Kavanaugh not fit for the Supreme Court

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court nominee, and Christine Blasey Ford testified on Thursday for the Senate Judiciary Committee about Ford’s accusation against Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers. Ford came out with a statement saying Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her, after he was announced as a nominee for the Supreme Court. Ford said the assault happened at a high school party she attended when she was 15 and he was 17. Ford stated in her testimony that Kavanaugh held her down on a bed with his hand over her mouth and groped her and that she was terrified he might have accidentally killed her in his drunken state.   

Many people think that since the assault happened more than 30 years ago that it does not matter. I watched a video in which a group of women were interviewed, and sadly they all said things among the lines of, “It happened so long ago she should be over it,” “If she waited so long it must not have affected her that badly,” and one woman stated, “It was a touch, if she’s still hung up on a touch after thirty years maybe it’s her problem,” and another said, “What 17 year old hasn’t done this.” I personally know many 17-year-olds that have not sexually assaulted someone. Why are we normalizing sexual assault? It should not be something that we say “who hasn’t done it” because frankly that is ridiculous.  

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police. Also, according to Psychology Today, there are many reasons victims don’t report their harassment or assault; such as, shame, denial or minimization, fear of the consequences, low self-esteem, feelings of hopelessness, having a history of being sexually violated, lack of information, and disbelief, dissociated, or drugged. When dealing with trauma, sometimes to cope the brain may dissociate so it doesn’t have to deal with everything at once. 

Many have questioned her choice to come out with the accusation now, now that he’s nominated for the Supreme Court. Many people think it has something to do with political parties and Democrats trying to prevent another Republican being elected. There are many reasons, though, as to why she came out now. Perhaps she saw his name in the news and it was a trigger for her past trauma or maybe she wanted to prevent the man who assaulted her, and seems to not know what consent is, from taking such a high-power position.  

Leading up to the trial it seemed as though Kavanaugh was really grasping at anything he could use as evidence that he did not sexually assault this woman. With statements saying he remained a virgin through high school and many years after; he also wanted to submit a personal calendar as evidence, saying he didn’t write down on that day that he attended the party so therefore he didn’t attend. The fact that he stated he could not have sexually assaulted someone because he was a virgin is ridiculous because nowhere in her accusation did she say that he forced her into sex. One can sexually assault someone by groping them and still be a virgin.  

During the hearing Kavanaugh seemed upset, with hand waiving and yelling. He continued to repeat the same things over and over and got noticeably more aggravated every time. He continuously interrupted Senator Dianne Feinstein and seemed to throw a small fit. Kavanaugh also continuously said that he liked beer. Apparently, he wanted to get the point across that he did indeed like beer. He did, though, deny any chance of blacking out, drinking too much, or getting carried away. He did a lot of denying during his questioning. It was concluded at the hearing’s finalization that there would be an FBI investigation, though it is a short one, ending Friday, Oct. 5. 

There have been not one, but three women who have come forward with allegations against Brett Kavanauagh, however Dr. Ford was the only one who went to the hearing. Let us not forget about the Anita Hill case. Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment and after their hearing it was decided that Thomas was a good candidate for the Supreme Court and still serves today.  

This should not be a Republican vs. Democrat situation, it is a sexual assault accusation; a woman was sexually assaulted and it’s come down to political parties. We should be worrying about a man, not his political affiliation, who allegedly assaulted a woman when he was young. It should not matter if he was young when he did it, consent is a simple thing, though some seem to think it is more difficult than “yes” or “no.” Instead of putting a woman on trial and sending her hate mail, who went through a traumatic experience and deserves justice, let’s work on learning the truth and not putting a second man on the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, who was accused of sexual assault.