Patriarchal Apparatus: The Role of Media, University, and Athletic ISAs in the Nassar Abuse Case

The Larry Nassar scandal at Michigan State University is the worst and most widespread case of childhood sex abuse in this nation’s history to date, affecting over 150 young girls and women. This article asks: What were the structural and ideological mechanisms, policies, and practices that enabled this widespread abuse over a thirty-year period? Louis Althusser’s Marxist theory of Ideological State Apparatuses (and feminist responses to this theory) is useful in explaining how state-making institutions—media outlets, universities, athletic organizations, and family units—are not only produced and reproduced along class lines, but also with respect to gendered power dynamics. By examining the patriarchal nature of ISAs, one can begin to understand how Larry Nassar was for so long shielded from suspicion and criminal prosecution by the institutions that employed him.