In the wake of Christine Blasey Ford accusing Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, many Republicans have cast doubt on her claims, including President Donald Trump.
"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!" President Trump tweeted on Friday.
The majority of sexual assaults are never reported to the police, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. This is an estimated total of 63 percent of assaults. Alyssa Milano, actress and a prominent voice in the #MeToo Movement replied to the president, inviting other victims to share their stories of sexual violence.
Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the fuck up.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 21, 2018
I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents.
If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo https://t.co/n0Aymv3vCi
"I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell my parents. If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo," Milano tweeted on Friday in response to Trump.
Jesse Watters, a Fox News presenter, accused Ford of not acting like a "true victim." However, the many assault survivors replying to Milano's invitation on Twitter show that there is not a singular narrative for a victim of sexual assault, therefore there is not a singular way a victim is supposed to act afterward. Milano's tweet has received 807 replies, 1,600 retweets and 5,300 likes.
Milano has followed the tweet up with the hashtag #WhyIDidn'tReport, which is now trending on Twitter with thousands of survivors sharing their stories.
Ford came forward with her claims anonymously at first in a letter that Senator Dianne Feinstein passed along to FBI investigators. The allegations were reported by The New Yorker on September 14, with details of the letter from a woman who claimed Kavanaugh had held her down and attempted to force himself on her while the two were in high school.
Kavanaugh denied these accusations. "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation," he said in a statement released by the White House. "I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
I did report. I went to the hospital and the SVU in Brooklyn and told them what happened to me.
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) September 21, 2018
They told me what I described was a rape. I was starting law school in 3 weeks so I decided not to press charges. Biggest mistake of my life. #WhyIDidntReport
#WhyIDidntReport because he was a close friend who I had been supporting through his breakup, because I had been drinking, because I couldn’t believe that it had happened. Because I’ve been conditioned to believe I asked for it. That was 1,784 days ago.
— katrina (@utterlykatrina) September 21, 2018
He was the nephew of my father’s girlfriend at the time & was older & stronger than me. It started when I was 7 & I thought he’d hurt me more & that nobody would believe me. It took 4 years to break the silence. He was abusing other kids too, I later found out. #WhyIDidntReport
— deray (@deray) September 21, 2018
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