Almost every male in my family supported Donald Trump while he was running for President back in 2016. While the rest of my relatives saw that neither candidate was fit to run this country, the men cheered when he was sworn into office. It was no surprise that they also put their faith in Trump's policies and got furious when reporters would speak poorly about President Trump on the nightly news.
However, it was appalling to see numerous Facebook posts on my timeline where my own family was bashing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford about her sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh while I praised her. They had called her a liar, saying she made the whole story out of her imagination, she was going to ruin Kavanaugh's reputation, she should be arrested for created false rape allegations against an honest man, and many more horrible things.
Seeing these words written by my own flesh and blood made my stomach churn.
I knew of their political views, but I did not let that get in the way of my love and support of them. I couldn't believe that these people that I thought I knew would write such profanities. They had joked about how someone would want to participate in intercourse with a woman that looked like Ford. A mutual friend pointed out in one of my family member's statuses that Dr. Ford had not spoken until now because he was about to be put into a high seat of power and she had not wanted others to be taken advantage of or for others to not be brought to justice.
I thought that they would at least be understanding about Dr. Ford's bravery.
Something inside me gnawed at my insides.
One burning question.
Would my family ever believe me if I was sexually assaulted?
Being a young woman in college, I am three times more likely to be sexually assaulted on campus. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, more than ninety percent of college students who are assaulted never report it. Would I be one to never report my sexual assault in fear of being called a liar as Dr. Ford has experienced? Would I be one to never report because my family would not believe me? Would my family think that I am trying to ruin a man's reputation when he had already ruined my life? I don't know.
Here are some things that I do know. Some victims don't report their assault until many years later or they never say anything at all because it is damn difficult to face the reality that someone thought it was OK to take advantage of them. It is damn difficult to go about your life when the certain smell of a body spray or a specific place bring back horrible memories. It is extremely damn difficult when no one believes what has happened to you and your perpetrator will not see justice. A sexual assault survivor from my own place of education talked about her experience in a Facebook post. Like she said, sexual assault is not for attention. Survivors do not gain anything from it and going through a trial is traumatizing.
Why would someone willingly put themselves through those things if they were not assaulted?
I pray that I never experience sexual assault as I have seen the outcome in my peers, friends and even relatives. It irks me to no end that some males in my family may not even believe me if I am. Through all the support that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has received, Brett Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court was still pushed through. Justice would be sad.
