Aly Raisman | International Women’s Day 2025

we are born into a body we do not

choose at a time we do not choose and

into circumstances we do not

choose our birth shapes the rights we

have the dangers we

face and the

trajectory of Our

Lives for women and girls in today's

world increased risk is a

Birthright every second of every

day somewhere in the world three girls

experience some form of sexual

violence that's

1880 girls every

minute 10,000 800 girls every

hour 200

60,000 girls every

day 82 million

girls in one year

alone

lives forever

changed 82 million girls stripped of

their bodily

autonomy and

safety I am one one of those

girls I was abused by a Serial Predator

who freely assaulted hundreds of girls

and women unchecked by employers

colleagues the medical profession and

law

enforcement for more than 20

years and despite dozens of

reports victims were ignored signed

silenced

shamed even

threatened while this perpetrator's

unfettered access enabled him to violate

hundreds

more he thrived because his word carried

more weight than the

truth it took the collective voice of

more than

250 women to be heard

to be

believed and to finally stop this

monster why wasn't one girl's truth

enough Predators thrive in silence so

long as gender determines whose voice is

heard whose safety matters and whose

pain is acknowledged women and girls

will live in

fear this must end

today International agreements and

National laws assert our rights to be

free from violence not another day

should pass where those promises are

broken

one abused

child is too

many and one time is too

often we must not wait for harm to occur

before we act we must listen we must

believe we must demand accountability

without regard for

power autonomy over our bodies must not

be viewed as a

privilege it is a basic right of every

single woman and girl anywhere in the

world in the short time I have been up

here more than 500 women and

girls have been sexually abused

somewhere in the

world our action will determine the

course of

history lives depend on

it this day this year for all women and

girls we must act for zero

violence thank you