CNN reporting 5th accuser comes forward against Al Franken

[Ms. Toad]

20. I've spent more than a decade working with survivors of sexual abuse and rape.

Smiling is not necessarily a good indicator of whether everything is fine or not.

As I've pointed out before, I had nearly the same experience as the women who describe Franken grabbing their butts. Butt grabbed (and fondled) in a public setting (in full view of at least 100 people), by a staunch liberal.

Because of the circumstances (it was a friend, and we were among friends), and it caught me completely off guard (being in public, being at the hands of someone I trusted and respected) that I didn't have time to decide how to react until it was over - and until I decided whether I wanted to make a scene I did not give out any visual cues that anything was wrong.

To this day, only one person present knows specifically what happened - and who the fondler was - because I told them. In other words, in a very public place, when people had not only a snapshot view of my face - but had the opportunity to view it during the entire encounter - my smile convinced them that nothing was wrong.

You're free to believe the accusers or not.

BUT rolling your eyes and declaring that a smile is photographic that the accusations are false is offensive. It works to drive the #MeToo women who finally feel enough safety to start telling their stories back in the closet - because who knows what smiling pictures of them with their abusers might shoe up. It's after finally tasting freedome, we're being shoved back in the dark ages: Look at what she was wearing; don't trust her since she isn't willing to be more than a Jane Doe; she was asking for it by her behavior; if it was real she would have told years ago; if it was real she would have fought yelled bloody murder, etc.