#WhyIDidntReport: The hashtag supporting Christine Blasey Ford

UNITED STATES
BBC News

September 23, 2018

President Trump inadvertently spawned a new and trending hashtag after questioning why Professor Christine Blasey Ford did not report her alleged sexual assault by his Supreme Court nominee when it happened 36 years ago.

In one of a series of tweets on Friday, he said: “I have no doubt. that, if the attack on Dr Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed…”

There was a swift response.

Under the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport, thousands of women began recounting why it took them many years to talk about their attacks. By Sunday, there had been 675,000 tweets.

Many spoke of feeling ashamed or powerless, of reporting their attacker but not being believed, of years of trauma trying to process what had happened to them or trying to forget about it.

Celebrities also recounted their experiences.

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