During a time where women are empowering other women, we're learning far more people are coming forward about sexual abuse.
"We are seeing an increase in calls to our hotline," said Executive Director of the Rape Crisis Center Daniele Dreitzer. "We are seeing an increase in demand for our counseling services.
Dreitzer points out how different things have been in 2018.
"We are in this very unique moment right now with so much support and empowerment at the grassroots level with #MeToo and other things," she said.
That means more people are getting the courage to come forward about previous sexual abuse.
In 2017, year to date, 144 people reported rape that happened more than a year ago. In 2018, year to date, 355 people have reported rape that happened more than a year ago. That's a 146.5% increase in delayed rape reporting.
"We are beginning to hold perpetrators more accountable and change our norms right to say this isn't OK to joke about, this isn't OK to talk about, and it's certainly not OK to do."
Dreitzer believes the #MeToo movement is a big reason for the delayed reporting but she also credits the recent change in statute of limitations.
Prior to 2015, the incident had to happen within four years but now you have up to 20 years to report what happened. Dreitzer hopes that someday there won't be any statute of limitations.
"We want to get to preventing this from happening in the first place and the only way that happens is with real cultural change, real change in our norms how we think about these things, how we talk about these things."
If you are considering seeking out help, you can call the Rape Crisis Center hotline at 702-366-1640 or head to their website.
