Swim Coaches in Trouble

Child abuse isn't a temptation. It's a crime. What is amazing is that people marginalize the impact by referring to it as a temptation and that it is amazing that it doesn't happen more often. The act is a crime, the setting is the temptation, to some. They are not the same thing. Society used to silently condone this behavior. In fact, Michael's argument about temptation excused the older men and stigmatized the young women when this kind of thing occurred. It seems kind of harsh that these older coaches are getting called out now when no one seemed to care 30+ years ago. And, yet, when I think of how they've affected young athletes' lives, it's not harsh at all. Society has never condoned this behavior, although what was done was usually less public than now. My "argument" excusing older men does not exist. The victims (mostly girls) were described as that, victims. Just because there were no forums on which to anonymously rant in the 1970s does not mean no one cared. Because it is such a traumatic personal experience, sometimes the authorities were not called, the coach was just fired and went elsewhere. I would guess that they (the coaches) were even given good references in order to avoid lawsuits and keep the coach far away. This was to protect the victims, although it apparently did not in some cases, owing to the behavioral and psychological problems some have reported. This is probably due to the lack of closure, even though that would have been devastating to the young victims at the time.

Child abuse isn't a temptation. It's a crime. What is amazing is that people marginalize the impact by referring to it as a temptation and that it is amazing that it doesn't happen more often. The act is a crime, the setting is the temptation, to some. They are not the same thing. Society used to silently condone this behavior. In fact, Michael's argument about temptation excused the older men and stigmatized the young women when this kind of thing occurred. It seems kind of harsh that these older coaches are getting called out now when no one seemed to care 30+ years ago. And, yet, when I think of how they've affected young athletes' lives, it's not harsh at all. Society has never condoned this behavior, although what was done was usually less public than now. My "argument" excusing older men does not exist. The victims (mostly girls) were described as that, victims. Just because there were no forums on which to anonymously rant in the 1970s does not mean no one cared. Because it is such a traumatic personal experience, sometimes the authorities were not called, the coach was just fired and went elsewhere. I would guess that they (the coaches) were even given good references in order to avoid lawsuits and keep the coach far away. This was to protect the victims, although it apparently did not in some cases, owing to the behavioral and psychological problems some have reported. This is probably due to the lack of closure, even though that would have been devastating to the young victims at the time.