Atrocities happen in other sports and nothing is done. https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/03/03/despite-arrest-no-contact-order-court-admission-water-polo-star-continues-to-compete-and-teach/
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“An individual — like Lucca van der Woude — who has sexually battered multiple teammates multiple times, and over the course of years; lied and misled authorities about his criminal conduct, until he admitted them in court; defamed his victims in an attempt to protect his own reputation;"
Wow
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I wonder if the sexual battery complaints against van der Woude were minimized even more than is sadly typical for such things because his victims were male. The fact that he has been invited to be a mentor to younger developing athletes is simply atrocious.
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I actually read an article the other day saying that men who assault male victims (at least if they are minors) get more jail time than those who assault female victims.
That being said, this is really giving me “but he’s such a promising young man” vibes.
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I hate to say it, but I wonder if that’s because there’s less of an inclination for anyone to think, even subconsciously, “Was he asking for it? What was he wearing?” Etc., etc.
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Wow. Just wow. That article is unreal.
What. The. Actual…. were all those people thinking who did absolutely nothing about that situation.
The racist stuff alone should have gotten that kid thrown off every team in the country. Forever. Never mind the rest of it.
I hope all those people end up losing their jobs. And get sued to the ends of the earth.
Maybe they can rent a sad pathetic party bus together to go to court and then the unemployment office. Or vice versa.
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Ok y’all. I’m struggling with this one. I read the article posted up thread and by her own admission she gave this guy multiple blow jobs to keep the ride on a GP horse?
I don’t know either party have no dog in the fight but really? Have some respect for yourself. Perhaps using her mouth to tell him to go f*ck himself instead of an alternate usage and sharing the texts she allegedly had rather than an article on a questionable platform
I 100% support the purpose of SS for minors. But this seems to me like consenting adults that went awry. Is it shitty of this guy. Yep. But if you are going to participate in those behaviors then accept the consequences of the actions.
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Walk a mile in the victim’s shoes. Sometimes it’s not clear that there’s an option.
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There’s a reason this type of stuff is illegal in the workplace. When there’s a power imbalance, it’s not just “consenting adults” anymore.
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This is a sickening post. Go learn one thing about sexual assault and harassment in the workplace.
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Yea. Similar to a grad student being offered the one research assistant portion in the lab that the prof’s grant will fund, thereby being able to concentrate on research, IF they agree to sleep with the prof.
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Let me help you, the exchange of sex for things is an essential component of prostitution.
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Or to turn it the other way around, expecting a woman’s sexual favour in return for things is pandering?
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I can’t believe this has to be explained but when the consequences of saying NO to sexual favors means you no longer have a job, we are no longer talking about consenting adults.
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I knew it would not be a popular opinion. But this one feels to me like a vindictive use of SS. The Florida case has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that people are using safe sport for vindictive reasons and even more egregiously, safe sport is enabling that conduct
This is so clearly not a case where an older male trainer is taking advantage of an underage girl in his program. By her own admission, she was engaging in this trade off to keep the ride on a Grand Prix horse. When things went south as they are inevitably will in this type of situation, it all went off the rails.
Again, I know this is an unpopular opinion, but it’s cases like this that dilute the very real valid mission of safe sport.
If I’m wrong, I’ll be the first one to admit it. But this one feels off to me. He said she said playing out on a public stage.
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But when there is an imbalance of power, there is not true consent. In this case, the trainer held her job and her access to a horse to compete over her head. That, combine with the emotional manipulation described in the article (but even without it; it is an exacerbating, but not necessary component) makes the relationship improper. It may not be criminal — that’s a different matter. But it is certainly appropriate territory for safesport, which should absolutely sanction professionals or other participants who use their position and power in the industry to pressure or coerce any other participants to provide sexual favors.
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Vindictive? Did you read what he and others at the “top of the sport” threatened her with and told her? I don’t even understand how you could think SS shouldn’t have jurisdiction over this. SS is not supposed to protect just children.
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Rumor has it he also cheated on his (now ex?) wife.
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A lot.
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It is a quintessential type of sexual harassment/discrimination known as “quid pro quo”-- having employment benefits be conditioned upon granting sexual favors. This literally violates a federal law, and yet there’s a poster on this board being like “shrug, what’s the big deal.” My mind boggles.
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