Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oly@Hogshead3Au
Sep 9, 2025
12 tweets
I was raped when I was inarguably among the strongest women in the 
… and he was just a guy.
When he grabbed my wrist, I quickly realized – in that slow-motion-adrenalin-awareness phenomenon – that I couldn’t move my arm in any direction: not even when using my lats in a downward motion, where swimmers excel.”
… and he was just a guy.
When he grabbed my wrist, I quickly realized – in that slow-motion-adrenalin-awareness phenomenon – that I couldn’t move my arm in any direction: not even when using my lats in a downward motion, where swimmers excel.”
In law school, I learned to evaluate when the law considers women to be like men (“sameness feminism”), in an apples-to-apples comparison popularized by its famous proponent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: places like the classroom and employment, generally.
open.substack.com/pub/strongerwo
I learned to contrast those with the places where it is permissible to formally sex-segregate, when men and women must be treated differently because they are different: “difference feminism.”
…Matters related to pregnancy and lactation, sports participation, and the permissibility of formal barriers erected to protect girls and women from male violence: All allow a “Separate and Equal” approach that would be prohibited in a racial context.
My academics helped me to understand rape as an expression of male power over women; to understand that there was no escape from the terrifying personal and political weapon known as rape. There would be no safety for me without safety for all of us.
Those 800 laps-per-day of our hard training were vital for calming my hyper-vigilant brain and PTSD.
Underwater I could safely vent socially unacceptable emotions: especially rage. I imagined a different ending, where I had a machete in my back pocket. 
Women need sports.
Women need sports.Before the rape, men had felt like trustworthy peers. My male teammates and I goofed around in hotels, massaged each other’s muscles, stretched together. We relied on each other for inspiration & tips on form; we shaved each other’s backs. I even shaved some teammates’ heads.
Now I knew that men could employ their bodies as weapons.
I healed though:
- good friends who could listen to pain,
- accommodations from Duke,
- academic focuses,
- heavy workouts, that calmed my over-active brain, that wouldn’t listen to my scoldings: … “CALM THE F$CK DOWN.”
In class I saw how I’d unconsciously adopted the “just world fallacy,” which had kept me from being empathetic towards myself and other victims. (The fallacy includes the concept of karma: that rape victims must have done something to deserve their fate.)
It’s probably obvious that my personal history shapes my legal work at @Champion Women. It is a privilege to advocate for a better sporting environment for women, empowering them in ways that acknowledge our unique challenges. Thx @Women's Sports Policy Working Group & @Mariah Burton Nelson
youtu.be/SgDtQbP0jrE?si
Lots of ways to donate to Champion Women, here at championwomen.org/donations
Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oly
@Hogshead3Au
CEO @iChampionWomen; Civil Rights Lawyer, Using sport as a vehicle for social change in the world. 3x Olympic Champ in Swimming (3Au!) #TitleIX #SportsLaw
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