Hearings show bias against women
In a stunning reversal, it seems the Senate Judiciary Committee might be poised to do the right thing after all and allow at least a modicum of justice. The Senate is delaying its vote for a week so the FBI can investigate Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Despite the new developments, it is hard not to see the Blasey Ford-Kavanaugh testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday as a cruel replay of the Clarence ThomasAnita Hill debacle of 27 years ago. For many men and women across the country, yesterday’s decision to bypass the concerns of a credible female victim, who had nothing to gain from sharing an experience that changed her life, added insult to injury. Moving Kavanaugh’s nomination on to the Senate floor was tantamount to a proverbial “pat on the head” for Blasey Ford, the act bolstered by the bizarre but oftmentioned refrain by Judge Kavanaugh that something must have happened to her but not by him — how cavalier and downright insulting. It is hoped that the brief FBI investigation will lead to a resolution, but I won’t hold my breath.
It is hard to fathom that 27 years after the ThomasHill hearing, we still have an all-male panel of decision-makers (two from Thomas-Hill still serve on that committee). Collectively they felt in order to be sensitive to Blasey Ford, and, no doubt, to protect themselves against any insensitive slip-ups they might utter, they had to hire outside female help. I don’t see how that makes anyone feel secure. After all, they were all hired by our vote to represent the interests of all of their constituents — men and women. To think that in this day and age, they cannot see the value and optics of including women on the team and in the deliberations is a sad commentary on the lack of progress we have made in this country.
It is also not so secret that many women have experienced egregious assaults by good ole high-achieving high schoolers and frat boys who think it hilariously funny to brutishly force themselves on young women. In some cases, sexual conquests have even been ritualized, as demonstrated in the recent case at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire.
Although in this hearing we did not have the “hightech lynching” Clarence Thomas proclaimed that successfully swung public opinion in his favor, we did have a facsimile as Judge Kavanaugh declared the circumstances he found himself in as a “political hit job.” He then went on a harangue against the Democratic members of the committee. If he is seated on the highest court in the land, how can folks reasonably feel he could ever be impartial? Emotion played big on both sides, as it did in the Thomas-Hill hearings. Blasey Ford was visibly nervous. Kavanaugh exhibited the righteous indignation once exhibited by Thomas.
Kudos to the muchbattered ranking member of the committee Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her skillfulness in “cutting to the chase” by pointing out the assault was not political. It was criminal, and that it remains.
I feel sorry for both the Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh families, whom I felt were collateral damage in all of this. There must be great anguish on both sides. I took comfort in 10-yearold Liza Kavanaugh’s suggestion to her father that they should pray for “the woman” Blasey Ford. Also playing over and over in my mind is the kind of trauma I imagine Blasey Ford must have endured during the attack, hearing the laughter of the perpetrators as she feared for her life.
I do take comfort that the Thomas-Hill fiasco ushered in the Year of Women, and with that more women were elected to Congress. Though obviously not nearly enough to level the playing field. Today, there is an even more potent tool for recourse — the #MeToo movement is in full swing. Ladies, we have our work cut out for us. Time to clean House and the Senate.