There are many reasons why some people either delay reporting or never do, as testified to by the “#WhyIDidn’tReport” hashtag on Twitter. “A lot of people don’t report because they don’t want the perpetrator to go to prison: maybe they’re in love with them, or it’s a family member, or it’s a partner and are reliant on their income,” says Nicole Westmarland, director of Durham Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse in the UK. “Another common reason I hear from students is that they don’t want to ruin the rest of the person’s life.”

Even so, “there is no evidence that suggests the timing of when you report is linked to the genuineness of the report", she says.

3. If assaults were reported immediately, it would be relatively easy to investigate and press charges



It is true that survivors of rapes and sexual assaults who come forward quickly are more likely to undergo a forensic medical examination, which involves taking swabs and samples from the body to identify the source of any semen, saliva, or DNA. Examiners also document injuries such as cuts, grazes or bruising, which could support allegations of force.

But undergoing a physical examination doesn’t necessarily mean an offender will be caught and convicted, or even that the case will be investigated – as demonstrated by the hundreds of thousands of rape kits that sit untested in police departments and forensic storage facilities across the US. And physical evidence tends to be less helpful if the person you’re accusing is a partner or close acquaintance. “Most cases these days don’t come down to whether sexual intercourse happened – or forensic evidence of intercourse. They come down to whether that intercourse was consensual or not,” says Westmoreland.