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On the subject of: bUt WhY DiDnT yOu TeLl AnYoNe SoOnEr? I'm gonna share my personal story, cus some people need to understand that speaking out about abuse isn't the miraculous cure all that you seem to think it is and not everyone gets convicted just because you speak up.
Tw: sexual abuse. I was eight when it first happened, I didn't know why it was wrong other then the fact that it was. He was older, I got told not to say anything, I didn't. I was scared, I just wanted to be normal.
By 12 I knew why it was wrong, but I was already ashamed of myself for not speaking up for the last 4 years. I assumed I had embellished it and it wasn't as bad as it was. I had nightmares and flashbacks weekly, I still said nothing and he was still consistantly in my life.
By 16 I was severely clinically depressed, my brain was so much of my own enemy that I'd spent the last 8 years believing that somehow an 8 year old had the capacity to make up a series of assaults for attention. Back when I didn't know what sex was.
Through therapy and talking through my fears, I finally told my therapist in high school what happened. She said I didn't need to tell anyone about it, I walked home in the rain, walked into the room my mom was in and burst into tears. I told her when I could breathe again.
I went through every legal process, re-lived the assaults in detail in front of strangers and cameras. All while doing my last year in High School. I went through 5 specialist therapists, was told I couldn't talk to anyone but appointed counsellors - not even my friends.
The friends I told before reporting it mocked me, said I should have enjoyed it, that I'd managed to get more action than them at 8. And that it wasn't a problem cus it wasn't happening anymore; he'd lost interest once I grew up.
Speaking up bought so much trauma to my life, and mockery. In the end the police found they couldn't convict on just my word alone, something which would have been the same if I spoke up at 8 or 12 or 16. I gained nothing from speaking out but closure.
So if you're gonna say assault and abuse victims speak out for clout, no matter their gender, then go fuck yourself. Because I live in a reality where everyone that man was friends with never left his side, and he got to continue his life while I contemplating taking mine.
Also a note to everyone due to a personal experience I witnessed, men can be gaslighted and abused by women too and made feel like they can say nothing due to misconceptions of gender.
Also I'm not sharing this for it to sit here and be ignored, feel free to read and retweet. Putting a voice out there to explain the process of what speaking out can be like is important, and I'm doing it so others who aren't ready don't have too 
