Testifying in court as the victim of a rape took its
toll on me. I had never talked openly
about wearing a bra or not wearing a bra, never talked about my sex life to
anyone but intimate friends but on the stand, I was forced to reveal these
intimate details of my life. This is the
memory that ran through my mind as I watched the vote to confirm Judge
Kavanaugh. The confirmation of this
Supreme Court Judge warns all women who accuse men of sexual assault to think
twice about coming forward because you will be asked intimate details about your
life as you are degrades and scorned in public.
In the confirmation process opportunist Trump furthered
his agenda to put women back in their place as second-class citizens. This agenda started back during Trump’s
presidential campaign when used assault after assault on woman after woman
starting with Hilary Clinton and today Dr. Ford. If verbal assault doesn’t work sexual assault
can always put women in their place. We
may think that telling someone about a personal sexual assault experience today
with the #MeToo movement has made this telling easier. Women in fact are still terrified. Dr.
Ford’s testimony, brought out Senators’ attitudes towards women and rallied men
in this country. Trump’s ridiculing Dr.
Ford at a campaign rally topped off the campaign to discredit Dr. Ford and was backed
up by the media who found woman after woman to interview who stood up for
Kavanaugh. This latter technique we all
know, conquer and divide a group to get the group’s members fighting among themselves
which ultimately discredits the group.
All the degrading talk about women got hard to take for
me and I witnessed women having to take a moment to deal with emotions giving
men an opportunity to power grab. At that
moment men built up Kavanaugh to further their wider agenda of demolishing
worker rights, to get people to stop questioning presidential powers, and to
assure the future of corporate influence in our elections just to name a few. THEY played the Kavanaugh confirmation
process to benefit their larger agenda and it worked.
The way Dr. Ford was treated is how rape trials play out
for rape victims as I know too well and the perpetrator is praised just as Kavanaugh’s
victory is being toasted for his success.
The victim’s sex life is gone over in vivid detail, her dating history,
what she wore, why she was there while the perpetrator is seen as being accused
unfairly it’s his word against hers after all this all took place behind closed
doors and men have a strong code of ethics consisting of a cone of silence. These attitudes toward the victim of sexual
assault fueled the #MeToo movement taking sexual assault allegations out of the
courts and into a forum of public opinion. Well these hearings brought us back to
reality. The Kavanaugh hearings
indicated to us that women still will not be heard, will be called liars, and
like Monica Lewinsky and Anita Hill and now Dr. Ford will wear a scarlet letter
on their reputation for the rest of their lives. We as women have to ask how
far have we really come in today’s era of #MeToo.
Women have so much to lose. Gains made around access to birth control,
and other family planning practices, women being respecting when reporting
sexual assault, equal pay for equal work, the list is endless are at risk with
Kavanaugh as the last member of the court to support right wing causes creating
a majority. Small gains in the last 100
years could be lost in this one Supreme Court Justice confirmation. Unfortunately, women need to take the punches
and come back into the ring for yet another round just to hold our ground. We need to reach out to Dr. Ford to let her
know we hear her and she is not alone.
Now that they have destroyed Dr. Ford’s life Kavanaugh
can carry on his career goals to limit women’s access to reproductive health
and complete the conservative agenda.
The message the GOP has for women is don’t stand in our way or we will
destroy you and rally men and women to our point of view. This scares me after what I lived through as
a young woman in a rape trial and the difficulties to access birth control and
other reproductive health care. My hope is that women will come out in groves in
the midterm elections to stand up to the powers that be and show our strength
as a political force. Just remember a
2019 Women’s March has been called for January 19, 2019 let’s rally to stand up
and fight back. Women Unite!
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