Introduction: bodies, feelings, and the rhetoric of rape culture

Abstract

I am disgusted—disgusted that Larry Nassar, the trusted adult, authority figure, and famous doctor had the audacity to use his incredible power, prestige, and influence to sexually abuse me, a little girl, right there in his office in the safest and warmest of places with such an overlying sense of healing and recovery. [. . .] He broke in loudly without consent or restraint. He was an unwarranted intruder to my most private, intimate, never before touched places without warning, without gloves, and without explanation. [. . .] Treatment after treatment with Nassar I closed my eyes tight, I held my breath, and I wanted to puke. My stomach pierced me with pain. To this day that pain and these feelings are still there.