NEW ORLEANS -- One of the questions asked several times this week by politicians and commentators alike is why didn't Dr. Christine Blasey Ford come forward sooner?
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is accused of sexual assault. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford says when they were both in high school, Kavanaugh held her down on a bed, covered up her mouth and groped her at a house party.
She didn't talk about what allegedly happened to her for years and that's something plenty of sexual assault survivors also hold out on sharing.
"Some reasons people don't report (their sexual assault) are retribution," Amy Jackson, regional director for STAR New Orleans, said. STAR helps survivors os sexual assault and trauma with counseling, advocacy, legal services and more at no cost to them.
Victims are afraid that they'll lose their job, or lost the support of their family and friends. Jackson said that with the MeToo movement, we're hearing from more people saying they did report the abuse to an adult, but nothing happened.
"Also, they might not recognize that it's sexual assault," Jackson said. "So lack of education of what happened to them. also denial, it's hard to admit that you were a victim."
Jackson says the most important thing people can do is simply listen. Because whether survivors wait a day or decades to share, it doesn't mean their story isn't true.
"We can have more conversations about it, we keep it quiet and the more people are able to talk about it freely, the more comfort survivors will have to come out in the open with their story," she said.