I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Sexual abusers requires the victim to be silent.The perpetrator thrives on this, and fully expects to get away with it. And the victims are silenced — culturally and socially — because coming forward is too painful. More painful than remaining silent and paying a tremendous price in their everyday lives, along with living with PTSD. The onus, somehow, is always on the victim. The onus is always on the powerless. Why? Because generally victims are not believed. The powerless are not believed. Disbelief is a tool. Disbelief is a paradigm, a cultural tool wielded by the powerful. And in most occasions by powerful men. Disbelief is an intolerable paradigm. Additionally, gaslighting is also a collective cultural phenomena. Lies must be enforced, hence a letter materialized, strategically produced, signed by 65 women, in support of Brett Kavanaugh and the Republican agenda.
The response today from the White House and the Republicans Party in general — in their continued support of Brett Kavanaugh (member of the Yale secret society “Truth and Courage”)— is not coincidental to the fact that the Republican Senate Judiciary Committee is made up, entirely, of white men. I fully expect them all, including *Trump to go after Dr. Blasey Ford.
In fact, Brett Kavanaugh is proof that the Republicans will say and do anything to continue as the party in power in perpetuity. And in that pursuit, they will ditch all precedent and shrug off all revelations, and subvert any rules of order. If they ever had any principles, it has been (decades) long buried in some roadside gully. Republicans are the party of bullies.
More specifically, the Republican Party does not care about the general lot of people. They only care about their donors. That’s why the onus of presenting the truth is not on Brett Kavanaugh, as we have seen through out the hearings. He is a liar, and still he will get by, because IOKYAR.
I’m getting in line to read two books written by two different women on women’s anger. About how women’s anger is simultaneously feared and belittled. This is something we all already know. Nevertheless, sometimes it helps to have that knowledge distilled by someone else, again.
One book is titled Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, by Soraya Chemaly:
"In the United States, an angry white man is associated with justified rage often and with citizenship — like the angry patriot, the one who fights against the government," says Chemaly. "A black man can’t express himself that way. His anger is associated with criminality and a black woman’s anger is associated with danger."
If we examine the reasons behind Williams' outrage on court, and put ourselves in her position, many of us might conclude that we'd react in a similar manner.
Williams was accused of — and penalised for — coaching, and her ability and professional integrity were thus called into question. "When someone accuses you of cheating it is a rational and logical response to feel indignant and angry," says Chemaly.
SNIP
"The whole idea of feelings is disparaged, and it's often disparaged, frankly, because it’s a feminine quality in our culture," she explained. "When [Williams] spoke after the tournament, she was clear, methodical, logical. We're not supposed to express feelings because feelings are 'illogical' but, in fact, they’re really logical and rational."
"Over the course of her career, [Williams] has come to have to take this very reasoned and mature path to explaining to other people, which means, doing the work [for other people]," Chemaly continued.
Those who bore witness to the furore on social media can attest to the fact that men were not the sole critiques of Williams — women also censured her. Chemaly says that one thing she learned when she was writing the book was the quality in some people of being "inclined to justify the system."
Another one will be coming out soon. Good and Mad: Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger, by Rebecca Traister (Amazon blurb):
In the year 2018, it seems as if women’s anger has suddenly erupted into the public conversation. But long before Pantsuit Nation, before the Women’s March, and before the #MeToo movement, women’s anger was not only politically catalytic—but politically problematic. The story of female fury and its cultural significance demonstrates the long history of bitter resentment that has enshrouded women’s slow rise to political power in America, as well as the ways that anger is received when it comes from women as opposed to when it comes from men.
With eloquence and fervor, Rebecca tracks the history of female anger as political fuel—from suffragettes chaining themselves to the White House to office workers vacating their buildings after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Here Traister explores women’s anger at both men and other women; anger between ideological allies and foes; the varied ways anger is perceived based on its owner; as well as the history of caricaturing and delegitimizing female anger; and the way women’s collective fury has become transformative political fuel—as is most certainly occurring today. She deconstructs society’s (and the media’s) condemnation of female emotion (notably, rage) and the impact of their resulting repercussions.
I’ll let the tweets talk for me:
Now, on to our regularly scheduled program —
This is the Itzl Alert Network. (Itzl is the name of the dog in the picture.) We publish
a diary here every day, just before midnight. This group is here for us to check in with each other, to let people know we are alive, and doing OK.
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! If you would like to write a diary, let us know in a comment.
We would love it if you joined our list of writers. You can sometimes alternate with someone. New voices are always good for a group.
++++++++++++++++++
Monday: Crimson Quillfeather. Tuesday: ejoanna. Wednesday: Pam from California. Thursday: art ah zen. Friday: FloridaSNMOM. Saturday: Gwennedd. Sunday: loggersbrat.