When conservative Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, feminists on the Left told us we should believe his accusers. And it wasn’t merely that we should take his accusers seriously, or that we should work hard to overcome a societal bias against believing women. We were all told to “Believe Women,” which is a vague and over-general statement that many people, including feminists and Democratic politicians, interpreted as “Believe All Women.”
When the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was accused of sexual assault, however, the order to “Believe Women” or “Believe All Women,” was somehow chiseled off the stone tablets.
It’s quite obviously rank hypocrisy, and it exposes the darkly cynical game that Democrats play when it comes to sexual assault. Maybe they believe the charges against Biden, but they don’t actually care that much about sexual assault. Maybe they didn’t believe the charges against Kavanaugh, but they saw an opportunity to get a scalp. Whichever one it is, it’s foul.
So journalist Susan Faludi tried to ride to the rescue with a piece calling “Believe All Women” a “Right-wing trap.” She rightly points out that the Twitter hashtag #BelieveAllWomen is used more by conservative critics than by liberal feminists, and #BelieveWomen is preferred among most liberal feminists. But Faludi never acknowledges the ambiguity in “Believe Women.”
Did it mean “believe women more than you otherwise would”? That’s a good idea. Or did it mean “Believe All Women”?
During the Kavanaugh hearings, Democrats used it to mean the latter. They meant to believe women, not necessarily evidence.
We stand with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, & Julie Swetnick. #BelieveAllWomen @HouseDemocrats @NancyPelosi pic.twitter.com/XaE51WD3fH
— Carolyn B. Maloney (@RepMaloney) September 26, 2018
Here we have a senior Democratic congresswoman, who was by no means alone, urging us to believe “all women” and Julie Swetnick in particular. Swetnick, you may recall, accused Kavanaugh of running rape gangs at parties. Her story fell apart instantly, but Rep. Maloney was happy to wave the #believeallwomen hashtag.
Still, you’ll see liberal writers say that feminists don’t say “Believe All Women.”
This from Susan Faludi is so important. Feminists never said “believe all women” – the right inserted the “all.” Feminists said “believe women”: that is, start with the assumption that women are telling the truth instead of reflexively doubting them. https://t.co/CtQ1gyCsEC
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) May 18, 2020
Filipovic says feminists never said it. Even if we took the above Maloney tweet as an aberration, we would have plenty more to work with.
Another Democratic Congresswoman:
Democracy in action. ??#WeBelieveChristine #BelieveAllWomen https://t.co/L47wjXDly7
— Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) October 4, 2018
The founding editor of a feminist magazine:
Perpetrators can have friends who are women, not violate them, and also violate other women. These things are not mutually exclusive. Just a reminder because apparently we are still not clear on this. #BelieveSurviors #BelieveAllWomen #KavanaughFord
— Julie Zeilinger (@juliezeilinger) September 27, 2018
A Planned Parenthood senior adviser:
Cue @gop @senatemajldr smear campaigns to demean women who have survived assault in 3, 2, 1…… #Kavanaugh #BelieveAllWomen #BelieveSurviors https://t.co/ra8XHn1Hk8
— Elizabeth Wash Your Hands Thorp (@ElizabethEThorp) September 26, 2018
I could probably produce hundreds or even thousands of examples of noteworthy feminists saying such things, but that’s beside the point. “Believe Women” was perhaps intended as a shorthanded way to say something important and true about the victims of sexual assault. But during the Kavanaugh hearings, it became a cudgel. It was used to mean “believe all women, even in spite of the evidence.”
“Believe women” was a slogan that once tried to convey something valuable. It’s now meaningless, and it wasn’t the right wing that hijacked it.
