October 1, 2021

"Men, protecting men, who are abusing women. I’ll say it again, men, protecting men, who are ABUSING WOMEN. Burn it all down. Let all their heads roll."

Tweeted Megan Rapinoe. 

I got there via "NWSL players speak out amid abuse claims: ‘Burn it all down’" (WaPo).

The players’ union demanded an end to “systemic abuse plaguing the NWSL” in the wake of reporting from The Athletic that an NWSL coach, the North Carolina Courage’s Paul Riley, had sexually coerced multiple players, as well as reporting by The Washington Post about verbal and emotional abuse by the former coach of the Washington Spirit. Riley denied the allegations to The Athletic. 

In both cases, former NWSL players did something they had never done before: they went on the record to detail the abuse they said they had experienced. And on Thursday, a long list of NWSL players... offered angry criticism of a league they said had failed to protect players....

56 comments:

Achilles said...

Rapinoe is rich. She doesn't care about the league she is trying to destroy.

All of the other professional female soccer players that aren't rich yet? Who want to make a living playing soccer?

Wouldn't it be neat if "feminists" like Ann Althouse spoke up against the destroyers like Rapinoe?

Everyone on the right hates Rapinoe.

Everyone on the left should too. But the left is full of sheep who don't really seem to care if destroyers they support by action and indifference poop in everyone's nest.

rhhardin said...

It's another Women's Workplace Issues Committee. Women form them in every male-oriented occupation. Social issues are more interesting to women than the work.

Kai Akker said...

They should only hire male coaches who are not attracted to women. There are ways to make men be not attracted to women. They geld horses, don't they?

gilbar said...

i have to admit, i agree with the old blue haired lady.
Let's STOP pretending that women are good at sports. Just END this madness

Heartless Aztec said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heartless Aztec said...

Awwww. Compare and Contrast:
My high school football coach in the 1960's as he's dragging me by the face mask through positional drills.

"God damn son, you seem to be stupid. Does your daddy know you got shit for brains? Well you may embarrass your family but you will not embarrass me or this football team. Drop and give me twenty. Then run stairs until I tell you to stop."

And that was the first day of pads. It got worse - much worse - until I learned the game the way he wanted. I was scarred forever. Not.
That said, being called stupid was wayyyy better than the coach calling you a 'pussy", the death knell moniker for any kind of ball player in front of his peers.

And no young man EVER went home and told his daddy that the coach called him names. Your father would automatically give the WWII veteran coach the immediate benefit of doubt and agree with him. You took it like a man - silently and quietly.

But times change don't they?


MikeR said...

Hollywood. DC. Now professional women's sports. Good for them; continue to speak up and burn these egregious losers.
Obviously, most major industries did this kind of thing decades ago. This could never have happened at my hospital, with our constant training and absolutely humorless HR department.
Just certain industries, where a few men "rock stars" have total decision-making ability for a huge number of women whose only chance of success is through those men. My (formerly young and beautiful) cousin told my son, Well, in Hollywood it worked for me, it worked for a lot of us. Of course we put up with it.
I wonder which industries are left? #timesUp

Howard said...

Megan is a tough chick spawned from the reddest part of California: Redding. It's those conservative Christian values she was steeped in that fuel her self righteous indignation.

Fernandinande said...

The yelling coach sounds like my old high-school wrestling coach, whom I guess we should have burned down if we had been as sensitive as girls.

Farrelly told The Athletic that Riley often sat next to her at a bar, where she voluntarily remained as she talked with him, then she voluntarily sat on his lap, then she voluntarily went into his motel room and voluntarily had sex with him. Another time, back again in Riley's motel room, Farrelly voluntarily kissed another girl.

Oh teh horror.

rcocean said...

I agree. Burn it all down. I would suggest women soccer coaches only from now on, but then you get into the Lesbian problem of abuse. So, what about hetrosexual women coaches only for women's soccer.

Or keep the men coaches and only hire trans/lesbian players. That might be easier and result in more victories.

rcocean said...

NC Courage. LOL. Women are always patting themselves on the back for being "Brave" or "Courageous" over things that require neither.

R C Belaire said...

Huh. Who would have guessed there is such a thing as the National Women's Soccer League? It could be burned to the ground I suppose, but either way it's way below the radar of most sports fans and few will miss it--very few. If Rapinoe finds herself out of a job will she b***h about that as well?

wendybar said...

The Cuomos come to mind. Same with the Bidens.

jaydub said...

"Burn it all down."

But what if no one notices?

Aggie said...

I don't know anything much about the news item, but I do know about cancel culture and its abuses, and the toxic internet Petri dish supporting the world's bumper crop of borderline-personality-disorder freaks that demand constant attention, because ME.

I'll reserve and exercise my right to ignore them all for the right reasons. And, by the way Megs: One perfectly good reason is because Women's Soccer sucks.

Drago said...

