The Liberty Ledger OCTOBER 2018 I S S U E 1 2 Sexual Harassment in Sports By: Camille Bugayong Rainn.org, and many other sources state “treatment” in his that every 98 seconds, an American is sexually hotel room in To- assaulted. Many of these women are athletes who kyo. have faced sexual harassment or rape by coaches In court, or doctors. Rape is when a man or a woman forces more than 150 fe- him or herself on others to have sex without con- males came for- sent. Sexual harassment is when a man or woman ward to say that is harassed sexually, and when a man or a woman Nassar had sexually experiences unwanted sexual advances. Sexual abused them over assault is any type of sexual activity that occurs the past two dec- without the person's consent. McKayla Maroney ades. Nassar admit- was one of many female athletes who was sexual- ted in court that he ly assaulted or raped. abused his patients under the guise of McKayla medical treatment. Maroney is an American gym- Larry Nassar nast who joined was sentenced the American to 40 to 175 women’s gym- years in prison. nastic team in As a result, 2011 and retired many athletes in 2016. She who were was first sexual- abused by him ly assaulted by Larry Nassar who was the USA received justice Gymnastics national team doctor, when she was by his prison sentence. This topic was so horri- just 13 years old. Maroney says former team doc- fying due to Nassar being someone who many tor Larry Nassar molested her on her very first others trusted to help the gymnasts, but instead visit to the famed Karolyi ranch. She was then did the exact opposite and changed them in a abused hundreds of times over the next five years. way that many people couldn’t imagine. Nassar saw Maroney every time she was at the ranch and at competitions around the world. She Some sports teams issued measures in was molested by him every time. Maroney wrote order to help prevent that. National sports asso- that the scariest night of her life was in 2011, ciations (NSAs) and clubs in Singapore have when she was 15 years. She was on a trip to To- adopted ways to prevent the sexual abuse of kyo. She wrote that Nassar gave her a sleeping athletes. The Singapore Gymnastics (SG) gen- pill and she awoke to find him giving her a eral manager, Karen Norden, said that they The Liberty Ledger Sexual Harassment in Sports...Continued By: Camille Bugayong have a key standard operating procedure at the as- stein, who is a former film producer, currently sociation. It states that coaches are not allowed to charged with one count of rape and two counts be in the gym on a one-on-one basis with athletes. of sexual assault. Coaches control playing time, Sadly, these precautions weren’t taken for the scholarships, skills training, access to more- USA Gymnastics team. elite coaches, even a berth on the Olympic Athletes as well as coaches should be edu- team. This power is easily abused and develops cated about sexual harassment. According to in- a sickness that can turn victims into outcasts. siderhighered.com, a former athlete, DeWitt Scott, Educating coaches and athletes about sexual stated that a number of male athletes wholeheart- harassment, sexual abuse, and about the dan- edly believe they are not rapists even though they gers of being accused could result in less fe- male athletes raped. commit acts of rape regularly. They believe that because they did not physically overpower anoth- Many athletes are affected by rape year- er person, snatch off their clothes and force them- ly. More measures are being placed in order to selves on them, they are not rapists. Coaches have help prevent sexual harassment and abuse for unfortunately been granted Weinstein-level power athletes. over their athletes, a reference to Harvey Wein- By: Daphne Kam During this time where everything is on the internet, According to the Business social media can make a huge impact on our lives. Insider, American Academy This includes cyber bullying, learning information that of Facial Plastic and Recon- isn’t for your age, and how you view and see yourself. structive Surgery stated 55% People compare themselves to celebrities, peers, and of surgeons took note of see- recently, how they look on filters (especially on Snap- ing plastic surgery patients chat). who wanted procedures to The name “Snapchat dysmorphia” was given by Tijion improve their visual appear- Esho, a cosmetic doctor. Snapchat dysmorphia is a ance in their selfies in 2017, newfound phenomenon in which people have been which in 2018 was 42%. A lot of them do what we wanting plastic surgery and altering themselves to look don’t have, or wish to have. Two main things they like their Snapchat filter. There is an increasing con- change is either high