Believe Women
I am lucky. I have never experienced sexual assault or harassment beyond a few unsolicited ass grabs and catcalls. I am thankful for that everyday, but I am also actively aware that that could change for me in an instant. I know too many women who have to live with their assault, harassment, or rape every moment of their lives. It's not fair.
I avoid walking alone as much as I can. The amount of times I've walked either pretending to be on the phone or actually called a loved one to talk to while walking or walked with keys between my knuckles is too many to count. These are tips I've been taught from a young age. In college, I took self defense classes as a part of the Women's Club, because my roommate and I felt safer knowing what to do. My whole life, in school, at home, and at work I've been taught to 'be careful' 'be aware' 'don't go anywhere alone' 'don't walk at night' 'don't get raped.' I've carried that voice in my head everywhere I've gone for as long as I can remember.
What I was not taught until college was what to do if anything ever did happen. Even in college it was a brief: "We have a title nine office if you want to report an assault. You can get more information there" and that was the end of it. It is rarely talked about, looked down upon when it is, and covered up in most cases.
We live in a society that protects boys. They are encouraged from a young age to be reckless and have fun, not to be cautious and aware of their surroundings. With sayings like "boys will be boys" we make excuses to make them feel justified in their wrong doings. More often than not if a boy does commit a sexual assault at a young age it is looked at as him "just having fun" "making a small mistake" "just being a young man, with all that testosterone he can't help it" It was decided that boys, specifically white males, don't have to pay if they commit a sexual crime. It has been normalized.
Women continue to be blamed and shamed for the assaults they endure. Why would they come forward with their story if they know they are just going to be fed back the narrative of 'boys will be boys' and that, as women, they should of been more careful.
When will we stop blaming victims and making excuses for assailants?
When will start properly prosecuting white males for the sexual assaults and crimes they commit instead of protecting them?
When will we start teaching boys that women are not property, they do not owe them anything, and sexual assault and rape are wrong?
When, for the love of god, can I stop living in fear every time I walk back from class at night, park in a parking garage, ride public transport alone, go for a run, or call for an uber?
When will we stop saying that the boys who committed sexual assault only made a mistake?
It is not 'just a mistake.' A mistake is stepping on someones foot or picking up the wrong coffee at Starbucks. Sexual assault is intentionally harming another person for ones own pleasure without consent. That is not a mistake, that is a crime.
Brett Kavanaugh cannot be appointed to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS).
What he did to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is disgusting. His temperament during his hearing is that of a toddler who missed their nap. His, likely, alcohol abuse is concerning. The amount of times he has lied makes him undoubtedly untrustworthy. All around he is unfit to be a judge on the highest ruling court in our nation (or at all if you ask me).
How could a drunken, lying, angry, abuser possibly rule fairly on any case, especially one involving sexual assault. There's no way. He is not a champion of women's rights, he is scum not fit for SCOTUS.
Even if for some reason you do not believe Dr. Ford, how could you want the next SCOTUS justice to be a man who has been caught in many lies and has screamed at what is ultimately his job interview?
"Brett Kavanaugh is not telling the whole truth. When President George W. Bush nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2006, he told senators that he’d had nothing to do with the war on terror’s detention policies; that was not true. Kavanaugh also claimed under oath, that year and again this month, that he didn’t know that Democratic Party memos a GOP staffer showed him in 2003 were illegally obtained; his emails from that period reveal that these statements were probably false. And it cannot be possible that the Supreme Court nominee was both a well-behaved virgin who never lost control as a young man, as he told Fox News and the Senate Judiciary Committee this past week, and an often-drunk member of the “Keg City Club” and a “Renate Alumnius,” as he seems to have bragged to many people and written into his high school yearbook. Then there are the sexual misconduct allegations against him, which he denies" (Khan).
For all of the 2016 election it was said that Hillary Clinton should not be elected because she was a liar. Kavanaugh is worse, but now we want to give him a lifetime appointment. It makes no logical sense. But I guess that proves the blatant sexism in society: as a while male, Kavanaugh can act and lie however he pleases and still get what he wants. However, for a woman to only have lied then she is unfit for a position with an expiration date. Logical, right?
I understand that republicans want to have a fifth republican justice on the Supreme Court. Most of them will probably jump for joy if Roe v Wade is overturned. I guarantee that this post will not change their minds and they will still stand by Kavanaugh's side, chanting about how he was only seventeen and it was just a mistake and he is so qualified for this position. What I ask of them to get from this is to think about the people in their lives, specifically the young girls and women. Put yourself in their shoes, in my shoes, think of the fear that they live in every single day because of situations like the one Kavanaugh put Dr. Ford in. Think about how you would feel if they had a similar experience and then all of a sudden the man who hurt them was about to be one of the most powerful and influential people in the country. Would you care then that he was only seventeen? Saying that it was just a mistake? That she should be over it by now? I hope with all of my heart that the answer is no. I hope that you would be livid.
I was raised in a republican household, surrounded by those values for the majority of my life in my home and work environment. When I was young I ignorantly would say I was republican as well just because that was all I knew, until I educated myself and quickly learned those ideals did not align with my morals. However, I see how their minds work, I struggle to understand it and the frustration of it makes me want to scream sometimes. I don't understand how they can support such an awful man, but in the same breath tell me: "Be cautious, watch your surroundings, never leave a drink alone, check mirrors in public bathrooms to make sure they are not two ways, don't run at night, don't go anywhere alone, don't get raped. You have to be careful because you never know who could be out there."
It could be Kavanaugh.
Source:
Khan, Shamus. "Kavanaugh is lying. His upbringing explains why." The Washington Post. September 28, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/kavanaugh-is-lying-his-upbringing-explains-why/2018/09/27/2b596314-c270-11e8-b338-a3289f6cb742_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8dec0b94a586
