Thousands Of Sexual Assault Victims Share Their Stories Using #WhyIDidntReport Hashtag After Trump Discredits Brett Kavanaugh Accuser

Donald Trump had some pretty insensitive words for Christine Ford, the woman who is accusing Supreme Court nominee #BrettKavanaugh of sexual assault in the early ‘80s. But leave it to social media to clap back and stand behind Ford in creating #WhyIDidntReport, where people from all over the world share their stories of sexual assault and why they chose not to speak up sooner.

#MeToo advocate and actress, Alyssa Milano, was among those tweeting the hashtag and shared her story, which was retweeted more than 16,000 times.

“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 my parents.”

Many participants listed the reasons they kept quiet, like: “Because I knew it was his word against mine.” or “Because I’m still afraid.” Psychologist Dawn Hughes stated, “Rape and sexual assault and victimization, in general, is vastly under-reported to authorities.” According to CBS, 7 out of 10 victims do not report rapes and other assaults to police. The same percentage actually know their attacker. Hughes says that can make it more difficult for them to come forward.

Since the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport started, the organization that runs the National Sexual Assault Hotline says it has seen an increase of 42% in phone calls.