Thread by @AlyssaM_InfoSec

Let's be crystal clear about this. If your first reaction to survivors of sexual predators is skepticism or questioning, you're literally supporting and enabling sexual predators everywhere.

Here's the thing. Sexual predators pick their targets deliberately. They look for 1/

people they can manipulate or control. Most often this is due to a power dynamic in their relationship with their victim and they use fear and shame as tools.

When you question survivors, when you speculate or attack them in public discourse, you play right into what these 2/

predators are looking for. You create the very tools they use to keep their victims quiet. And victims that are too afraid or ashamed to report are what allow a Denver public school employee to rape 62 high-school aged girls, or a film producer to harass and/or assault 3/

over 100 people.

Yes, we all understand the US legal philosophy of "innocent until proven guilty". However, that's a job for the lawyers, judges, and court system.

Innocent until proven guilty doesn't mean defend the accused. It doesn't mean attack the survivors. Yet 4/

that is what many people do when survivors report on their abusers. You, in doing so, create the very conditions that allow such behavior to occur without repercussion for years or even decades, right under our noses.

Not that it's worth delving into, but your skepticism is 5/

wholly unfounded a well. Studies and statistics show that less than 3% of sexual assault reports are false. Your questioning at attacks aren't defending the falsely accused, they're helping protect those who've not yet been accused because their victims are too afraid 6/

or ashamed to speak up, because they see your behavior.

So stop it. Stop enabling sexual predators. You don't want them living in your neighborhoods (we see those fights all the time) so stop giving them cover to commit their horrific acts.

BELIEVE SURVIORS. #DoBetterBeBetter