Photo by Jemel Countess courtesy of Getty Images and Dan MacMedan courtesy of Getty Images
In the wake of #MeToo and surrounding the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, celebrities have come forward to talk about their experiences of sexual assault through the #WhyIDIdntReport hashtag.
Dialogue about sexual abuse and delayed disclosure has become a hot topic on social media in light of Brett Kavanaugh's potential appointment to the Supreme Court and the allegations of sexual assault against him by Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford. Actresses Alyssa Milano, Lilli Reinhart, Mira Sorvino, and Ashley Judd shared their experiences on Twitter in solidarity with Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her 36 years ago when she was in high school.Cara Delevingne also joined the growing list of sexual assault survivors sharing why they didn't report their incidents of trauma to authorities when it initially happened, sharing her sentiments through the #WhyIDidntReport hashtag that's been used on Twitter for sexual assault survivors to share their experiences. In October 2017, the model shared on Instagram that she was attacked by Harvey Weinstein early in her career. "I didn't want to hurt his family," she said. "I felt guilty as if I did something wrong. I was also terrified that this sort of thing had happened to so many women I know but no one had said anything because of fear."
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Model Padma Lakshmi also opened up about her assault on Twitter and through an op-ed, she penned for The New York Times."I have been turning that incident over in my head throughout the past week, as two women have come forward to detail accusations against the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh," Lakshmi wrote. "On Friday, President Trump tweeted that if what Dr. Ford said was true, she would have filed a police report years ago. But I understand why both women would keep this information to themselves for so many years, without involving the police. For years, I did the same thing. On Friday, I tweeted about what had happened to me so many years ago."
The same sentiment was felt in Washington, D.C. when Senator Ann McLane Kuster opened up about her sexual assault 40 years ago in a USA Today op-ed on Wednesday.
"As a survivor of sexual assault at a fraternity party at an Ivy League school 40 years ago, what I remember most distinctly was the humiliation, shame, and fear I felt running out into the dark, bitter cold, snowy night," Kuster wrote.
She goes on to urge that the Senate Judiciarchy Committee take Ford's statements to heart and seriously consider the moral standing of Kavanaugh.
"The burden of proof in a legislative procedure is to AFFIRM confirmation for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land," Kuster wrote. "This requires the highest level of scrutiny imaginable—namely, that this person demonstrates the highest level of moral character, including empathy and compassion for all persons.""Our future depends upon getting this right."