In a world dominated by social media and hashtags, too often a trope emerges of people doing a lot more tweeting about social causes than actually doing something about said social causes. So-called hashtag activism generates a whole of buzz (and Buzzfeed articles) and not much else, before drifting into an abandoned virtual wastelands of causes that ought to have had attention only to be reanimated again when people are reminded again of a travesty (Flint, Puerto Rico, school shootings, etc.) or the next election cycle begins. The #MeToo movement, however, is special. Tarana Burke founded the Me Too organization over a decade ago ago to support and believe survivors in a time when they were not just ignored and dismissed but when rape was not even in the everyday lexicon. The #MeToo movement has resulted in real and tangible change with the infamous firings of Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer and a real and open discussion of survivors of sexual violence across the spectrum through uses of hashtags like #MeToo, #IStandWithHer, #IBelieveHer, #TimesUp and recently, #WhyIDidn’tReport.
Today, conversations about rape and the understandings and the intricacies of consent are commonplace and less taboo, but the real comparison of now and then may come this Thursday, September 24th when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee against Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. She will tell her account of Kavanaugh attempting to rape her at a high school party when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh has denied her allegations and allegations of sticking his penis in Deborah Ramirez’s face in college. This event is a harkening to Anita Hill’s testimony against Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court Justice nominee in 1991. Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment when she worked with him at the Department of Education. To this day many who watched the original testimony recount the all male, all white panel of senators questioning every aspect of Hill’s testimony and asking her to recount the most vile details, like Thomas stating a pubic hair was on his Coke can which soon became a joke. In fact, Anita Hill herself became a punchline being called “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty,” and that she fantasized all of Thomas’ behavior. Clarence Thomas still serves on the Supreme Court.
Things are different this time around. Four women now sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Allegations of rape, sexual harassment and sexual violence are not the whispered secrets they once were, but there is still is a long way to go. The President of the United States himself tweeted that “I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents.” This launched the aforementioned hashtag #WhyIDidntReport where thousands of women, including famous actresses such as Lili Reinhart and Ashley Judd recounted why they didn’t report, citing fears of being considered a “drama queen” or having been discredited and ignored in the past. For what it’s worth, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) states that seven in ten sexual assaults go unreported and further research makes it clear why sexual assault survivors don’t come forward more often.
Carolyn M. West, a psychology professor, states that “It may take a survivor a while to process that trauma, and even to identify what has happened.” There’s a fear that one won’t be believed; they’ll be accused of making it up like Anita Hill or they’ll be told that it’s partly their fault because they didn’t say no convingingly or because they were drunk or wearing a short dress or out too late or the myriad of reasons people give to excuse sexual predators and preserve the utterly false notion that sexual violence can’t happen to everyone. In fact, many survivors internalize these messages and blame themselves. One survivor quoted in the The New York Times for utilizing the #WhyIDidntReport hashtag stated that “she felt exposed and overwhelmed” after telling the story of her attack despite seventeen years having past because she blamed herself for going into her attacker’s bedroom.
Not believing survivors is not a quality only held by white conservatives males. CNN held a panel of five Republican women to get their take on the Kavanaugh accusation, and their responses ranged from “Who are we to judge?” to “What boy hasn’t done this in high school?” While these apathetic and sexist responses are appalling by themselves, they are part of a bigger picture of blaming victims of sexual assualt for their own attack. And thus is the slash of the double edged sword. A victim of sexual violence is blamed for not fighting back, for drinking and for being promiscuous but perpetrators of sexual assault are often excused because they were drunk and because they were teenage boys and because everyone does this. Corydon, a trans man, was quoted in the Boston Globe as being aggressively asked by a detective after pressing charges if he gave the man who exposed himself to him any indication that this behavior was acceptable. Tory Bilcik, a young woman, was quoted in the Boston Globe saying that after being raped her other friends told her ‘I don’t know what you expected to happen’ because she had invited her rapist into her room. Even coming forward doesn’t guarantee justice. After all, who could forget Brock Turner, who sexually assaulted Emily Doe and only received 3 months in prison. RAINN estimates that in every 1,000 rapes only 57 will lead to arrests and 6 will lead to incarcerations. No wonder they also estimate that only 30% of sexual assaults will be reported.
Tarana Burke and other women’s rights organizations urged people to walk out across the country on Monday, September 24th at 1pm wearing black in order to fight back against this desire to dismiss and shame survivors. Yale Law students left class to particiapte in a sit in, and hundreds of people protested Senator Susan Collins office in Washington, D.C., urging her to vote no on Kavanaugh, leading to dozens of arrests. Many people gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court to share their stories of assault which took tremendous courage, as the trauma they experienced often still lingers, as does the self blame. In fact, Dr. Ford has been forced to go into hiding because of death threats. In an optimistic light, another survivor at a rally stated that because of the current movement and subsequent political climate she felt “brave and OK to talk about this because there is an outlet and I’m not the only one.”
Believing survivors has nothing to do with circumventing the justice system or denying due process to the accused. It’s about letting survivors share their accusations without the fear of attack or retribution. Ramirez and Dr. Ford have come forth with their allegations, and their stories, not their character or behavior, must be investigated. It is not the job of the rest of the world to shame or to blame or to discredit these women. No one questions the claims of people who report car theft or crimes of that nature. No one blames people whose houses have been robbed for owning expensive items or for not having a better alarm system. Coming forward is an incredibly courageous act and one that must be supported. After all, why would anyone open themselves to this level of vitriol if they didn’t have something important to say? In the words of Jeneé Osterheldt for the Boston Globe, “Is there no way in this country to investigate without shaming, blaming, and dismissing the victim?”