Why didn't the early me toers report their allegations at the time? If early me toers had reported, there would not be as many later me toers.
There are lots of reasons why, and I'm sure you could find your answer if you will do a little reading on the subject. You can also find out a lot by having trusted conversations with people close to you, and simply ask if they have ever been sexually assaulted. If you friends trust you to keep secrets and believe you will not reject them, you will likely be shocked to know how many of your acquaintances and even family members have been victimized.
The sad truth is that many men and women report their assaults and attempted assaults and face enormous penalties for doing so. In the religious realm, victims are often ignored, shunned, or silenced by congregations or religious leaders. When victims (especially in the past) have taken their stories to police, the stories are difficult to investigate discreetly and the victims sometimes face public hostility, attacks questioning their morals, and general shaming as to why they would let themselves get abused. There's also the stigma, especially for teen girls, that they are "damaged goods" if anyone finds out what has happened to them. Boys who are sexually assaulted often don't want to be thought of as "gay" simply because they were forced to commit sex acts. Teens care an enormous amount about what their peers think of them and the stories that go around, since many teenagers don't have the emotional maturity or life experience to know how deep the hurt of sexual assault runs.
That's why when it becomes publicly known that someone has made an allegation against a widely-known person, you will often see other alleged victims comes out of the woodwork to also tell their stories. It helps to have other people to stand with. It also helps the victims realize that the assault wasn't their fault.
I live in Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas. For years,
we have had a major problem with the prosecution of rapes:
Over the years, Johnson said, she also has come to accept the inherent frustrations of acquaintance rape investigations. But in some cases, exasperation lingers.
"If there is a confession, how can it be no-billed?" she asked.
That has happened several times in the past few years.
"Actually admitting that he used force or that she was completely incapacitated," Johnson said. "It just depends on the case but, yeah. Sometimes even so much that, 'I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway. I knew she didn't want to have sex. I held her down and had sex with her.' It can be that blatant of a confession."
In another Fort Worth case, Johnson said, a woman said that a few days after she passed out at a party, she received photographs on her cellphone depicting her being raped.
In addition, the accused later confessed. That was one of the 279 cases of sexual assault filed by the district attorney's office since 2008, according to records obtained by the Star-Telegram. Sexual assault is a second-degree felony in which the victim did not suffer a serious physical injury and the attacker did not use a deadly weapon. In those cases, the victim and the assailant almost always know each other in some way.
But the Fort Worth case with the incriminating photographs and a confession was no-billed on Aug. 24, 2010, among the 141 sexual assault cases rejected by grand juries the past four years.
Then there is the issue of alcohol use/abuse by teens and college students. Culturally, teen boys and college men who are drunk are often considered out of control and therefore not accountable for their actions in sexual assaults, while teen girls and college women are considered to have questionable sexual morals if they are intoxicated or are present at a event with drunken males. People will often ask the question, why did those girls put themselves in that situation, instead of what is in the character of those boys that they would sexually attack an unwilling girl?
For more perspective,
there is a viral story that was published in the Washington Post about an alleged rape in Arlington, Texas, they city just to the east of me, that is also in Tarrant County. Unfortunately, it might be hidden behind a pay wall. You can get the gist of some of the elements about it from these sources, as well as others you might find online:
The American Conservative
Twitter thread about the Washington Post story, with video
Dallas Morning News
Amber Wyatt told her story of rape. This is how the world responded
