News.com.au republished an article from the NY Post about Pam Shriver calling for better protection for girls and young women in professional tennis.
Last year, Pam Shriver spoke publicly about her coach, who started what she described as “an inappropriate and damaging relationship” when she was 17 and he was 50.
The article also mentions French tennis player Fiona Ferro, who accused her former coach of rape and sexual assault, and another player, Veronika Kudermetova, who is married to coach Sergei Demekhine. He began coaching her when he was nearly 30 and she was 15.
But, yep, sure, the headline here is that the players (ie teenage girls) must stop having sex with their coaches (ie, much older men in a position of power and authority over them).
Words are amazing and powerful things. They’re what we use to communicate how we feel and what we think. The people who wrote, edited, approved, and published this headline appear to be communicating that they think teenage girls are responsible for the choices made by men twice their age who abuse their position of power to damage girls and young women.
Pam Shriver is 60 years old now. She is still hurt and conflicted by what Don Candy chose to do to her more than 40 years ago.
“He should have been the trustworthy adult”, she said.
Shockingly, it seems the News Corp editors didn’t listen to her.
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