Demands too high for reporting sexual assault

Our justice system needs a culture shift, and that shift starts with every man and woman in our society. As an Emergency RN, previous Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and survivor of sexual assault, the impact of burdening sexual assault survivors with the responsibility of naming their assailant but only if the survivor can provide mountains of evidence, is glaringly obvious. We don’t report.

We see what happens to survivors who go to the hospital, have a sexual assault kit collected and tell their story to police, doctor, nurse, detective and, if they’re lucky, the courts. These survivors are told their sexual assault doesn’t matter when their rape kits sit in a storage room for more than a decade (Washington state has a backlog of more than 6,000!). These survivors are told they don’t matter when their story is questioned by a detective, doctor, nurse or society who does not understand the hormonal cascade that happens during an assault, causing fragmented and disordered memories.

As a society, we demand that survivors tell their story immediately or don’t tell it at all. Yet, when a survivor has the courage to speak their truth, they are frequently accused of lying, instigating the assault or that their assault is not important. Let’s make the shift to a survivor-focused society. Let’s test our rape kits, lets understand the effects of neuro-trauma, lets use best practices in medicine and law enforcement and give these survivors the space and time they need after their assault.