cheekbones, big eyes, and a thin cern about it. This causes low self-esteem (like many jaw or a child-like face. The feature of high cheek- other dysmorphias) and could elicit a body dysmor- bones, big eyes, and a thin jaw can relate to a 24-year phia, too. Body dysmorphia is a mental disorder in -old woman, which is the distinguished age of opti- which a person is obsessed with a made-up flaw or a mal fertility, conceding to Medium. When a person small flaw, like a mole, no one can casually see. looks younger, it can make people want to care and We spend a lot of time on our phones now. We use protect. That is why they can be seen as more attrac- social media daily and see other people on it daily. tive. But those aren’t all of the filters. Some filters Since social media can display someone’s version of a can do humorous things including when they make a perfect life (especially Instagram), it can make you rainbow spurt out of your mouth, which I personally question how you look. People take tons of selfies and like better. looking at themselves, giving them time to look at All of this can show what our society has succumbed themselves too much. You can start to notice your mi- to. According to the Washingropost.com social media nor flaws, or imagine flaws. People start getting ob- can cause many terrible things in society, as mental sessed with editing their photos to make them seem health and suicide rates have increased by a lot. The “perfect”. That’s when filters come in. question is, do we really need social media? The Liberty Ledger Abolishing the Death Penalty By: Lauren Bulanhagui What is the death penalty? The death penalty is the punishment of being ex- ecuted because of a crime that a person committed. According to pro- con.org, crimes that are worthy of re- ceiving this punishment include assas- sinating or kidnapping of a president that results in their death, treason, and murder during a kidnapping. Countries fo.org, “Cases without the death that allow the death penalty include penalty cost $740,000, while cases, Japan, India, Iran, Taiwan, Thailand, where the death penalty is sought, and Cuba. There are many states in cost $1.26 million. Maintaining each the US that have the Death Penalty, death row prisoner costs taxpayers which include Alabama, Arizona, Ar- $90,000 more per year than a prison- kansas, California, Colorado, Florida, er in general population.” Also ac- Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, cording to ballotpedia.org, “A 2012 Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New study concluded that maintaining Hampshire, North Carolina. Why does separate facilities meant California the death penalty exist in the first spent an average of $85,000 each place? The death penalty exists be- year to incarcerate a condemned cause some people believe that the prisoner.” This shows that cases that death penalty is an effective way to have the penalty cost more than it deal with certain criminal cases. would cost cases that have life with- out parole. According to deathpen- alty.org, the death penalty is an irre- versible punishment. The Constitution requires death sentence cases to go through a long and complex judicial process which includes going through several levels of mandatory review. Deathpenalty.org states that “The murder rate has fallen in New In the U.S., the death penalty is more York, New Mexico, Illinois, and Con- expensive than a life sentence without necticut in the years after they re- parole. According to deathpenaltyin- pealed the death penalty.” The The Liberty Ledger Abolishing the Death Penalty...Continued By: Lauren Bulanhagui chart below (from deathpenal- states, “Texas man Cameron Todd ty.org) shows the percentage dif- Willingham was executed in Texas in ference between the murder rate 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that of states with the death penalty killed his three daughters. Following his and states that don’t have the execution, further evidence revealed death penalty. It shows that having that Willingham did not set the fire that the death penalty doesn't actually caused their deaths.” In this case, it is deter crimes. Even though most clear that the death penalty could people believe that the death put innocent people’s lives at risk. penalty does make us safer, it is clear that this is not the case. If one Also, according to a video called of the purposes of having the Meet Youngest US Woman on Death death penalty is to deter crime, Row A Hidden America with Diane then the murder rates of states with Sawyer PART 4/6, 1 in 25 people sen- the death penalty should be less tenced to death row are innocent than states without the death pen- and 75% of those innocent people alty.