Jennifer Sey Keeps Getting Canceled for Speaking Up
Reason magazine|February 2023
In 2008, Jennifer Sey was subjected to a vicious backlash after the 1986 USA Gymnastics national champion released Chalked Up, the first memoir published about rampant abuse in the sport. Her new book, Levi's Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job but Gave Me My Voice, feels like a continuation of that story, detailing Sey's ouster from the jeans juggernaut-where she was set to become its first female CEO-after she again ruffled feathers earlier this year. This time she wasn't speaking out against abuse in sports; she was speaking out against COVID-19 school closures.
BILLY BINION
Jennifer Sey Keeps Getting Canceled for Speaking Up

In November, Reason's Billy Binion interviewed Sey by phone about what led to her new book-and why the lifelong Democrat is now politically homeless.

Q: You were one of the first people to speak out in detail about the abuse in gymnastics. It wasn't received well. How do you relate that experience to your experience speaking out on school closures?

A: After [former U.S. women's gymnastics physician] Larry Nassar's arrest, the gymnastics community sort of reassessed and then coalesced around me, kind of pretending that they always had. Which was not the case, but I welcome anyone to the fight. I kept reminding myself that when you say a hard thing that people don't want to hear, the response can be, "You're lying." But ultimately the truth does win out in the end.

Q: Do you feel that's happened here?

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM REASON MAGAZINEView all
Libertarianism From the Ground Up
Reason magazine

Libertarianism From the Ground Up

ARGUMENTS FOR LIBERTARIANISM typically take two forms. Some libertarians base their creed on natural rights-the idea that each individual has an inborn right to self-ownership, or freedom from aggression, or whatever-and proceed to argue that only a libertarian political regime is compatible with those rights.

time-read
5 mins  |
January 2025
Lawlessness and Liberalism
Reason magazine

Lawlessness and Liberalism

THE UNITED STATES is notorious both for mass incarceration and for militarized police forces.

time-read
5 mins  |
January 2025
Politics Without Journalism
Reason magazine

Politics Without Journalism

THE 2024 CAMPAIGN WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR THE WAY WE PROCESS PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
January 2025
EVERY BODY HATES PRICES
Reason magazine

EVERY BODY HATES PRICES

BUT THEY HELP US DECIDE BETWEEN BOURBON AND BACONATORS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
January 2025
The Great American City Upon a Hill Is Always Under Construction
Reason magazine

The Great American City Upon a Hill Is Always Under Construction

AMERICA'S UTOPIAN DREAMS LEAD TO URBAN EXPERIMENTATION.

time-read
10 mins  |
January 2025
Amanda Knox Tells Her Own Story
Reason magazine

Amanda Knox Tells Her Own Story

\"OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM RELIES UPON OUR OWN IGNORANCE AND THE FACT THAT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT OUR RIGHTS ARE.\"

time-read
10+ mins  |
January 2025
Trade Policy Amnesia
Reason magazine

Trade Policy Amnesia

WHILE HE WAS interviewing for the job, President Joe Biden demonstrated an acute awareness of how tariffs work. It's worrisome that he seems to have forgotten that or, worse, chosen to ignore it-since he's been president.

time-read
2 mins  |
January 2025
Civil Liberties Lost Under COVID
Reason magazine

Civil Liberties Lost Under COVID

WHEN JOE BIDEN was sworn in as president in January 2021, he had good reason to be optimistic about the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.

time-read
2 mins  |
January 2025
Bye, Joe
Reason magazine

Bye, Joe

AMERICA'S 46th president is headed out the door. After a single term marked by ambitious plans but modest follow-through, Joe Biden is wrapping up his time in office and somewhat reluctantly shuffling off into the sunset.

time-read
1 min  |
January 2025
Q&A Mark Calabria
Reason magazine

Q&A Mark Calabria

IF YOU HAVE a mortgage on your home, the odds are that it's backed by one of two congressionally chartered, government-sponsored enterprises (GSES), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

time-read
3 mins  |
January 2025