Can We Agree Kavanaugh Embodies Rape Culture in America? It’s time to start holding men accountable
On Oct. 6, the Senate voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a US Supreme Court Justice despite the fact that he faces three sexual misconduct allegations to date.
Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick all say Kavanaugh sexually assaulted them or was present during their assault.
In a blatant disregard to women’s stories of sexual assault across the nation, the Senate, which is comprised of 78 men, and only 22 women proved yet again that they don’t care about the infestation of rape culture in America.
Even more shocking was Brett Kavanaugh’s opening statement prior to his confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He displayed a sense of righteous indignation over having to answer for allegations. God forbid he has to answer for wrongdoing, right?
Judge Kavanaugh did not just dismiss the claims of his accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, he did everything in his power to depict himself as the victim of a deliberately orchestrated plot from the left.
His general sense of privilege and his visible display of anger, does nothing more than confirm his embodiment of rape culture in America.
Rape culture can be defined as the ways in which society encourages and normalizes male sexual aggression and blames the victims of sexual assault and abuse.
Rape culture is President Donald Trump on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything,” is normalized and ridden off as locker room talk.
Rape culture is 1-in-3 college males admitting in a 2015 study that they would force a woman to sexual intercourse, but of course they prefer not to call it rape.
Rape culture is Carrie Severino, Kavanaugh spokesperson and activist, attempting to downplay allegations of sexual assault as harmless teenage “horseplay,” as if sexual violence is part of a rite of passage, because “boys will be boys,” right?
With the rise of the #MeToo movement, more and more women are finally feeling empowered to let their voices be heard, but men continue to puff their chests and cry ‘victim’.
Men like Brett Kavanaugh, and his many supporters who call surfacing rape allegations a ‘witch hunt,’ where no man is safe, are scared. Finally women aren’t being silenced.
Men are safe. Rapists aren’t.
Studies suggest the prevalence of false reporting on sexual assault is between 2 and 10 percent, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
Out of every 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free. That means 99.4% of rapists never face legal consequences, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN).
“Less than two weeks ago, Dr. Ford publicly accused me of committing wrongdoing at an event more than 36 years ago when we were both in high school,” Kavanaugh said in his statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As if the time between the event and the allegation is something of importance.
In a tweet, Donald Trump said “I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”
But the last thing a victim of sexual assault, who has just been violated and traumatized, wants to do is come forward and turn their body into the crime scene.
Reporting to the police means getting a rape kit where strangers expect victims to not have showered the assault away; comb the victims pubic hairs, swab their genitals, take their clothes. Violate them again.
Then, after getting violated for the second time, as you should, because the assault didn’t happen if you don’t report it, comes the barrage of questions.
“What were you wearing?”
“Did you drink?”
Ford herself, in her opening statement, had to take the time to say that she only had one beer. One beer. What amount of alcohol justifies sexual assault?
Women are blamed for being raped because of what they wear, how they act, if they drink alcohol etc…
I will never question the length of time it takes for a woman to come forward with her story. If it takes 30 years, it takes 30 years. Now confirmed Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh embodies rape culture not only because of his defense, but because of his confirmation. Men across the nation are allowed into positions of power despite the fact that they face sexual allegations.
We must believe women before men. We must allow women to push themselves out of the silence of sexual assault they have buried themselves in because society won’t believe them.
