LOUDOUN CO., VA -- The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the Washington Post.
The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, apparently told no one about the alleged assault until she was in her late 30's.
It's not a pleasant subject, but it's important for people to know that it is not uncommon for children and adolescents to be sexually assaulted.
The numbers experts give us are sobering. One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually assaulted before they're 18-years-old.
Most of them keep it a secret forever, sometimes enduring psychological problems because of the unaddressed trauma.
Clinical Psychologist Dr. Kacie Fisher sees many child sex assault victims in her practice. She said it's "incredibly common" for children to not tell about being sexually abused.
They "are driven mostly to protect their family. If they identify something bad has happened, children are very black and white in their thinking, and usually assume that if something's bad has happened it would be bad to tell or talk about it. Unless invited to do so by a safe adult," said Fisher.
Christine Blasey Ford said when she was 15 years old, Brett Kavanaugh, who was 17 at the time, pinned her down, groped her, and tried to take her clothes off at a party, and even covered her mouth when she tried to scream.
She and her husband told the Washington post that she didn't tell anyone about the incident until they were in couples therapy after they were married.
"I absolutely believe that these events, in the way that she's reporting them, they're consistent with what typically happens. A child's need to both protect themselves and their families, not create what they see as a problem, and so often undoing a myth of a perfect family by being the person to say something bad happened. That they've now somehow jeopardized the well--being of the family," said Fisher.
Dr. Fisher said telling someone about past abuse, no matter how many years ago it happened, is a very important and necessary step to take control over a situation or event that was out of their control.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh vehemently denies the accusations and his supporters call it a last minute smear campaign to try to him off the Supreme Court.
