Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of rape and sexual assault.
Sexual assault survivors are taking to Twitter to share the various reasons why they didn’t immediately, or ever, report what happened to them with the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. Celebrities like Lili Reinhart, Ashley Judd, Whitney Cummings, and more were among those who participated.
The hashtag began trending on Friday after President Trump questioned why Christine Blasey Ford didn’t disclose that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh forced himself on her back when it happened, when the two were in high school.
The 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
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018
After Trump’s tweets, Alyssa Milano responded by sharing her story and inviting others to do the same.
Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the fuck up.
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
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 21, 2018
Because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen. #WhyIDidntReport
— Lili Reinhart (@lilireinhart) September 21, 2018
#WhyIDidntReport. The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said “Oh, he’s a nice old man, that’s not what he meant.” So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man.
— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) September 21, 2018
I had no idea assault wasn’t okay because pop culture taught me that my body existed solely to be objectified and enjoyed by men and it
it didn’t occur to me that I was allowed to even have a say in who touches my body until I was literally 30 years old. #WhyIDidntReport— Whitney Cummings (@WhitneyCummings) September 21, 2018
#WhyIDidntReport because the first time I did for a serious sexual assault as a teenager nothing came of it, and later I felt that I wasn’t important enough to make a big deal over. I was wrong.
— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) September 22, 2018
I was 7 the first time I was sexually assaulted. He was a relative of my mom’s second husband. I told my folks and they sent me away. #WhyIDidntReport
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) September 21, 2018
The third time I was assaulted I was 23. I thought that no one would believe me, because no one wanted to stand up to him. I had seen the way Anita Hill was treated when she came forward. #WhyIDidntReport
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) September 21, 2018
I waited over 20 years to report my sexual abuser.
Because I was 14.
Because it was my hero.
Because it was my priest.
Because I thought I’d be expelled.
Because I feared no one would believe me.
Because I thought suicide was easier than telling 1 person#WhyIDidntReport— Thomas Roberts (@ThomasARoberts) September 21, 2018
#WhyIDidntReport Because he doesn’t deserve any attention. Because I want to focus on the positive. Because he is truly evil.
— Jordan Pruitt (@JordansBlog) September 21, 2018
I did, it didn’t matter, I was dismissed, disparaged, & I still get blamed #WhyIDidntReport
— Daryl Hannah (@dhlovelife) September 21, 2018
Ford told The Washington Post that she kept quiet about Kavanaugh’s alleged assault because she didn’t want her parents to find out that she was drinking at the age of 15.
Her choice not to reveal what happened to her isn’t an usual one for survivors. According to estimates from the federal government, nearly two thirds of rape and sexual assault victims don’t report it.
Keeli Sorensen, vice president of victim services at RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), told ABC News that there are many reasons that people don’t report.
“If I am someone who believes there is going to be retaliation, or the person who committed and perpetrated the events against me is well-respected, has a high profile within a community, a community I care about, I am going to see a lot of risk related to reporting, particularly because it will instigate an investigation, and that might be a risk I’m not willing to take,” Sorensen said. “So that might be a big part of it.”