Brooke Nevels

And how these things really happen.

Because when we're talking about something difficult, something painful, I think the human impulse is to make it easy to understand, is to simplify it and kind of make it more black and white.

So it's easier to talk about.

But the point of talking about this is,

is to acknowledge just how devastating and confusing these things are, how quickly it happens, how you react in the moment.

And reaction is really the right word.

It's more reaction than a choice.

And when you look back on it later, you second guess absolutely every single move that you made without really understanding

What happened?

Because in the aftermath of sexual harassment, of sexual assault, you're always looking to give the benefit of the doubt, especially when it's someone you know.

You don't want this horrible thing to have happened.

You want things to be okay.

So you blame yourself as a way of convincing yourself you were in control the whole time.

That's very common.

That's very true.

Rape is a word I hardly ever use because when you hear the word rape, you think of a guy in a ski mask in the dark alley and fighting for your life.

And that's just not the reality of how sexual assaults happen.

When most of the time it's someone that you know and trust.

So we don't really have language to talk about this.

And we certainly didn't when, you know, in 2017 when I was reporting it.