Brett Kavanaugh’s Straight, White, Male Fragility Has No Place in the Supreme Court
The quickest way to a man’s tears and rage? Threaten his privilege.
Toxic masculinity has ingrained in all of us that men are not supposed to show vulnerability or emotion. They’re supposed to “suck it up and be a man” — “be strong.” And — be warned — they’re not supposed to be made uncomfortable or unhappy. So when one encounters male tears, the internalized framework based on a misogynistic, patriarchal society causes automatic reactions of pity and concern— as displayed vehemently by Republican Senators. As widely noted, this reaction is strikingly different than the “too much” women get when showing emotion. We’d be reading very different headlines had Dr. Christine Blasey Ford showed the escalated emotion that Brett Kavanaugh did.
And that’s how privilege works. Privilege is not having to suppress your feelings. Privilege is being able to show rage.
The emotion we saw from Kavanaugh was not simply moments of tears related to how this has influenced his family. We saw interrupting, rage, his face turning red, continuous avoidance of using “yes” or “no” to answer questions, and sarcastic and condescending comments (“ Senator, what do you like to drink?”). The behavior today was indicative of defensiveness…
