DID NOT REPORT

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was sworn into office on October 6, 2018. For Kavanaugh, the road to a lifetime appointment on the highest court of the land was more difficult than expected. Proceedings were derailed by allegations of sexual assault by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who went to high school with Kavanaugh. Ford’s testimony ignited a political firestorm.

The televised hearings captured the attention of a nation. According to Nielsen data, roughly 20.4 million people tuned in to watch, and those numbers don’t account for  the millions more who streamed the hearings live.

Fresno legal assistant Cassandra Rivera was watching the hearings while she worked. President Trump published a tweet shortly after the testimonies. In it he questioned why Ford didn’t report the assault when it happened.

This triggered a wave of personal stories trending on social media under the hashtag #whyIdidntreport. Rivera used the hashtag to share her story.

“I was very young,” Rivera said. “With my tweet, when I felt comfortable enough I brought it up to someone and their response to me was, ‘well maybe he was drunk.’ Like if that was an okay excuse for it. So then I just never really brought it up to anyone again.”

Rivera said this comment was all it took to prevent her from telling anyone about the abuse for several years. It affected her emotionally and physically. Rivera self-harmed in high school.

Dr. Kathryn Forbes, a women’s studies professor at Fresno State, said that this response is not unusual.

“It’s the survivor’s experience,” Forbes said. “The survivor gets to make a choice about how it gets used and if he or she wants to come forward with it.”

Forbes said survivors often weigh the cost and benefits of reporting, and this can be especially difficult when the assault occurs at a young age. And speaking out doesn’t always mean being heard.

“What we we see in the hearings is that women’s testimony doesn’t get counted as evidence,” Forbes said.

For many survivors, Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a wakeup call–shedding light on the way sexual assault cases are handled not just in a public and highly politicized setting but on a personal level as well.

Rivera said that the confirmation hearings only strengthens the “boys will be boys” defense and sends the message that high school boys will not be held accountable.

Dr. Wes Wise teaches mass communication and public relations at Fresno State. He said he doubts that Ford’s testimony was ever a threat to Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

“I think that their minds were already made up prior to the testimony,” Wise said. “I think it was designed in a way to gauge public opinion or affect public opinion.”

There was plenty of public opinion. The hashtag #WhyIdidntreport reached millions of people on all social media platforms. Wise said hashtags can make a difference but he believes that lasting change won’t come from political leaders.

“It’s important to remember that it isn’t just a top down process,” Wise said. “It’s almost important to think of it as a bottom up process. If you believe what the former speaker of the house Tip O’Neill said years ago, ‘all politics is local.'” 

There are signs that the #whyIdidntreport hashtag influenced some change. In the four days between Ford’s testimony and Kavanaugh’s confirmation, RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization, reported a 338 percent increase in the number of calls coming into their National Sexual Assault Hotline.

While these signs are promising, Wise said the true test comes when the cameras are turned off.

 “The problem is these kinds of movements can generate a lot of interest in a very short period of time,” Wise said. “But they’re difficult to maintain because you’re talking about a lot of emotional energy.”

Wise said learning to choose your battles and taking care of yourself and those around you is the key to maintaining a movement’s power.

“Fight in a way that is that is going to allow you to stay in the fight long term,” Wise said. “Because it is easy to burn yourself out.”

In Rivera’s case, sometimes change starts with a simple tweet and by bringing awareness to the common issue of sexual assault. Ultimately, whatever stories they tell or experiences they share, for survivors like Forbes and Rivera the fight has just begun.