As a woman who was sexually assaulted by a man who had assaulted more than one woman before me I want enlighten you to what happens when you decide to keep silent. The very first message it sends to your attacker is that it really wasn't a big deal and without having to face any consequences for his actions it opens the door for him to feel like it was ok for him to do that once so it must be ok to continue to do it over and over. Without ever having to face any accusations or consequences you are sending a very dangerous message to all the sexual predators out there. And by not speaking up and filing a report as soon as possible after the attack you are failing to do your part to protect other women from falling victim to the same predator as you. While you may not get a conviction from your report, that report is still on file so if the same person continues to attack and all their victims continue to file a report eventually they will see the pattern of all the victims who are claiming the same man attacked them. So by all the prior victims of the man who attacked me keeping it to themselves this man was still on the streets and free to attack me. I can't help but feel like I'm not the only woman who has fallen victim to a repeat offender that was never reported and how many women have suffered when they didn't have to if the prior victims would have just filed a report. So if you find yourself struggling with wether or not to file a report please consider how many more people might fall victim to your same attacker if you don't speak up. I personally wish all the women who came forward AFTER I reported my attack saying they also had been attacked by the same man would have spoken up Instead of keeping it to themselves. I hold all of you that kept your mouths shut just as accountable for my attack as the attacker himself. Isn't there some law about knowing about a crime and not reporting it making you an accessory to the crime itself? So while I agree it is a very hard thing to do to report a sexual assault, I think it is way harder to know you are personally responsible for more woman going through the same , or possibly even worse, thing than you did all because you decided to keep your mouth shut. Think about how many women's lives could have been saved from an assualt if all vicimts would have come forward and reported their attacks when they happened and the predators could have been locked up before they continued to commit the same crime over and over. So before you decide to keep your mouth shut because it is too hard to talk about it or relive it, consider the lives you can help or save by being strong enough to get past how hard it is to talk about and just open your damn mouth and possibly save a life....you never know....it could end up being your child that is saved from going through something awful like this. #speakup. #stopkeepingyourmouthshutandsavealife
