Jodie Sweetin didn't report being sexually assaulted because she "blamed herself".
Jodie Sweetin
The 'Fuller House' actress - who has daughters Zoie, 10, and Beatrix, eight, from previous relationships - has opened up about her ordeal and admitted she never made it public because she didn't want to subject herself to "pain and ridicule".
Writing after Christine Blasey Ford's emotional testimony at the Supreme Court about the alleged assault she suffered at the hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Jodie posted on Instagram: "I stand with her. I AM her. I was the girl who never reported because I blamed myself. I was the woman who never reported because I didn't want to go through the pain and ridicule.
"What we saw today is about a much bigger issue of survivors of sexual assault being persecuted, judged and re-traumatized when they do come forward. We are told that if it were 'real', we would have reported it at the time. Often when we were merely children or young girls.
"Girls who were assaulted and then had "whore" written on lockers because rumours spread. Girls who were afraid of becoming a pariah in their social circles because they told the truth. It was easier to stay quiet.
It was easier to stay quiet."
And the 36-year-old actress believes the women who are victims when they get older have already been "trained" to keep quiet.
She continued: "As we grew older and it happened again, we had been trained to remain silent. We had learned the lesson that no one will believe us. That even if someone DOES, it holds no consequence. We had watched other women come forward, only to be told 'There were no witnesses, so it's your word against his', knowing that 'his' story is always more believed than 'hers'. "
But Jodie has vowed she will no longer "stay quiet" and wants women like her to have their voices heard.
She concluded: "I will not sit still. I will not stay quiet. Although I may never be as brave or as unflinching in the face of such an inquisition as she was today, it has given me hope. That maybe, just maybe, female survivors of sexual assault may be heard. Even if our voice is barely above a whisper."