"This is a circus."
"Thank you chairman grassley and ranking member Feinstein and members
of the committee. I am hear because I believe it’s my civic duty."
"He didn’t remember the night before or part of what happened."
"You are asking about yeah Blackout I don’t know have you?"
"Is that your answer?"
"I’m curious if you have."
"I have no drinking problem."
If you take anything away from yesterday's hearing, take this:
only one party is offered the luxury of being angry.
And that’s the men.
"What do you like to drink senator what do you like to drink?"
On the one hand you had Dr. Blasey Ford. calmly outlining the horror of her alleged
abuse to the best of her memory.
Doing so amidst an abundance of thank yous, sorrys, and pardons for
taking up the senate's time.
"’Ive had to relive this trauma in front of the world."
And all it took was one glance at Twitter during this and you saw women all
across the world nod their head in a pain-filled recognition.
There were countless instances were Ford could have wavered
from the societal protocol that expects women to be polite and
courteous, but she didn’t.
She remained calm and composed, even apologizing to the committee and asking them
if her break times comported with Senator Grassley’s needs.
Because heres the thing, she didn’t have the luxury of her counterpart.
Any sign of anger towards the majority white males sitting
across from her, grilling her on every aspect of an extraordinarily
painful experience, would have allowed her critics to pivot the
narrative towards the ‘emotional woman attacks men’ bullsh*t that
has long too often been the norm.
And then there’s Judge Kavanaugh.
Coming in hotter than Lindsey Graham’s phone line.
Shouting over questions from Democratic senators.
Repeatedly interrupting to remind the world of his stellar high school record.
And then what is a senate hearing without some misogyny right?
When pressed on his past drinking by female senator Klobuchar, he, instead
of responding to the question, turned the question on her.
Several times.
"If I was in his courtroom and acted like that he would have thrown me out."
Now just for a split second, take your hands off the keyboard and
ask yourself an honest question: if these roles were reversed -
if Dr Ford constantly interrupted while becoming angry and emotional in her
attempts to defend her allegations, would she have been celebrated as a brave victim,
the way Kavanaugh was, when defenders said he was under assault
from "crazed feminists?
Or would she be deemed ‘hysterical’ and ‘too emotional to be taken seriously?
Go to any workplace in any environment and you will find
this double standard.
From the tennis courts to the senate.
You can even look at the response to Lindsey Graham’s unhinged
defense of Kavanaugh compared to Kamala Harris’.
While Graham, the guy who voted AGAINST the Violence Against Women
Act, was celebrated as some champion of men, a brave patriot,
Kamala Harris was called disrespectful, smug and arrogant.
Again proving that women, especially when discussing issues of sexual
assault, are not offered the same luxury as men.
Their passion or emotion will be turned against them to undermine
any validity of their point.
Not once not once did Dr. Ford interrupt.
Not once did she disrespect those Republican senators as she responded
calmly to questions intended to expose her as a partisan or a liar.
If you watched this long and undoubtedly painful hearing, for
both parties, and weren’t struck by this double standard, then my
friend you are either willfully ignorant, or...
"you’re interviewing me you’re interviewing me you're doing it senator I’m sorry to
interrupt but you’re doing it."
No you’re just ignorant.
If Dr. Fords comportment had even remotely mirrored Kavanaugh’s,
she would have been scrutinized and her name smeared even more
so than it already has been.
it proves that we still have a long way to go before we approach
these sensitive issues with anything like gender equality.
That will only happen when all parties involved in incidents of
sexual trauma are afforded the same luxury to express fully how
an awful situation has affected them.
If you want to interact with me on this come over to my instagram @francismmaxwell if
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