Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas said dressing in a sexual way welcomes the wrong crowd? In other words, Ms. Douglas said your choice of clothing means you are asking to be molested? Really? Note that this comment was regarding a photo-shoot done after Ms. Raisman was 21. And I think Ms. Douglas may have meant to say something differently, but the timing and wording were nothing short of horrid. Her message of “let’s think about how we dress” was totally lost.

I first heard of the Fierce Five during the 2012 Olympics. Gabby Douglas had a great story of family, faith and perseverance in the books and movies. My nieces absolutely loved her story. Well, here is the New York Post story about Ms. Douglas today. And to highlight the many things wrong with the tweet, here is an E! Weekly picture of the 2012 Olympic gymnasts called the Fierce Five.

In 2012 these were girls between 14 and 17 years old. And in 2012 these kids were not legally able to consent to the assaults from their team doctor. Nor did they want to be violated. And Ms. Raisman did the right thing by speaking out. That means someone else who this bastard raped can feel safe enough to speak up. This is what #MeToo is about, by the way.

Regarding the rapist, he will be sentenced November 28th in Federal Court. He will also be sentenced by the state of Michigan in Ingham and Eaton counties. This sex offender will not be out of prison anytime soon. Gabby Douglas could have supported her teammate. But she did not. She went and tweeted before thinking. Which was a bad idea at best.

Gymnastics star Gabby Douglas slammed fellow Olympian Aly Raisman on Friday for dressing in a “provocative/sexual way” after Raisman accused her former gymnastics team doctor of sexual assault.

Douglas responded to a tweet from Raisman that detailed the victim shaming she has recently received after launching the allegations because she had once done a “sexy photoshoot.”

“Just to be clear,” Raisman posted on Friday. “Just because a woman does a sexy photoshoot or wears a sexy outfit does not give a man the right to shame her or not believe her when she comes forward about sexual abuse.”

I hope she did not mean 140 teenage girls enticed the wrong crowd when they were sexually assaulted. Because that is what her tweet actually said. Dressing provocatively and sexually attracts the wrong crowd. Any message intended is totally lost in the victim-blaming. It is worth noting that Ms. Douglas wore the same leotard Ms. Raisman wore. And her tweet was inappropriate as a reply. To a tweet about victim-shaming being wrong. Because how we say things is almost more important than what we say. A lesson we can all learn.

Teammate Simone Biles had a great response. Other tweets ranged from snarky and funny. to racist and ignorant, by the way. I warn you to read Twitter with care.

shocks me that I’m seeing this but it doesn’t surprise me… honestly seeing this brings me to tears bc as your teammate I expected more from you & to support her. I support you Aly 💕 & all the other women out there!
STAY STRONG pic.twitter.com/CccTzhyPcb

— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) November 17, 2017

Now for the “yeahbut” answers: Was Gabby Douglas partly correct? If she wanted to remind girls that how you dress is important, I would support that. If she was trying to lovingly encourage girls to put some clothes on, more power to her. That is not what she did. She went full mean girl to a teammate who did something brave. And as a side note, people who say things like Gabby did is one reason people do not report or speak up when sexually assaulted.

To mythbust, victims are not all vestal virgins: they are crime victims. Who had bad things happen. If you would not bitch someone out for getting their car or house broken into, why do people do this when it is sexual assault?

Suggestions:

I hope Gabby sits down and listens to victims and to families of victims. And realizes she opened her mouth and stupid tumbled out. We all do and say stupid stuff. I do it every day. But this is more than stupid. This is piss poor judgement at best. At worst, it is mean girl sniping. And most importantly, men and women need to be responsible for their actions.

To make things worse, she is marketed as a Christian. Somehow I think Ms. Douglas may have missed the part about getting along with others that was taught in Sunday School. Which makes me rather sad that unlike her routines, she is missing the bar. I read the 4 Gospels, Paul’s writings and the Old Testament for fun and there was nothing about Modest is Hottest. There is this:

In light of #gabbydouglas comments, worth nothing that Jesus, when speaking on lust, doesn’t tell women to cover up. He tells the man to pluck out his eye (Matt. 5:29). Stop blaming victims.

— Zack Harold (@ZackHarold) November 18, 2017

Exactly! Men are responsible for their reactions to what we wear, too. For perspective from your friends at VG, here is a handy quote I love from Golda Meier:

Gabby Douglas did apologize, but the damage was done. A lesson for all of us to remember: the internet is forever and sometimes “I support you” is all that needs to be said. Because that is what friends are for. Because, it is NEVER OK to be molested. NOTHING a victim does makes them “deserve this.” Anyone who says there is or they do is no friend.