Since the advent of Title IX, American athletics have been understood as a principal avenue for women’s empowerment and advancement. Confidence, self-esteem, strength, and resilience are touted as positive qualities imparted to girls through the playing of sports.

But how quickly is this cultural messaging undermined by the very institutions that are suppose to endorse them? The egregious crimes of Dr. Larry Nassar prove that even within realms intended for their advancement, girls and young women are being systematically abused and violated under the guise that they are being supported and coached in their quest to become champions and strong, independent women.

Not only that: It’s still possible for this abuse to go on for decades before anyone takes it seriously.

So how do men like Nassar “get away with it?” We must first look to the institutions — USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee, Michigan State University, Hollywood, higher education, the Oval Office — that so often serve as “enablers.” These elite organizations perpetuate the culture of silence that can cover up and even lead to sexual assault. This is especially true for young female athletes who are groomed to be as pleasing aesthetically as they are athletically, seen and admired but rarely heard.

Young female athletes are groomed to be as pleasing aesthetically as they are athletically, seen and admired but rarely heard.

Within the realm of gymnastics broadly, a 2016 investigative report by the Indy Star found that “at least 368 gymnasts have alleged some form of sexual abuse at the hands of their coaches, gym owners and other adults working in gymnastics” over the past two decades.

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And while Nassar’s trial was big news — this week — the crimes he committed stretch decades back in time. They were also first reported in the summer of 2016, during which time he was convicted of child pornography charges and the case failed to make many national headlines.

As a comparative point of reference, commentators note that the sex abuse scandal at Penn State University, where assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse against young male athletes made headlines much sooner. The scandal engulfed America, making it impossible to miss. “I remember when the Penn State scandal was talked about at length for months and months and even years,” sexual abuse survivor Morgan McCaul told the HuffPost. “This is nearly five times the size and no one knows about it.”

Buzzfeed contributor Jessica Luther attributes this gender difference in media coverage to the gendered prescriptions of the two respective sports — football is culturally coded as “male,” while gymnastics is coded “female”— and the correlative lack of sports coverage given to gymnastics in general, “a sport that most people only care about for one week every four years.”