Lions’ Levy calls on athletes to ‘step up’ for women

8:04 PM ET

Detroit Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy wrote an essay Wednesday for The Players’ Tribune urging all athletes — not just NFL players — to “man up” and speak out candidly about sexual assault, victim blaming and rape.

“This isn’t about the NFL,” Levy writes in the piece. “It’s much bigger than that. But I’m asking my fellow athletes to take this opportunity to step up. Some of the funniest, most insightful and honest conversations I’ve ever had in my life have taken place inside a locker room. But this particular topic is one that has never come up.

“As professional athletes, we have the prominence in our communities to effect real change. When we talk, people listen. So in a sense, our general silence on this issue is condoning it.

“So let’s change that. Speak out with me. Man up.”

In an essay for The Players’ Tribune, DeAndre Levy details how he was ignorant on the subject of sexual violence while a freshman at Wisconsin, and says he carries guilt for not stepping up and acting then on what he identifies as rape. Leon Halip/Getty Images

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