Stop with the bull.

In 2013 Taylor Swift said a DJ named David Mueller inappropriately touched her; he groped her during a concert. Swift went public with the sexual assault, and she also took Mueller to court. She won the case, which she proudly declared a victory “for all women.” While her fans agreed, she met backlash from critics too. A woman named Alex wrote about how Swift, a “famous white woman,” jumped on an opportunity to capitalize on sexual assault. She said how other people, like a 10-year-old incest survivor in India, will never get the justice they deserve. 

Alex talks about how she almost died from a rape herself and nobody, not even “the cops,” came to the hospital. Like millions of other survivors, she was left to her own devices. The “Blank Space” singer had all the resources available to her, and of course she came out victorious. Even though she never suffered trauma as horrific as forcible rape, should people still undermine her personal experience? She was still a victim of sexual assault regardless, but only she knows how adversely it affected her well-being. And who knows? Maybe her story will encourage other individuals to ask for help too.

Another woman named Claudia expresses the same hope. “Taylor Swift stood up for herself, and all women. And she’s going to use her considerable wealth, power and connections to help others stand up to ANY assault,” she writes. Celebrities, like Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga, survived traumatic experiences that gained widespread attention; their stories of survival provoked serious discussion about the taboos of robbery and rape. Hopefully, Swift’s unfortunate experience provokes a similar discussion about the gray areas of sexual assault, like groping and stalking. Victims of such crimes, no matter how small they seem, need justice too.