With Christine Blasey Ford bringing forth her sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a national conversation has sparked concerning whether or not her claim is true along with the claims of other victims. As I see the daily news pour in, I become more and more appalled at the absolute lack of compassion that some are showing towards victims of sexual assault. What I have been seeing instead is a person's concern for themselves being falsely accused.

Let me start by saying this: very few rape allegations are made against innocent people, so please stop shouting about "witch hunts" and "no man is safe."

Did you know that one in five women are raped in their lifetime? Did you know that one in 71 men are raped in their lifetime? Did you know that 63% of instances involving sexual assault are NOT reported?

This is because traumatic experiences like sexual assault come with so many negative aspects afterward. It can be incredibly painful for them to recount it in their own head, so just imagine what it's like to do so in front of police officers and medical workers who are asking to know what happened after a report has been made. Imagine telling your significant other, family, and friends why it's impossible to engage in physical affection without being reminded of it. Now imagine being on a podium in front of a skeptic country that responds by sending you death threats and causes you to go into hiding.

By no means am I saying that innocent people should go to jail as a result of a rare, false allegation. We have a judicial system for a reason. However, when the large topic of rape is brought up along with all the problems that cause it/come with it and you change the subject to "what about the false claims; this person may be lying," then you are missing the point on why rape culture exists in the first place.

Rape victims are often bombarded with accusatory questions like "what were you wearing," "how much did you have to drink that night," "were you leading them on," "were you asking for it," etc. to make them think they were responsible for another person failing to meet the bare minimum as a decent human being by respecting boundaries. What about saying "boys will be boys; that's just what they do?" Now you are indirectly saying that all men are helpless to their desires and they should get free passes just for being male while the women are just supposed to grin and bear it. What about being more concerned with how a woman can prevent a rape instead of investigating and solving why some men feel entitled enough to commit the heinous crime at all?

Knowing all this prevents victims from wanting to come forward at all. Rape culture is alive and well; it toxifies our society and blocks the healing process for victims. We need to give fair trials to the accused, but we also need to show the tiniest semblance of compassion for once for these people who are trying to prevent these traumas from happening to anyone else while even the leader of our country publically shows his disbelief to an active trial. I know the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but harboring this much skepticism towards each other will only drive us farther apart as a nation.