Our culture and our legal system have strongly deterred victims from reporting their sexual assaults. According to the Department of Justice, rape is the single most underreported crime. Social mores which shame and blame victims who come forward with the truth certainly don’t help that.
On the other side, rare but disastrous scorched earth campaigns like the infamous incident of Columbia’s “Mattress Girl” and the Rolling Stone-University of Virginia rape hoax corrode a culture that makes women feel comfortable in coming forward. Every time people tut-tut over a demonstrably false rape allegation, a thousand victims receive no justice or worse, become prey to the public, private investigators, and the powerful who defend bad men.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing essentially became a civil referendum on whether or not he sexually assaulted Ford over three decades ago. In the absence of any corroborative evidence, the Senate essentially voted on his innocence. Beyond any further criminal proceedings, it’s time for everyone on every side to move on. Contrary to his fears that Kavanaugh’s life would be “totally and permanently altered,” Kavanaugh should have every right to return to civil society as before.
Just as importantly, so should Christine Blasey Ford.
Since the hearing, Ford has had to move four times. She’s been forced to hire a private security detail and cannot return to her job. The public has continued to harass and vilify her. This is an egregious societal mistake.
Just as defenders of Kavanaugh assert that he’s innocent based on a lack of evidence, we cannot say with relative certainty that Ford was willfully lying. Sexual assault is notoriously hard to prove. If we want a culture that encourages as many women to come forward as possible, we ought to respect accusers’ privacy if they’re claims ultimately remain unproven.
The Democrats who continue to play political football with Kavanaugh, even discussing his impeachment, are doing survivors a disservice. If Kavanaugh continues to be the subject of wide-scale attacks, it will reinforce the false notion that women can throw around false allegations and destroy innocent men’s lives.
And if conservatives continue to use Ford as an emotional punching bag, more women who fear they lack enough evidence against powerful men will remain silent.
Barring extraordinary circumstances, Kavanaugh will never be impeached from the Supreme Court. Barring the unearthing of extraordinary evidence, Ford’s public career is over. Beating up on the other side might seem cathartic, but it only further damages our culture’s pursuit of justice. Both sides need to call a detente and move on.
