As if the Larry Nassar saga could not get any worse, a male gymnast has recently come forward, making him the first man to speak out against the disgraced doctor. In 2017 and 2018 Nassar was convicted and sentenced to a life in prison as a serial child molester due to his unspeakable criminal acts while working as a national team doctor for USA Gymnastics and an osteopathic physician at Michigan State University.
In April 2016, Jacob Moore, now 18 years old and a freshman gymnast at the University of Michigan, went to visit Nassar, a gymnastics doctor and family friend, in Nassar’s basement for be a treatment of his troubled shoulder. To Moore’s surprise, instead of focusing on Moore’s shoulder Nassar pulled down his pants and administered acupuncture to his “genital area.” Nassar claimed that the acupuncture would help the shoulder. Moreover, as Nassar treated Moore in the treatment room, he spoke to another young female gymnast in the room about whether she had seen a man’s genitals before. Needless to say, Nassar’s “treatment” did nothing for Moore’s shoulder-which later required surgery- and he left feeling “quite uncomfortable.”
“I left his basement thinking that did not help at all,” said the young gymnast. “It’s frustrating when you have an injury and thinking you’re gonna get legitimate medical treatment, and you’re not getting that, for sure.”
Moore made the brave choice of coming forward after he watched his sister and nearly 200 other girls and women testify at Nassar’s criminal sentencing in Michigan earlier this year. Notably, at the time, no men came forward with allegations of abuse.
Moore explained:
“I was inspired by my sister and everyone else in this community to come out and help bring change to what allowed this to happen… I don’t want [other victims] to be scared to come out because of stigma that guys can’t be sexually abused or taken advantage of.”
Like the many other women that have told their story in court, the “treatment” Nassar administered was not medical but criminal. And it is that premise that Moore’s lawyer will argue in their recently filed lawsuit.
The complaint states:
“There is no known medical connection between shoulder pain which can be treated through acupuncture in the area of a male’s genitalia… Plaintiff Jacob Moore believes the conduct of Dr. Nassar was sexual assault, battery, abuse, molestation and harassment performed by Defendant Nassar for Defendant Nassar’s sexual pleasure and gratification.”
Ongoing investigations are investigating Michigan State University to determine how the doctor was allowed to continue abusing athletes for so long without action being taken against him.
The outrage of Michigan State students and the community have forced the university to take responsibility (/michigan-state-universitys-response-to-sexual-assault/).
Moreover, such attention has caused the Michigan Senate to announce that the state is developing a budget that would require public universities – like MSU – to prove that the universities are meeting new sexual assault prevention standards or risk state funding. With the new protocols, Michigan’s 15 public universities must wait to receive funding until they provide the required proof such as documenting that their policies are transparent and follow the best practices for sexual assault prevention and compliance with Title IX federal protection law. (http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/14/michigan-senate-msu-budget/110410118/)
