Alyssa Milano, known for being integral in the vanguard of the #MeToo movement, is speaking up once again through the movement of #WhyIDidntReport.
It served as a reaction to the criticism Christine Blasey Ford underwent as she had accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. The latter had recently been nominated by Trump to be the next Justice on the US Supreme Court. As a response to Kavanaugh’s second allegation of sexual assault, Trump sent out the following tweet:
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
The tweet gained almost immediate backlash, as those who have undergone any form of sexual assault know that it isn’t as easy as he states.
Alyssa Milano, who’s known for not backing down in a fight regarding her beliefs, tweeted a swift reply to the current president, sparking a new online movement which can be seen as an extension of the current fight against sexual assault.
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
On the following Sunday Milano released an essay, in which she explains exactly why she waited so long to speak out about her assault and never went to the police. In the essay she wrote,
“For me, speaking up meant reliving one of the worst moments of my life. It meant recognising my attacker’s existence when I wanted nothing more than to forget that he was allowed to walk on this Earth at all. This is what every survivor goes through. Telling our stories means being vulnerable to public attacks and ridicule when our only ‘crime’ was to be assaulted in the first place.”
Various female celebrities have released their stories on the Twitterverse in support of #WhyIDidntReport, showing that no woman is alone in their abuse and their silence.
One of them is Lili Reinhart, known for her role in Riverdale, tweeted she was too afraid to come forward with her claims,
“Because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen.”
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
Ashley Judd came forth as well, who had endured sexual abuse from a young age. “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,'” Judd revealed. “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.”
#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
Another assault case came to the light by Patricia Arquette, who was confronted with a man masturbating directed towards her, something a lot of women have been forcefully subjected to judged by the reactions.
I gave up “reporting” after I called the police at 12 after a man masturbated at me from his car. I gave the cops his license plate number and description. They didn’t come to take a report and never contacted me again. They did nothing #WhyIDidntReport
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) September 22, 2018
These are only a handful of the countless silenced cases. Milano sought to highlighting that both women and men who are victimised should not be blamed for the horrors that have happened to them. Her essay, an extension of her tweet, said: “The courage of survivors will always be stronger than Donald Trump’s hate. The lives of survivors will always be more important than Brett Kavanaugh’s career.”
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