In this op-ed, writer Mekita Rivas explains how criticism that Alyssa Milano's dress at the Kavanaugh hearing is too 'revealing' polices women's clothing and perpetuates rape culture. Alyssa Milano made her support for Christine Blasey Ford perfectly clear this week. The actress and #MeToo advocate was in the room when Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when they were in high school. Given Alyssa’s advocacy work, it should come as no surprise that she was present during such a big moment for survivors. And yet, some people are focusing less on Alyssa showing up to offer support and more on what she was wearing. Critics took to Twitter to express their feelings about Alyssa’s clothing, calling the outfit — a striped black dress with ruffle detailing and a matching belt — inappropriate and too revealing. One Twitter even said that her cleavage was “disrespectful.” But Alyssa had her own army of supporters who came to her defense and told the trolls to back off. One described Alyssa’s ensemble as “completely appropriate and lovely,” and said that they’re “so tired of people telling women how to dress.” Another joked that they’re outraged Alyssa would even dare to wear a dress and, you know, have breasts in front of the accused judge. “Doesn’t she know he can’t control himself?” the individual wrote. Alyssa has yet to directly address the criticism of her wardrobe, but judging by her general IDGAF attitude, she’s probably concerned with more important matters. She told The Hollywood Reporter that she “wasn’t there with any political agenda” and only wanted to stand in solidarity with a fellow survivor. She was invited as a guest of Senator Dianne Feinstein. “I was there to support a survivor of sexual assault,” Alyssa said to THR. “As a survivor, it literally is all of our worst nightmares come true. This is exactly the reason why we don’t come forward, or we don’t report. Because of the scrutiny. Because a man’s word will always mean more than our word. And it’s disgusting.” You know what else is disgusting? Criticizing a woman’s clothing and policing her body, particularly when she’s attending the hearing of a man who’s accused of being a serial sexual abuser. Objectifying women in this manner perpetuates rape culture and legitimizes the misguided belief that women must always dress and behave a certain way to gain respect. The fact that some individuals felt the need to shift the spotlight from the very serious allegations against Kavanaugh to Alyssa's wardrobe is proof that we still have a long way to go when it comes to giving women the respect they deserve. Get the Teen Vogue Take. Sign up for the Teen Vogue weekly email. Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Lili Reinhart and Other Celebrities Share Why They Didn't Report Their Sexual Assaults<doc-sep>They tried (and failed) to body shame the activist actress. Getty Images Alyssa Milano appeared at Thursday's Capitol Hill hearing to show support for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. The actress, activist, and former Maxim cover model shot the Supreme Court justice nominee an ice cold stare and held up a booklet with a bold-font cover that read, "I BELIEVE SURVIVORS." ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website But that didn't stop internet trolls from criticizing her dress. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website Getty Images Getty Images "Lets [sic] have the hypocritical black dress brigade tell us how victimized they are," one snarky Twitter user wrote. Incredulously, others mocked her cleavage and said she looked like a "vile [sic] disgusting old hag." None of those insults went viral. But one tweet from Entertainment Tonight writer Meredith Kile did rack up 120,000 likes (and counting) from people who appreciated a clever reference to Milano's stint as a TV witch on the beloved show Charmed. "I've never wished so hard that Alyssa Milano was a real witch," Kile wrote. More of Milano's defenders called critics of her attire "part of the problem" and pointed out the irony of fixating on a woman's clothing during a a discussion about sexual assault. One thing's for sure: No one can rightly attack Milano for standing up for what she believes in.<doc-sep>Hollywood and beyond spoke out on social media using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport Hollywood and beyond spoke out on social media using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the f— up,” Milano, 45, began on Friday. “I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell my parents.” The Insatiable actress, who was a campaigner for the #MeToo campaign, then encouraged other sexual assault victims to follow her lead. “If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo.” Actress Reinhart tweeted, “Because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen.” Top Chef host Lakshmi gutwrenchingly revealed she had been assaulted three times. “I was 7 the first time I was sexually assaulted. He was a relative of my mom’s second husband. I told my folks and they sent me away. #WhyIDidntReport,” she tweeted. “The second time I was 16 years old and a virgin. He was my boyfriend. “Date rape” wasn’t discussed in the 80’s. I was horrified and ashamed,” Lakshmi continued. “The third time I was assaulted I was 23. I thought that no one would believe me, because no one wanted to stand up to him. I had seen the way Anita Hill was treated when she came forward.” Also adding her voice was politician Rachel Crooks, who accused Trump during the presidential race of forcibly kissing her at Trump Tower more than a decade ago, also joined the movement. “I worked in Trump Tower at a company partnered with Trump Organization. We had no HR department, no protocol, & @realDonaldTrump owned the building. Also, I was embarrassed that it happened, & thought it reflected poorly on me, not him. I know better now,” Crooks said. On Thursday, Trump— who himself denied accusations of sexual harassment or assault by several women during the 2016 presidential campaign— gave an interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on the claims against his Supreme Court nominee. “I think it’s a very sad situation,” Trump, 72, said. “He’s an outstanding person and frankly Sean, to see what’s going on is just very, very sad. You say, why didn’t somebody call the FBI 36 years ago? When did this all happen? What’s going on? To take a man like this and besmirch?” trump-kavanaugh-1-2000 Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh | Credit: Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh, 53, of pinning her down to a bed, groping her and trying to remove her clothes at a high school party in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied the allegation, but Ford— a 51-year-old research psychologist and professor at Palo Alto University— is reportedly negotiating the terms under which she would testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week. In addition to his Fox interview, Trump posted numerous tweets defending Kavanaugh on Friday. “Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.,” Trump wrote. “I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”<doc-sep>The courage of survivors will always be stronger than Donald Trump’s misogyny. The lives of survivors will always be more important than Brett Kavanaugh’s career. When I was sexually assaulted, I wasn’t that much older than Christine Blasey Ford — who now has a PhD in psychology — was when she says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her (Kavanaugh denies the incident