Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman is fighting back against suggestions that gymnasts should stop wearing leotards.
In a tweet posted Sunday night, Raisman says that leotards are not the problem and that the real problem is the pedophiles and enablers:
I was recently asked if gymnasts should continue wearing leotards. Leotards r not the problem. The problem is the many pedophiles out there & the adults who enable them. By saying clothing is part of the issue, u are victim shaming/implying survivors should feel it’s their fault.
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) March 25, 2018
These suggestions came after the January trial of Larry Nassar, a sports doctor who sexually abused more than 150 athletes. According to Cosmopolitan, Raisman has been an advocate for survivors after testifying at the trial.
Earlier this month, Raisman filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee for not acting on the allegations made against Nassar, Yahoo reports.
“I refuse to wait any longer for these organizations to do the right thing,” Raisman said in a statement at the time of filing the lawsuit.
The reaction from Raisman’s tweet about banning leotards has been mostly positive. Many other women on Twitter have pointed out that wearing a leotard is for safety of the athletes, and that women are not at fault for wearing what they want and abusers are no less at fault for violating them:
What are they supposed to wear, snow suits with boots? https://t.co/FOB37s2EeP
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) March 27, 2018
Leotards are so much easier to move in when doing gymnastics and allows the coach to check you have the correct posture when doing moves. It’s almost the same as saying divers shouldn’t wear swimming costumes or speedos as it’s too revealing https://t.co/AhpP9J2Vvt
— carowashingline (@carolinenwigg) March 26, 2018
We can only hope that change will continue to happen in the gymnastics world and that athletes will stick with wearing leotards.