
A Casual Chess Observer's Take on the Alejandro Ramirez scandal
As a chess fan, it is surprising that the chess community is having yet another scandal. GM Alejandro Ramirez is under investigation for sexual misconduct with underage girls, as well as sexually assaulting Jen Shahade. There are also allegations that this is a rampant problem with GM Alejandro Ramirez, according to many news sites. However, the lack of coverage is disappointing. You can read the original tweet here.
What makes this story more insidious is that the St. Louis Chess Club is located in one of the most hostile states for women, Missouri. If any of these assaults had somehow ended in an unwanted pregnancy for the victim, their law that bans abortion has no exceptions for rape or incest. The laws in the state of Missouri allow it so that a rapist can literally choose the mother of their children and potentially ruin her life forever. Isn’t that terrifying? Keep in mind that rape, as well as any sort of sex crime, is one of the hardest to prove from a legal standpoint. Few perpetrators of sexual violence ever see the inside of a prison cell. It’s a sad day in America when the survivor of rape has a penalty far worse than their rapist. In some instances, rapists have actually been granted custody of their children that were fathered during the commission of a rape. Let those details sink in.
While I understand that the U.S. Chess Federation, St. Louis Chess Club, and major chess governing bodies are limited to what they can say, I am very disappointed in the lack of condemnation from the chess community. Many male chess players and streamers, including Hikaru Nakamura and GothamChess, have failed to make any mention of the scandal. On the C Squared podcast, the most cowardly, chicken shit response was given. GM Ben Finegold is one of the few who gave an appropriate response, which can be viewed here.
However, when Hans Niemann was accused of cheating, EVERYONE commented. People had no problem jumping to conclusions. While I don’t know if he cheated, I think that people need to ask themselves which is worse- someone cheating in a game or someone physically hurting a human being for their own sexual pleasure? Is this just so normalized in society now that we quit caring and it’s just another day?
For rape survivors, like me, it’s not another day. Honestly, even with therapy, working on yourself, and everything else, there are no more normal days. Your life is changed forever. You have a hard time trusting others and your life is a living hell. For years, I was in constant fear and survival mode.
In my case, I was nineteen years old, did not report it (which I regret), and could not speak about it for about three years after surviving a stalker a year later. There is no surprise that it took her ten years to come forward. Sexual violence against women is a different type of trauma and every woman either knows a woman who has been harassed or assaulted- if not experienced it themselves. It starts at a young age for most of us too. Unless you have had to do it, speaking up is scary and the consequences can be severely traumatic and life-altering. If Jen Shahade did not have her reputation in chess, her career could have been easily ruined. However, otherwise good men stay silent and do nothing.
We need good men to stand up to bad behavior. If one in three women have been the victim of sexual violence, every man statistically knows someone who has committed sexual violence. However, many simply stay silent. To anyone reading this, especially men, please speak up. Survivors are tired and we need you to stand up.
If anyone in the chess community has experienced any sort of sexual misconduct, Alexandra Botez has started a database to keep track of any behavior. You can find more details here.
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