And to no one's surprise, here goes another one.
A seventh former Ohio State University wrestler came forward Saturday with claims that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) knew about alleged sexual abuse taking place on the wrestling team while he was an assistant coach.
David Range told The Washington Post that Jordan must have know about the alleged sexual abuse by athletic doctor Richard Strauss because it happened regularly and was often discussed.
“Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening — yes, most definitely,” Range told the newspaper. “It was there. He knew about it because it was an everyday occurrence.”
Of course, Jordan still firmly denies any knowledge, going so far as to start investigating and accusing the victims of unrelated bad acts. Because there's nothing suspicious about implicitly suggesting that a victim of sexual abuse is a bad person not worth believing.
But what kills me personally is how powerful the male reputation is. It is clearly the most important thing on the planet. Because it doesn't matter how many vulnerable people are exploited, assaulted, abused, neglected and then speak up for themselves. The media will still treat it as a "He said vs. (s)He said" even if one of those sides has an exponential number of voices. We've seen it with Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Louie CK, and even Donald Trump.
At what point do we start valuing lives and personhood of others more than the reputations of the accused?
