After Kavanaugh-Ford hearing, does MeToo face a backlash?

NEW YORK — Some skeptics of #MeToo activism are hoping Brett Kavanaugh’s angry, tearful denial of sexual assault allegations might help fuel a backlash against the year-old movement. But advocates for victimized women say it’s now too powerful to be derailed.

The mixed reactions followed Thursday’s vehement assertion by Kavanaugh and his Republican allies that he was the victim of a “political hit job” by Democrats. They suggested that Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was being exploited by the Democrats.

In a Philadelphia Inquirer column on Friday titled “Kavanaugh creates #MeToo moment for accused men,” conservative writer Christine Flowers expressed empathy for the embattled federal judge, who is U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.

“Through those real tears, the rage came through like a laser and a sword,” Flowers wrote. “And for a moment, I felt as if, finally, one man had found the courage to say my life matters.”

On Twitter, in the aftermath of the televised FordKavanaugh hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, there was widespread use of the #HimToo hashtag — which has been used to convey the idea that too many men are being falsely accused of sexual misconduct. Many of the new tweets included hashtags supporting Kavanaugh.

#MeToo activists acknowledge their movement faces resistance.

“If anyone had any illusions that the #MeToo movement’s work was easy, the toxic backlash that we are seeing this week from Brett Kavanaugh, Republican senators and the White House should correct that misimpression,” said Emily Martin, a vice-president of the National Women’s Law Center.