occurred). I’ve watched, horrified, as politicians and pundits refused to believe or take seriously these allegations. Then on Friday morning, President Trump tweeted that if Ford’s words were true, she would have filed a report with local law enforcement years ago. This statement chilled me to my core. Far too many of us know that what President Trump said is simply not true. Victims of sexual assault often don’t report what happened because they know all too well that our stories are rarely taken seriously or believed — and that when it comes to sexual misconduct, our justice system is broken. Now we are seeing our worst nightmares realized when we see the disbelief, pushback, hate, and death threats Ford is receiving just because she had the courage to speak up. It took me years after my assault to voice the experience to my closest friends. It took me three decades to tell my parents that the assault had even happened. I never filed a police report. I never told officials. I never tried to find justice for my pain because justice was never an option. For me, speaking up meant reliving one of the worst moments of my life. It meant recognizing my attacker’s existence when I wanted nothing more than to forget that he was allowed to walk on this earth at all. This is what every survivor goes through. Telling our stories means being vulnerable to public attacks and ridicule when our only “crime” was to be assaulted in the first place. And we are not alone. One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old. This is the reality for survivors of sexual assault: Our journey begins in fear and, for many of us, it continues in fear for the rest of our lives. Yet today, we will not be silenced. On Friday, in response to President Trump’s tweet, I decided to speak out about my own experience — and I welcomed other survivors of sexual assault to do the same. I encourage you to read the replies of people across the country who have carried the burden of being a survivor, sometimes for years, and never reported it. Our stories are not rare; they are tragically common. This is the pain that people across the country carry with them every single day. I encourage you to listen to members of your family, to your neighbors, to those in your community who are living with an experience similar to Ford’s. But, most importantly, if you are also a survivor, I encourage you to honor your own experiences and your own voice, in your own time. Despite the alleged actions of Brett Kavanaugh, despite the words of President Trump, and despite the silence from so many of our lawmakers, you are valuable. You are human. You are important. And no one — not a Supreme Court nominee and not a president — can take that away from you. So let me be as clear as possible: I believe Christine Blasey Ford, and I demand that our senators vote to reject Brett Kavanaugh as the next justice on the Supreme Court. Every person who refuses to loudly and openly reject Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination is telling every generation of Americans that an alleged abuser’s career is more valuable than a survivor’s humanity. And the highest court in our land is no place for an alleged sexual offender to sit. To every survivor reading this, know that I am here with you. Know that I see you. I believe you. I am you. And know that we will do whatever we can to stop Brett Kavanaugh from serving on the Supreme Court of our United States. Alyssa Milano is an actor, activist, and producer. She is also the founder of #NoRA and Patriot NOT Partisan, a co-chair of Health Care Voter, and a board member of the ERA Coalition. First Person is Vox’s home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. Do you have a story to share? Read our submission guidelines, and pitch us at firstperson@vox.com.<doc-sep>
She did not mince words in response to one of his tweets. Actress and activist Alyssa Milano had strong words for the president on Friday after he questioned the account of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were teenagers. "Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the f--- up," Alyssa Milano tweeted Friday. "I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents. If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo." Milano, 45, was one of first supporters of the #MeToo movement, becoming an unofficial spokeswoman for it worldwide. President Trump challenged Ford's story in a series of tweets Friday. "I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents," he wrote. "I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!" Ford claimed she was assaulted by Kavanaugh at the age of 15. She told The Washington Post that she kept quiet about the alleged incident for years because she didn't want her parents to find out she was drinking underage. Kavanaugh has categorically denied the accusations ever since they became public. Milano and the #MeToo movement Milano spoke to "GMA" last October after women and men begun using the #MeToo hashtag to share their stories of alleged abuse and assault. "We are going to be vocal until this stops," Milano said. The mother of two was one of the first to share the now viral hashtag, writing on social media, "If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet." Milano said she went to counseling to help herself heal but she did not know if she would ever publicly tell her story of assault. "I have been harassed so many times I can’t count," she said. "I’ve been assaulted but this wasn’t because I was an actress. These were instances, you know, if I was at a bar with friends or in a cab." Keeli Sorensen is the vice president of victim services at RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. She said there are many reasons people do not report sexual assaults. "If I am someone who believes there is going to be retaliation, or the person who committed and perpetrated the events against me is well-respected, has a high profile within a community, a community I care about, I am going to see a lot of risk related to reporting, particularly because it will instigate an investigation, and that might be a risk I'm not willing to take. So that might be a big part of it," Sorensen said. A new form of social media empowerment In addition to Milano's response, women are replying or retweeting Trump and sharing their own experiences, some using the trending hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. The stories are heartbreaking and no doubt painful for people to share but they are doing so to support the other survivors and let them know they are not alone. One woman tweeted, "The man who assaulted me was my teacher and an important part of my church. I didn’t think they’d believe someone like him would behave the way he did. I didn’t want people to think I made it up for attention. #WhyIDidntReport. Another shared, "For the first few years after I didn’t report because I was terrified and didn’t have the words. Then I blocked it out to protect myself. Then I remembered but felt it would be too painful to go through official steps. Then statue of limitations ran out ... But if I could find the guy now, and if I had any idea as to whether he were either near children or in a position of power to impact the rights of people like me, I’d be doing what Dr. Ford is doing #WhyIDidntReport." Fellow #MeToo advocate Ashley Judd chimed in as well. "#WhyIDidntReport. The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said “Oh, he’s a nice old man, that’s not what he meant.” So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary.