: Athletics
Q: What is some advice you have for victims who don’t have the courage to speak up?
A: “As a society, we have to do a better job of supporting people. Whether or not you are a survivor of any kind of abuse, you still have to show support. I know a lot of people unfortunately have a hard time understanding abuse, so if you are one of those people, you need to educate yourself on that…If the adults around me or even if I had been educated on what abuse was, I would have known a lot earlier that it was happening to me … If you are a survivor of abuse and you’re going through something at the moment and you’re not sure that something is happening to is abuse, my best advice would be that if it doesn’t feel right, then it’s not right.”
