Alyssa Milano earned some major praise on social media this weekend with her response to President Donald Trump’s statement on Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
The president posted about Ford on Friday, as her claim that she was sexually assaulted by Judge Brett Kavanaugh began to threaten Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. He argued that she should have filed charges back when the attack occurred, nearly four decades ago, as many right wing pundits have also suggested. The point has raised a serious debate about sexual assault reporting, which Milano added her voice to. She quoted the president’s tweet within her own.
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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 //t.co/n0Aymv3vCi
โ Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 21, 2018
“Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the fโ up,” she wrote. “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.”
Milano tacked on another tweet with the hashtag “Why I Didn’t Report,” which has also taken off in recent days. The response was enormous. Thousands of people chimed in to detail the attacks they suffered at the hands of friends, family, authority figures and strangers, and why they never reported the assaults to the police.
I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I said he forced me to get into the back seat “to talk”…I never said anything because he was a well-loved, outgoing guy. He made friends easily & knew people of power; but hid a monster underneath the smiles.#WhyIDidntReport
โ Bam Devereaux (@archerdvrx) September 21, 2018
“I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I said he forced me to get into the back seat ‘to talk,’” one person recalled. “I never said anything because he was a well-loved, outgoing guy. He made friends easily & knew people of power; but hid a monster underneath the smiles.”
“I walked into the police station while I was 7 months pregnant TWO hours after it happened and I was treated like the criminal,” wrote another. “So time isn’t an issue here – it’s because sexual assault isn’t believed and people don’t have time for it. Two hours or 30 years – ask yourself WHY.”
I walked into the police station while I was 7 months pregnant TWO hours after it happened and I was treated like the criminal. So time isn’t an issue here – it’s because sexual assault isn’t believed and people don’t have time for it. Two hours or 30 years – ask yourself WHY.
โ Melissa Halstead PhD (@MeliHalstead) September 22, 2018
Ford told the Washington Post that she did not tell anyone about the attack she suffered for years, including her parents at the time or her husband years later. After a while, she became terrified of the backlash many women face when accusing a powerful man of sexual assault. She decided to come out with her story about Kavanaugh before he was appointed to the Supreme Court so that the country would have all the facts, but she has still been targeted by harassment, death threats and condemnation.
Ford will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, according to CNN. However, the FBI has yet to launch an investigation into her claims as requested, and the senate is not calling many of the key witnesses she and her lawyers have argued for either.