The Sound of Silence: On the Interruption of Kavitha Davidson

For those of you that tuned into the spring season premier of Grey's Anatomy, you heard this daunting introduction to a very dramatic episode entitled, "The Sound of Silence":

"In group settings, men are 75% more likely to speak up than women, and when a woman does speak up, it's statistically probable her male counterparts will either interrupt her or speak over her. It's not because they're rude. It's science. The female voice is scientifically proven to be more difficult for a male brain to register. What does this mean? It means in this world, where men are bigger, stronger, faster, if you're not ready to fight, the silence will kill you." This very sentiment struck during a recent Outside the Lines segment (http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14782743) during which Kavitha Davidson, a sports reporter and journalist with the Bloomberg View, was interrupted twice in a four minute segment. The topic of discussion, the recent Peyton Manning sexual assault allegation that has resurfaced after 20 years tucked deep inside the walls of the University of Tennessee. An issue that, given that 1 in 6 American women will be a victim of rape or an attempted rape in their lifetime, should be discussed by women. This however, did not sit well with Mr. Finebaum, who felt the need to cut Ms. Davidson off on multiple occasions during her commentary.

Four minutes. She was given an opportunity to share her opinion and intelligent insights for a portion of a four minute segment. And even that was too much for Mr. Finebaum. Her points were valid, and regardless of your own personal opinions, blatantly interrupting a fellow journalist on air is disrespectful.

Sexual assault is not an issue that women should be forced to sit silently on any longer. Women need to fight to be heard.

Sports culture in the United States is at a turning point. The days of the old boys club protecting athlete deviance for the sake of a program’s reputation, are over. Women will no longer sit in silence and we all must be united on this point. The social injustices that are permitted to occur so that a football team can win a few games are absolutely inexcusable and completely inhumane.

The silence will kill us. So women must overcome those who attempt to silence them.

You can follow the author of this article on Twitter at @lindseydarvin.