Unfortunately, abuse in women’s sports (and in the world) is not a new topic. From the USA Gymnastics team and now to the National Women’s Soccer League, we repeatedly see women forced into systemic situations of abuse and assault.

The recent reports that came out in October of the systemic sexual misconduct and abuse suffered by so many female soccer players are only the tip of the iceberg. However, it is important to take a close look at what exactly happened and what went wrong so that, hopefully, there can be a future for women in sports and everywhere else without systemic abuse.

The report that came out focuses specifically on three coaches: Paul Riley, Rory Dames, and Christy Holly. It also covers the inaction of the teams, league, and USA Soccer Federation. However, the report also includes how the abuse stemmed way further than just those areas of focus and uses the word “systemic” to talk about how it involved many teams, coaches, and survivors. 

The report dives deep into how sexist abuse of female players starts as early as youth soccer leagues, where players often suffer violent verbal abuse and consistent misogyny that normalizes this type of behavior towards female athletes. 

In a broader view, the sexism women experience for even being involved in any athletics or being in a vulnerable position with men in power over them (i.e., coaches), they’re often systemically exploited and abused throughout their careers and lives, which normalizes such abuse. Major reports like this one involving the USA Women’s Soccer League are simply a manifestation of lifetimes of suffering and misogyny that were only recently recognized. 

Another major point of the report was how abusive coaches were able to move from team to team with no punishment or public record of their abuse and were often sent off with encouraging messages from the PR team.

Once again, this public behavior is nothing new. Unfortunately, it is often the treatment perpetrators experience where they get off free as survivors must suffer a lifetime of trauma and detrimental life and career effects. As well, this lack of consequences deems this abuse acceptable and allows the perpetrators to continue the cycle of abuse with no retribution, leaving behind a sickening trail of traumatized women.

The deeper the report goes, the clearer it becomes how those in positions of power enabled this abuse to happen and continue and did absolutely nothing to prevent or stop it- even when reports flooded in over and over.

Such a situation begs the question: when will there finally be not only consequences but preventative action taken to protect women from systemic sexual & verbal abuse and assault and change the culture of misogyny prevalent in all aspects of women’s professional and personal lives?