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Alyssa Milano shares powerful #whyididntreport essay about her sexual assault

President Trump’s Twitter pushback Friday on allegations raised by Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault shocked many and spurred women to share their stories of assault on social media with the hashtag #whyididntreport.

And now, actor and activist Alyssa Milano has added her voice to the rising tide of enraged women calling for sexual crimes to be taken seriously in America. She retweeted the president, including her own cutting message.

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,” she wrote.

And she continued, “If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies.”

In a searing essay for Vox, she explained why watching the leaders of our country tear down Ford is so offensive, and why people often don’t report rape and other sexual assault crimes.

“When I was sexually assaulted, I wasn’t that much older than Christine Blasey Ford — now a PhD in psychology — was when she was allegedly assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (Kavanaugh denies the incident occurred). I’ve watched, horrified as politicians and pundits refused to believe or take seriously these allegations.”

Milano wrote that when the president tweeted that if Ford’s allegations were true, she would have reported it, she felt “chilled to the core.”

“Far too many of us know that what President Trump said is simply not true. Victims of sexual assault often don’t report what happened because they know all too well that our stories are rarely taken seriously or believed.”

She explained that the president’s reaction is exactly why people don’t report sexual crimes. “Now, we are seeing our worst nightmares realized when we see the disbelief, pushback, hate, and death threats Ford is receiving just because she had the courage to speak up,” she wrote.

Milano ended her essay by simply stating that she believes Ford and demanding that our senators reject Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, adding: “Every person who refuses to loudly and openly reject Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination is telling every generation of Americans that an alleged abuser’s career is more valuable than a survivor’s humanity. And the highest court in our land is no place for an alleged sexual offender to sit.”

Milano isn’t the only celebrity speaking out. In yet another #DearIvanka campaign, other celebrities — including Busy Philipps, Amy Schumer, and Sophia Bush — are using their voices on social media to call on White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump to push the administration to conduct an FBI investigation into the charges.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 800-656-4673.

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