Allegations Of Abuse In Women's Soccer Players Largely Ignored By Liberal Media

In America’s last decade, there have been monumental cultural changes, including the #metoo movement and a very open and frank conversation about women’s equity in work, sports, and life.

There was a cultural attempt to shine a light in the darkest corners of the entertainment industry, politics, and sports to say, “harassment in any form is unacceptable, and it’s time for it to end.” It seemed a new era of women’s empowerment was about to change our country.

Still, as scandals are currently rocking the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), the women’s empowerment movement seems to be a bygone relic of a nation that pays lip service to equitable opportunities, advocacy, and protection of survivors.

Players within the NWSL stepped forward to talk about abuse from their coaches and were ignored, benched, or sent to play with other teams while the offending coaches were allowed to continue to coach.

Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates published a massive report detailing the abuse and systemic failures by NWSL and recommended changes to the league so players are protected moving forward.

When approached regarding coach misconduct, the NWSL did not put nearly enough effort into protecting players and rooting our predatory behavior. And the disregard for investigating these alleged sustained attacks on female athletes undermines them.

An Unwanted Trend

Unfortunately, it is not the only example of undermining female athletes. As schools and sports leagues allow biological males to swim, run, race, and compete against women, it diminishes the opportunity for women to succeed.

Both of these stand as examples of the remaining inequity in opportunity for continued female success and empowerment in sports, and one receives significantly more attention than the other.

Alex Morgan of the USA celebrates after scoring her team's first goal during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France group F match. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Most Liberals Have Remained Eerily Quiet

The egregious lack of reporting on the scandal in the NWSL does not help women’s sports in the future.

It is not covered extensively in the local press or national outlets. My question is – where is the advocacy and outrage from the Left and media coverage over what has happened in women’s sports?

It shows a perhaps inadvertent but certainly sustained attack on women’s sports.

When the media is more focused on letting boys play girls' sports and not on the fact that a significant report came out about women being mistreated in their roles as athletes, there becomes the question of a concerted effort to undermine women and delegitimize their place in sports and the world at large.

The time is now to shine the light on attacks on women. The seemingly never-ending attempts to erode women in media and popular culture are only exacerbated by the silence on the abuse sustained by female athletes in the NWSL and sports. It is entirely unacceptable that acknowledging wrongdoing in sports and politics is passé.

If we want to empower the next generation of female athletes and leaders, we must protect them as a society. It means protecting their ability to share stories of abuse and making the necessary changes so that it never happens again.

It means the media and press extensively cover stories like the one coming out of the NWSL. And it means that biological females are not forced to compete against male athletes with an unfair physical advantage. Women fail if we allow the press, media, and popular culture to only pay lip service.

Don't @ Me: Media Ignores Abuse Of Biological Women In Sports