08/18/2016 04:15 pm ET - Ryan Lochte and
Gabby Douglas: A tale of two Olympic “scandals.” Gymnast
Gabby Douglas “disrespected” her entire country by not
putting her hand on her heart and smiling enough during the
Olympics. Swimmer Ryan Lochte is a “kid” who deserves “a
break” for allegedly destroying property and lying about a
traumatic robbery. If you were wondering what white, male
privilege looks like, this is it.
Insulting how Gabby Douglas(20) was being
told she needs to fix her attitude in Rio, but #LochteGate
and crew are all “kids” who got rowdy. — Lea (@_MissLeandra) August 18, 2016.
To back up: On Sunday, it was reported that
Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers were robbed at gunpoint
in Rio, with specifics of the robbery coming from Lochte
himself and his mother, Ileana Lochte. Since then, multiple
pieces of evidence have emerged that suggest the story was
fabricated, something that Lochte’s teammates Gunnar Bentz
and Jack Conger reportedly confirmed to Brazilian
authorities after being detained in the country. (Basically,
it seems that an international incident may have started
over the fact that Lochte didn’t want to admit to his mother
that he and his friends had drunkenly caused damage to a gas
station bathroom, and then gotten into a belligerent
altercation with the security guard.)
The general reaction to what has been dubbed
#LochteGate was initial confusion, a lot of spot-on jokes,
and eventually a measured dose of criticism and a plea from
Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada to “give these kids a
break” because “sometimes you take actions that you later
regret.”
It didn’t take long for people to point to
the cognitive dissonance between the compassionate,
light-hearted response to Lochte, Bentz, Conger and fourth
swimmer Jimmy Feigen’s drunken actions, and the widespread
online vilification gymnast Gabby Douglas experienced just a
week prior.
Douglas, who is just 20 years old, failed to
put her hand on her heart during the national anthem, and
did not style her hair and/or face to every individual’s
liking. For those “crimes,” she was widely criticized for
being “disprespectful,” “unpatriotic” and “un-American,” and
called words that we’d rather not repeat in this piece.
Lochte and friends reportedly defiled a gas station
restroom, fought with a security officer, lied to national
news sources, and may have filed a false police report. And
the four of them get to be framed as talented “kids”
(reminder: Lochte is 32) having one debaucherous night of
fun...
Gabby Douglas was destroyed for hand
placement. He pisses on a business and blames a country, and
people are making excuses. #LochteGate — Anthony Dominic (@tmzanthony) August 18, 2016
Gabby was verbally stoned on social media
for not putting her hand over her heart but people are
making excuses for #LochteGate — Joshua Thicklin (@JoshThicklin53) August 18, 2016
is it just me or did people seem a lot more
upset about Gabby Douglas not raising her hand to pledge
than Ryan Lochte lying to police? — #1 Rachel (@rachel) August 18, 2016
Let me gets this straight - Gabby Douglas
hates America but #LochteGate was just a bunch of kids
having fun? Hmmmm — Sade Diana Sellers (@sadesellers) August 18, 2016
This isn’t to say that Lochte and his
teammates should be publicly vilified. But when the benefit
of the doubt is given freely to white men when they mess up
― even in cases like this one where they actually may have
broken the law ― and yet withheld from others, it
perpetuates entrenched systems of racism and sexism.
What if Lochte had been a woman (of any
race) who falsely accused a man of robbing and attacking
her? If Ryan Lochte lied about that robbery, how
can we ever believe any man’s allegations of robbery? — WendyBrandes (@WendyBrandes) August 18, 2016
What if Lochte had been a man of color? If Black athletes pulled that #LochteGate
stunt, the headlines would read “Black Lives Matter Thugs
Caused Terror At The Olympics” — Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) August 18, 2016
These “what ifs” are important, and the
resulting thought experiments are telling. White men exist
in a world that prioritizes their potential, gives them the
benefit of the doubt and assumes their actions are mostly
benevolent ― or at the very least, harmless. Women,
especially women of color, don’t have that luxury. Just ask
Gabby Douglas.
