This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UC Riverside chapter.
TW: Sexual Assault
You have probably seen Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram, Twitter, or a TV interview. She is well known for her bold red lipstick, membership in the squad, and her adorable french bulldog Deco. Most recently, she has been receiving media attention for a 90-minute Instagram live stream on February 1st. During the stream, she details her experience during the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, 2021.
Photo by Tyler Merbler distributed under a CC BY 2.0 license
She says that she feared for her life as a man in a black beanie entered her personal office, screaming, “Where is she!” While the man turned out to be capitol police, he banged on her office door without announcing himself, and after entering continued to not identify himself. This experience left Ocasio-Cortez absolutely shaken and terrified. She also revealed that she is a survivor of sexual assault, which only amplified her traumatic experience on January 6th.
Her live stream was met with harsh criticism from conservative news outlets and congressmen. People said she was manipulative, a liar, and that she was blowing things out of proportion. Fox News host Tucker Carlson called her a “little totalitarian moron” while reacting to her livestream. Even before her live stream, people were already criticizing her, telling her to “just move one.” As a survivor of sexual assault, this was already a familiar experience for Ocasio-Cortez. She said, “As a survivor, I struggle with the idea of being believed, and what’s odd is that I am in a job where people are constantly calling me untruthful, or that I’m exaggerating.”
Sunrise Movement
Her message throughout the live stream is so important for any survivor of trauma, abuse, or assault to hear. She gave an honest description about what it is like trying to tell a story of personal trauma, when you have been told your whole life that no one will believe you, but she emphasizes that the people “who tell us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what happened, even telling us that we should apologize. These are the same tactics of abusers.” The statement is profound. An experience doesn’t have to be universally traumatic for an individual to be traumatized. Just because there were hundreds of other congressmen who felt no fear that day, does not invalidate Ocasio-Cortez’s experience in any way, shape, or form. I am so glad AOC refused to be silenced because she gave a voice to every survivor who has been gaslit into believing their trauma was nonexistent.
