STFU, Rape Culture!

lyinne asked you:

About your mustafina post, as a gymnastics fan, I do want to point out a few things. No questions the nbc trio villify the entire russian gymnastics team, particularly mustafina even though she is really maybe the nicest of the lot (she gave teddy bears to other athletes!). But Alexandrov (the coach) and Musty have a fantastic relationship and work very well together. I’m not sure which interview you are talking about, but if anything Mustafina was rushing herself after an ACL injury last year and tried to compete at Worlds but he stopped her because it wasn’t safe yet. She did not chuck her harder vault. As for the “challenging” moniker, it is just something nbc keeps saying after alexandrov said it in an interview, but also adding that it makes her a champion. So nbc looks for the slightest excuse to label her challenging. I don’t think the tap is a big deal, just a get yourself together and prepare for the next event. If he ignored her nbc would probably dramatize that too. Basically, nbc is ridiculous, but alexandrov did nothing out of the ordinary. (nor did mustafina of course). Also, with regards to blogs about incest, I know of this girl: goldenphoenixgirl (tumblr), VERY tragic story, but she is really brave, kind and knowledgable and gives great advice. :)

I don’t know when the interview was from. :( They played it during the first day of qualifications, I think. I am willing to believe there was creative editing on the interview, given everything else we’ve seen from NBC.

Regardless of what their relationship is actually like, I still think him touching her when she does not want to be touched is a big deal. I would feel the same if he was her father, friend, husband, etc. She so clearly does not want to be touched, and he violates her space. I think the ‘tap’ is a big deal because it obviously is to Mustafina. She bats his hand away, or she dodges out of his path so he is not able to touch her. If it didn’t matter to her, she wouldn’t be doing that.

It’s not a choice between touch her or ignore her. He could easily support her without touching her. Talk to her, clap for her, stand next to her and wait for the scores. I’m not saying this is out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, it’s not, which is what makes it an element of rape culture. NBC running with the challenging diva crap just makes it that much worse. Ugh.

With regard to goldenphoenixgirl [VERY STRONG TW on her blog for detailed descriptions of incest, rape, severe child abuse, trafficking, etc], I follow her, and I agree she is great. I’m not sure her blog is really what that anon was looking for though… Anon if you are reading, feel free to check it out.