Take women’s complaints seriously

I NOTE, with sadness and cynicism, the letters in Tuesday’s Journal. Here are four men writing with indignation and worry about the delay, the ruin, the smear campaign of Brett Kavanaugh. And then, letters from women urging caution, consideration, fair hearing of the same man. Coincidence? I think not.

I have seen some of the men on the committee arrive at their decision before they hear the woman out. I saw the president switch from a measured tone to a snarky one in a matter of days. Have men really failed to understand, after all this time, how terrible the experience of many women is, how much worse it becomes when the attitude of society, and men in particular, is that it is nothing — worth less than the time to hear it without prejudgment.

Men on that committee had no problem voting against support for the Violence Against Women Act. They will seemingly have no problem shooing Kavanaugh through committee and “pushing” him through to confirmation. George Will’s column (on Tuesday) was excellent; a man writing to support a more careful and thoughtful consideration of who should sit on the high bench. If we are truly sick of government corruption and scandal, let the FBI investigate thoroughly. Let witnesses speak. Take time before making lifetime appointments and for heaven’s sake, take the complaints of your mothers, daughters, sisters and wives seriously.