"Men, protecting men, who are abusing women. I’ll say it again, men, protecting men, who are ABUSING WOMEN. Burn it all down. Let all their heads roll."

Megan Rapinoe was a strong supporter of Tara Reade sexual assaulter Dementia Joe.

Like the LLR's, they are all liars.

Mark said...

Is Rapinnoe only just now learning about this?

Or has she known all along and is only now speaking out?

tim in vermont said...

I am sure Joe Biden will get right on that.

Fredrick said...

Looks like the left needs to change the narrative again. I look forward to seeing the Rapinoe Leauge, truly a league of their own, where the 'patriarchy' won't interfere.

Owen said...

This is horrible stuff. Because it combines (1) inherently shifty evidence (he said, she said) that is said to show (2) abuse of power and corruption of a key trust relationship (athlete/coach) (3) in pursuit of invasive intimacy and squalid selfish gratification.

Pure Kryptonite. No wonder it blows apart whatever organization it touches.

I have no answers, obviously. But it reminds me of the witch hunts of the 1980's over childcare facilities. A lot of lives were destroyed. On the strength of what evidence, with what due process?

TomHynes said...

This is a classic trope - abusive coach, manager, ship captain, military commander screams at his subordinates but succeeds on the field. It never ends with the male subordinates crying, having panic attacks, and hyperventilating.

Bill Crawford said...

NWSL's leadership team consists of five women and one man.

Richard said...

One offense, you quit the team. If acceding is the price for playing....that's your decision. If it's a toxic place to be...don't be there. Don't keep silent. Document whom you told in order to make a case for Duty to Report.
In other circumstances, the first offense is likely to be the one that gets the guy in trouble. In athletics.....
But if nobody will play for the guy, if he can't get a full team, the administration will, eventually, notice. Probably. Possibly.

Big Mike said...

Burn it all down? And when the flames get high enough can we toss Rapinoe in? Because if we “burn down” the women’s professional soccer league then doesn’t that imply she’d have to make a living some way other than playing s game?

Or does she mean to “burn down” silly things like “innocent until proven guilty,” and “the right to a fair trial”? Yeah, let’s go back to lynch mob rule, Megan. That’s the ticket!

I haven’t seen all the reporting on this, but from where I sit I think she means the latter. What she’s too stupid to realize is that it’ll mean the former, too,

Leland said...

They are pissed because the "pay gap" bluff was called. They were recently (after this years olympics ended) offered a new package along with the men's team. The pay was exactly identical to the point that some of the higher award money the men could receive in tournament play would be shared equally across the men and women's team. It was identical, but since it would eliminate the ability of Rapinoe to sell her services as a feminist activist pushing the pink pay gap; the package was turned down as unfair. The women wanted a package that paid them more than the men (although technically that has been the outcome of their previous packages that they agreed too before suing in court).

That is not to say abuses didn't or couldn't have occurred. Certainly USA gymnastics and particularly the FBI need to face higher sanctions for the abuses they allowed for nearly a decade. I don't recall Rapinoe making a stink at all about the FBI ignoring the abuse of female athletes from another sport. I get it is another sport, but it doesn't take much empathy to realize what the FBI did by ignoring the complaints and allowing the doctor to abuses under 18 women for years. It is an easy thing to protest and show solidarity and unity on a topic of women's rights and abuse of women. Yet Rapinoe is silent about it.

Iman said...

Rapinoe gives yet another demonstration of the lefty’s ongoing struggle between rigid ideology and common sense.

Hope it all works out…

Lurker21 said...

Megan's not doing her best to put the old "man-hating lesbian" cliché to rest here.

I thought we were finally moving beyond that as we embrace the nonbinary, pansexual future.

rcocean said...

There is no crying in Baseball. But there is in Women's soccer. The WNBA has avoided the sexual abuse problem. Not sure why.

Lets be honest, men's pro team sports are slightly absurd. Is there any reason to watch grown men play a kids game? But it seems hardwired into us. We want to "root, root, for the home team" and Professional team sports seem to be popular in every country in the world.

But then there are women's pro sports. They're even more ridiculous. Are any of them truly popular? The quality of the play is much, much lower, and there doesn't seem to be any innate love of seeing women fight "for us" against another group of women. Interestingly, none of my female relatives watch soccer even though they all played it in HS.

madAsHell said...

If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

If you burn down the National Women's Soccer League, and no one is watching.......

Leland said...

Wouldn't it be neat if "feminists" like Ann Althouse spoke up against the destroyers like Rapinoe?

You read it here first.

madAsHell said...

systemic abuse

A system of one guy???

Were they able to include the term "intersectionalities" in the complaint as well?

Temujin said...

If she's talking about the NWSL, yes, I agree with her. Burn it all down.

John Borell said...

"[People], protecting [people], who are abusing [people]. I'll say it again, [people], protecting [people], who are ABUSING [PEOPLE]. Burn it all down. Let all their heads roll."

Isn't that how we're supposed to play the game now?

Lurker21 said...

