Power

Like many stories, Athlete A is a story about power.

Synopsis – Teenage girl is sexually abused by USA gymnastics team doctor. She tells her coach, her coach reports it to USA gymnastics. Teenage girl doesn’t make Olympic team. Sexual abuse scandal follows.

Power is a tenuous thing. Everyone needs to think they have a certain amount of power in a relationship.

In most relationships the distribution of power isn’t exactly equal, but is fairly equal, each side finds their comfort level with the amount of power they have. Sometimes its compromise. Sometimes it meets emotional needs. But each side has power in the relationship.

But when the power becomes too far out of alignment, we see abuse. Even in abuse, we sometimes see that the abused has some small bit of power, enough to keep them in the relationship. The dynamic changes when the abused loses any illusion of power.

Athlete A is a story about what happens when people lose all power.  When you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain, including power.

After USA Gymnastics takes away the Olympics from Athlete A, they can’t do anything else to her, they lose control of her. She and her family have two choices, they can walk away, like 499 others did. Or, they take action.

The crazy thing in Athlete A is that several people take action independently. Only one was public, but it was enough to give 499 others the power to take action.

Those who had the power, lost their power and are hopefully on their way to jail.

You may reach a point in your life where you think you don’t have power in a situation. Know that you always have power. The power you have may not seem obvious, but it is there – take it!

Want to explore more about identity and power? Check out Label Breakers course and find out what’s best for you.