Why Even Educated, Professional Women Don't Report Sexual Assault

Because when they do, they get treated like this:

It’s the repercussions that bounce back and slam women over and over and over again afterwards that are really chilling. I’ve known people who were robbed, and no one afterwards questions their competence or the appropriateness of their activities at a conference; no one blames the victim. Why is rape different?

And she lost friends and reputation over something that was not her fault.

SNIP

Is her attempted rapist now wrestling with his conscience and wondering whether he’ll be able to interact appropriately with his professional peers now? I doubt it. That anguish is left to his victims. He apparently has no worries that his fellow security consultants might reject him for his behavior…and he’s a goddamned rapist.

The shaming of sexual assault victims is the last but critical part of rape culture: it intimidates future victims from reporting,  thus letting rapists get away with their crimes even in a society that official condemns them.

Anyone who shames a victim of sexual assault - or even withholds full support - is an accessory after the fact.