Joshua Bassett is speaking out about the harmful effects of doubting sexual assault survivors.
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series actor opened up about being sexually assaulted in his childhood and teens in a recent interview with GQ. He shared that he recently remembered the childhood abuse, saying, “I buried it so far.”
“And when I was a teen, a much older man routinely abused me, and I wasn’t able to see it for what it was at the time,” the 20-year-old shared.
Joshua said that he felt ready to discuss this trauma because it will “hopefully help people who are experiencing that.”
But the star has faced pushback on social media, with one Twitter user writing, “Men can’t be raped it’s just a fact. If your a man who claims to have gotten raped go put on a dress.”
Joshua reposted this remark on his Instagram Story in the hopes of educating people on the harm that these comments can inflict.
“And we wonder why more people don’t come forward,” he replied, saying his experience “started when I was 5. you haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about and how damaging it is.”
