On Cosby cover, one powerful empty chair

On New York magazine's explosive new cover, 35 women — all of whom share their stories of sexual assault and Bill Cosby — sit facing the camera, hands in their laps.

Next to them, in the bottom row, sits one empty chair.

The powerful image is galvanizing discussions about sexual assault across social media today, using the hashtag #TheEmptyChair to represent survivors of sexual violence unwilling or unable to come forward about their experiences.

The hashtag emerged on Twitter Sunday night after NYMag's article was published online, in which the 35 women speak about being sexually assaulted by Cosby. #TheEmptyChair continues to trend today, even as NYMag's site continues to experience outages after an alleged hacker attack.

"The empty chair on the cover represents all the women who have come forward and aren't on the cover, as well as anyone who may not have come forward yet," a representative from NYMag confirmed to USA TODAY. Of the 46 women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, 11 do not appear in the article.

Survivors of sexual assault shared their stories about sitting in #TheEmptyChair on social media, while allies used the hashtag to share facts and information about the high rates of unreported sexual assaults in the U.S.

According to RAINN, sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes; 68% of assaults in the last five years were not reported.

The conversation shed light on survivors from communities who weren't represented on the NYMag cover, including transgender people and people with disabilities.

Some of the most heartbreaking accounts of life in #TheEmptyChair live on the Twitter feed of journalist and activist Elon White, who helped launch the hashtag Sunday night.

After survivors started sending him direct messages with accounts of their assaults, he began tweeting out their stories while keeping their identities private, enabling Twitter users to candidly discuss #TheEmptyChair while staying anonymous.

While NYMag's site continues to experience outages, preventing readers from accessing the original article, the magazine is using their Instagram to tell the 35 women's stories through images and audio.

The full article also lives on NYMag's Tumblr here.