There is a reckoning happening and we are just at the beginning. The same stories that could not be told 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, last year even, are being laid bare. Stories that in another time would have gone softly to the grave with the whisper wake of quietly shattered lives carefully cloaked from view are now posted in the town square of social media. And the really breathtaking part is – they are being believed.

Maybe for the first time in human history, we are seeing a sea of sexual violence survivors being believed. The world is watching. The language is changing. From Hollywood to the White House to the Olympics to Las Vegas Boulevard, we are being believed.

As a survivor of sexual assault myself, I admit that as hard as I have worked to be heard and as hard as I have worked to help others be heard, I did not know if this day would come in my lifetime. I’m 41. I’ve been waiting for 36 years to be believed and my rapist wasn’t rich or famous. I can only imagine what it’s been like to see the image of your perpetrator laughing in photos with celebrities in newspapers or being interviewed on TV. I can only imagine what it would be like to know deep in your soul that there would be no justice for you because your abuser was a billionaire who helped presidents get elected. …

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