UNITED STATES
Glamour
November 11, 2018
At the 2018 Women of the Year Summit, a group of women who helped take down former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar—accused of years of sexual abuse—came together on stage to discuss the extensive challenges they faced, before the trial and after his sentencing. As Glamour executive editor Wendy Naugle, who moderated the conversation, said in her introduction, “They’ve changed the way we talk about sexual assault and abuse in this country.”
Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar of assault, joined Andrea Munford, the detective who led the investigation, and Angela Povilaitis, the assistant Attorney General who led the prosecution. These women reflect but a fraction of the army that came together to bring justice against Nassar: More than 140 people came forward to file civil lawsuits against the disgraced doctor, including Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment for injuries. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who presided over the case, came up after Denhollander, Munford, and Povilaitis left the stage. (Because Nassar has asked permission to repeal his sentencing, Judge Aquilina cannot speak to Denhollander, Munford, or the survivors, hence why they appeared separately.)
After hearing over 150 statements ranging two decades, Judge Aquilina sentenced Nassar to up to 175 years in prison. The response to the ruling was instantly huge, which surprised her at the time: “After it was over, I took a break and went and did four probation violations. I had no idea that the world was exploding,” the judge told Glamour in her WOTY profile. “I just did what I always do.”
In the panel titled The Collective Power of the Sister Army, Denhollander, Munford, and Povilaitis discussed how they banded together, prepared for a historic trial, and support survivors of sexual abuse. Then, Judge Aquilina spoke about why she allowed survivors to speak out in the courtroom. Below, the biggest moments of the panel.
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