I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford
I was originally going to talk about something completely different this week, but I think to be talking about anything else right now would be irresponsible.
For my own sanity and mental health I tend not to follow news events live, so yesterday was not as intense for me as it was for so many others. However, there is no doubt in my mind that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is an incredibly brave and intelligent woman. I believe her testimony and I also believe that there is so much more to be said about her than this single horrible thing that she has had to endure.
Time's up on misogyny. It is time for the line to be drawn. There will forever be consequences for treating women as sexual objects instead of equal human beings. I have had enough of institutions treating predators' previous "indiscretions" as inconsequential offenses to be pushed aside to make room for the great futures these men supposedly deserve. Please explain to me why a man who does something like this deserves a more powerful station in life than the woman he did it to.
In catching up on things this morning I stumbled across this comment on a blog post that spoke to me:
"JULES SAYS...'I (shamefully) had the initial response, "It was so long ago" before realizing how much internalized misogyny undermines my worldview. Watching Dr. Fords testimony, it was abundantly clear that the pain is still raw and real for her. Time is irrelevant. So, I’m trying a thought experiment to retrain my brain – I replace "attempted sexual assault" with "attempted murder". If I can remove all the problematic ways I’ve been taught to devalue women’s humanity and see it strictly as the serious crime that it is, the interpretation is so much clearer. You would reasonably expect a 17 year old not murder someone, let alone continue to attempt it a few more times through their young adult years. And if they did so, intoxicated or not, you would consider them a dangerous, intentional perpetrator of violence. With this lens, Kavanaugh is a criminal who has been protected by privilege.' SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 10:25AM"
Reading this, I also realized how much I have internalized misogyny in my own life. In the most difficult thing I've written, I minimized my own experience because - even though I am fortunate enough to not have been raped (which is a statement that should never have to be made, come on people, wake up) - I felt the need to qualify my statements: that my experience wasn't "as bad" as someone else's. It still had lingering effects. The beginnings of my journey into sexuality were fraught with anxiety because of it, only I didn't know that was the reason. I just thought I was broken; that something was wrong with me because I wasn't as active as my peers.
This kind of behavior can not keep being justified and brushed aside and swept under the rug so that these men can LITERALLY REVERSE ROE V. WADE if they want to.
Women's rights are human rights.
End. Of. Story.
P.S.: If you need to talk, please reach out - we need to be here for each other during these horrifying, dumpster-fire times in our nation.
P.P.S.: If you need something to take your mind off of this so that you can process and heal, follow these links for some pure, wholesome goodness.
Bongo Cat - the purest meme on the internet
If your dog had a Twitter account
And for emergency goodness on any given day, the "Aww" tag on imgur (sometimes hit or miss, but usually chock full of the most wholesome animal gifs)
I love you all; take extra special care of yourselves today.