Question: where were you when the federal building in Oklahoma City blew up? Where were you when the twin towers came down, the Challenger exploded, or if you are old enough to remember, when President Kennedy was assassinated?
Where were you, what were wearing, what were you doing, what did you see, what did you smell, how did you feel?
How did the trauma of these events affect you? If you are anything like me, I can remember what I was wearing, I can remember what I was doing. I can remember how it affected me to this day as I sat feeding my 4 month old baby boy, his breakfast, watching parents find out their child had been murdered in the Oklahoma City bombing, April 19, 1995. And I was wearing my favorite purple top and skirt, I hadn't yet put my shoes on, as I stood at the end of my bed, screaming for my husband, who was in the shower, as I watched the second plane fly into the twin towers on September 11, 2001. It hasn't left me.
Trauma stays with you in very specific detail when you witness it first hand and especially when you experience it personally.
So please, by all means, question the memory of a sexual assault survivor. Question how they could ever remember any details from an assault that happen last night, last year or 36 years ago.
Just know, they remember.