Unless you haven’t used the internet at all in the past two or so weeks, you’ve probably heard of the sexual assault allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. To give you the rundown, Dr. Ford, who is a college professor and researcher, is accusing Kavanaugh of attempted rape at a high school party in 1982. Ford states that she was pinned down by Kavanaugh at a party and that he tried to remove her clothes, while another classmate named Mark Judge witnessed the assault. The Ford-Kavanaugh hearing, in which these allegations were discussed, occurred on September 27th and the Senate Judiciary Committee was set to vote on the nomination the following day, but it ultimately was delayed.
There have been many voices saying many different things about the Kavanaugh hearing, some of which stating that these accusations should not affect the nomination, as the assault “happened too long ago.” Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump has been pretty vocal about his opinion on the situation. On September 21st, Trump took to Twitter with the words “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. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!” I would like to point out that this rhetoric is incredibly damaging, not only to Dr. Ford, but to women and men who have been sexually assaulted in general, and when you defend or support Brett Kavanaugh, you are sending a clear message of negativity to these victims.
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. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018
The fact of the matter is that, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police at all, while the rate of false reporting is lower than 10%. So why don’t women report their abusers, and why don’t people believe them when they do report? Well, I would say that a lot of it has to do with the type of rhetoric that was spoken by President Trump on Twitter, and the fact that a man with multiple sexual assault accusations (yes, more women than just Dr. Ford have accused Kavanaugh of similar acts) can be considered as a Supreme Court nominee, and have so many people defend him. When you openly dismiss sexual assault allegations made by people such as Dr. Ford, it sends a clear message to victims all over not to report, because nobody will believe them, and that they will be publicly humiliated. It also paints a false narrative that a lot of victims falsely report sexual assault, which causes people to become more cynical of victims of sexual assault. Finally, it sends a clear message to predators, such as Kavanaugh, that they can get away with sexual assault because nobody will believe their victims. It seems that there are seldom consequences for predators, and when there are, they tend to be minimal in comparison to the pain that they cause their victims (remember the Brock Turner case, everyone).
Let us not forget that the Kavanaugh hearing was not a criminal one, it could simply be seen as a job interview, where Kavanaugh needed to prove that he is fit to serve in the Supreme Court despite sexual assault allegations. Virtually any job would require some sort of explanation for this, so I would not say that this hearing was unfair at all. As a young woman, I could be expected to explain something as minimal as borderline revealing Instagram posts during professional school interviews, so I definitely believe that someone who is seeking to serve in the highest court of the land should have to explain his sexual assault accusations. Regardless of the final outcome of these accusations, the rhetoric that has been spewed by Kavanaugh supporters about Dr. Ford has been hurtful, not only to her, but to women and men with similar experiences to her.
What I ask of those of you who are reading this is simple. Believe victims. If you know someone who has been sexually assaulted, I ask you to be with them and support them, whether they decide to report or not. If you yourself have been sexually assaulted, know that I believe you and support whatever decision you make to help yourself heal.