The hashtag #WhyIDidntReport is now going viral.
\nI was 16yo the first time I was raped. I didn’t understand consent, rape, and thought it was my fault. For this and many reasons are #WhyIDidntReport
— Alison Turkos (@alisonturkos) September 21, 2018\n
The inevitable has come to pass. The President of the United States is using his platform to attack a victim of sexual assault.
I say “victim” rather than “alleged victim,” because the geniuses that make up the conservative brain trust have abandoned the “it never happened!” theory in favor of pushing a seriously bonkers doppelgänger plot. For real.
It was pushed in a tweetstorm by a Kavanaugh ally last night and now Fox and Friends is ON IT.
\nHere's @foxandfriends spreading the completely irresponsible theory that Dr Ford is misidentifying the man who sexually assaulted her, and that the perpetrator was actually a classmate of Kavanaugh's who looks like him pic.twitter.com/M4etGG1JMZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 21, 2018\n
Here he is, Mr. President, saying that “facts don’t matter” and blaming the victim for not coming forward 36 years ago, because people definitely would have taken her story seriously in the eighties.*
(*This is sarcasm. Have you ever seen a John Hughes film?)
\nJudge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018\n
\nI 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018\n
\nThe radical left lawyers want the FBI to get involved NOW. Why didn’t someone call the FBI 36 years ago?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018\n
“Why don’t women come forward about sexual assault?” the President broadcasts to millions of people, as all three branches of government work to protect the assailant’s power.
The only thing about the president attacking a victim is that Kellyanne Conway insisted that Trump would “do the right thing” and leave her alone mere minutes before.
\nWATCH: Literally minutes before Trump posted a tweet attacking Ford, @KellyannePolls told reporters outside the White House that Trump didn't need to be advised not to attack her because "the president doesn't need anybody to tell him -- he does the right thing." pic.twitter.com/j2YKeHmxdP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 21, 2018\n
Women are reacting to Trump’s tweet by sharing their own stories of assault, and why they didn’t report it. It’s absolutely harrowing and important to read.
\nYou are vile! #WhyIDidntReport Fear, guilt, shock, trauma, but mostly, I didn't want my mom to know and be hurt. (she had been through similar as a child). It took me 30 years & lots of therapy to even tell my sisters, then more years to tell my husband.
— Buffi Buckley (@DSquareNH) September 21, 2018\n
\n#whyididntreport almost 50 years ago, because I was humiliated, scared and only 16. And btw, you report, if you have the strength, to local PD, not the FBI and then are put through the wringer and a prosecutor says no way am I taking this to court. One reason , of many, why!
— MMH (@MoBoCoMom) September 21, 2018\n
The hashtag #WhyIDidntReport began trending.
\n#WhyIDidntReport I was 16 and scared as hell. I only told friends later when I had a panic attack listening to a speaker about sexual assaults. The only "authority" I ever shared with was the counselor who did my STI testing.
— Heather Peagler (@heatherpeagler) September 21, 2018\n
\nOne of my friends told me that it was only statutory rape and not a "real rape" because he was 23 or 24. She was the one who introduced me to the man who assaulted me. Even those who should be our allies doubt us.
— Heather Peagler (@heatherpeagler) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport
— Miss Malign (@nebulouswonder) September 21, 2018\n
Because I was in third grade, he was 17. His dad was my mom's boss, he threatened to have her fired, and I knew the church for which our parents worked had already protected him 2 other times.
I've researched him. If I'm right, he became...a cop. A detective.
\nFor me, it was only a non-violent attempt but I said nothing because he was my coach and I idolized him and thought it was my fault for wearing shorts. (He is now in prison because 20 years later, a 14 yo DID tell and was believed.) #WhyIDidntReport
— Laurie Kilmartin (@anylaurie16) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport because I literally didn't know there was a word for what happened. It wasn't until years later that I learned there was a word for what I experienced.
— Lee (@Leeturanga) September 21, 2018\n
\nBecause I was 8 and didn’t know there was a word for what happened. Then, I was 19, wanted to have sex and we were kissing when he threw me on the floor, held me down, and sodomized me. I was injured, ashamed, confused, and blamed myself. #whyididntreport
— It's Only Me (@LichenChittle) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport: Because the times I have reported, they've gotten a slap on the wrist, nothing more. Because I knew the blame would be put on me. Because "that's just how he is." Because women always lose.
— Jenna Sauber (@cajunjen) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport because of exactly what is happening to Dr Ford. The President of the US is trying to humiliate her! Can you imagine? You do nothing wrong. I already was humiliated, scared, and felt dirty and ugly. I still know my truth and didn't need anyone to question it.
— Kelly Towers' Pseudonym (@IsitAbuse) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport because the next morning everyone in the house clapped as if they were proud this 19yo “man” had sex with me. I was 16yo. That gave me the impression it wasn’t a bad thing
— Alison Turkos (@alisonturkos) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport because I was 11 yrs old, in my second foster home, and she was a model foster parent and he was her son, so it would have been my word against his. And I was afraid I'd end up in an even worse foster home if I was removed.
— TraCee (@TraCee_tr) September 21, 2018\n
\nI was 17. I was embarrassed that I froze, that I let it happen. He was my boss #WhyIDidntReport
— jawniferojawny (@jenniferaphael) September 21, 2018\n
\nI didn’t report the guy who, freshman year, raped me in his room. He was an ex and I didn’t know I was allowed to say, “we’d had consensual sex before but this time was different.” It took me years to talk about and process my feelings. Trump’s tweet today is a fresh assault https://t.co/xdOzuiw05X
— Emily Dreyfuss (@EmilyDreyfuss) September 21, 2018\n
\n#WhyIDidntReport I was 12. He was 14 and my "boyfriend". I told my "loving" Mother I was raped and she responded with 'well, you shouldn't have gone to his house.' I blamed myself.
— Kara Lütz (@ShastaTamp) September 21, 2018\n
\nI didn't report cuz I was afraid Dad would shoot the boy and go to jail and it would be my fault. I wish @RAINN had been around then.
— Laurie Halse Anderson (@halseanderson) September 21, 2018\n
Is there a Senator's aide who can compile the best of this hashtag into a doc to be read aloud in the Kavanaugh hearing?#WhyIDidntReport pic.twitter.com/hnGwJ8oRVb
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