I guess we're due for another American professional soccer league burning down, so why not?

mikee said...

Define inappropriate behavior and appropriate behavior up front, and enforce those rules on one and all, or expect to suffer the uncertain consequences of changing attitudes about your actions. Time limits on complaints, and known rules of evidence, with due process and punishments known in advance might also help, but the idea of fair justice has been dead for some time now.

AlbertAnonymous said...

Similar to the previous article where all black women are still oppressed by slavery ….

No women have any agency anymore? None? What the hell happened to all the feminism and women’s rights movement?

No, we’re perpetually oppressed by others (even when we’re professional athletes and make tons of money)?

Good Lord.

Minimum wage working single mom who endures old school asshole boss abuse, sure… you’re options are limited, I see how you feel trapped and coerced and afraid to leave.

Professional soccer player fucks her coach? No agency? None at all? Fuckoff

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Y'all give Megan a break. She's about to age out as a player. She's so mouthy and arrogant that I doubt many coaching offers will be coming her way. I fully expect to see her mugshot start popping up in the Daily Mail about this time next year as she starts her long slow descent.

Mark said...

Now the league is calling off games.

gilbar said...

okay, serious philosophical question:

If a National Womens Soccer League Burns down, and Nobody notices; does anybody care?

I'm Not Sure said...

"If Rapinoe finds herself out of a job will she b***h about that as well?"

There's always Subway.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

AlbertAnonymous said...

No women have any agency anymore? None? What the hell happened to all the feminism and women’s rights movement?

Well, it's those damn pesky consequences.....

Vance said...

Burn it all down, eh? Go full Taliban? I wonder how Rapinoe would fair in that society.

Think she'd like it?

madAsHell said...

[People], protecting [people], who are abusing [people].

.........are the loveliest people in the world!!

--Barbra Streisand

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

I highly suspect that there were women protecting those men who were abusing women, just as there was with Epstein (who still hasn't killed himself), Weinstein, Clinton, etc. etc.

Cover ups ain't just a guy thing. Especially when women benefit from the arrangement.

#poundmetoo

Oh Yea said...

First, a gratuitous cheap shot to a report in the WSJ, "Women’s Pro Soccer League Calls Off Weekend Games in Wake of Sexual Misconduct Scandal": Who will notice?


But seriously, the solution is for the the women of the NWSL and WNBA is to quit these leagues controlled by men and start their own. There are many wealthy women who would be glad to get in the ground floor of such a lucrative enterprise. The likes of Melinda Gates, MacKenzie Bezos and Sheryl Sandberg come to mind. Hire only women coaches, trainers... A female retired law professor would make a perfect commissioner. That way they wouldn't need to worry about these abusive men siphoning off the massive profits.

Clyde said...

"Sexually coerced"? I thought they were all lesbians.

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

Woah. I don't think these lesbians (and non-lesbian vagina possessors) were thinking straight when they made me-too headlines out of complaints of "verbal and emotional abuse." All the men looking at each other thinking "hold my beer."

Jeff said...

This is exciting. I can't wait to read all the police reports.

What? There aren't any police reports? No criminal complaints filed? Sounds to me like an admission nothing illegal happened, and if it's not illegal, why should any of us care about NWSL working conditions?

Lurker21 said...

NWSL's leadership team consists of five women and one man.

The leadership of the second tier organization, the Women's Premier Soccer League, is all guys.

I wonder how that's working out.

Freeman Hunt said...

I thought she'd already burnt it to the ground.

rcocean said...

Lets be honest. would any NORMAL man want to be coach of a women's soccer team? You're really talking about 3 kinds of men, who'd do it. Total screwballs, Guys wanting to have a harem, and Desparate wannabees trying to prove they can coach before they can move on to bigger things.

This is why I've NEVER trusted Brent Kavanaugh. Some guy who surounds himself with female subordinates, and talks about "helping women" all the time is either a goofball or a sexual harrasser. Given that he cried during his SCOTUS hearings and then stabbed trump in the back, I'll bet Kavanaugh is just an odd ball.

rcocean said...

Rapine or Rapinoe?

Lots of lesbians harrassing other women.

Just sayin'

PM said...

Megan Rapinoe is Kalispellian.

stephen cooper said...

rcocean - now do Scalia, and "Whizzer White", and Roberts.

Look if any of those guys were actually, like, intelligent, they would not have gotten within a million miles of the Supreme Court.

And Scalia and little whizzer and Roberts are geniuses compared to poor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spent her entire adult life being stupid and pretending not to be, and the current apparatchiks Breyer and Kagan and Sotomayor.

I love the United States but let's be honest - we are not blessed with decent, kind, or even minimally respectable leadership in our judiciary.

Narayanan said...

"Burn it all down."

But what if no one notices?
----------
so : a large fire size of a small fire

RMc said...

Women’s Pro Soccer League Calls Off Weekend Games

The handful of people who had tickets must be upset.