NO MORE Executive Director Tracy DeTomasi recently appeared on CNN’s New Day with Christi Paul, where she and columnist Anushay Hossain discussed the ways that individuals respond to sexual assault. Today’s news cycle is evidence that, even in the #MeToo era, many people fail to understand how people behave after experiencing trauma. Time and time again, when survivors are slow to report or disclose assault, they are met with the questions: “Why now? Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
There are many reasons that people do not report sexual assault. Fear of punishment or retaliation, the pain of reliving trauma, and the difficulty of remembering precise details of traumatic events are just a few. Last week, survivors highlighted these reasons and many more when they rallied around the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport on Twitter.
This is a time for us to learn. Why doesn’t every survivor report right away? Why do they often not report at all? Why does it take time for some people to identify what they experienced as sexual assault? Watch the video below to hear DeTomasi, Paul, and Hossain address these vital questions.