I don’t really think of myself as a sexual assault survivor, not on a daily basis. It’s true, but most of the time it’s true in the same sense that I’m a car crash survivor–it happened, it hurt, I got away, I healed, I don’t think about it every day.
But it’s something that never completely goes away. And man can it blindside you how hard and sudden it can come back. I hate to use the word “triggered” because it’s become a battleground for gatekeeping and mockery, but having a rapist president appoint a rapist Supreme Court justice and get away with it is getting me… emotionally activated in an unwanted and unpleasant manner.
All the talk swarming around about “she has no evidence”–of course she has no fucking evidence! The vast majority of sexual assaults don’t leave evidence that can ever meet the standards set by people who want to believe the best of a nice rich boy.
But for those same people, a woman reporting a sexual assault is perfect proof of her guilt. Dr. Blasey Ford has gotten death threats. She’s had to move out of her house. She’s been made to relive the details of her trauma on national TV with pundits providing live and after-action commentary. She testified that one of the worst parts of her assault was the assailants laughing at her, and the president of the United States goaded an arena full of his fans to laugh at her. She has received excruciating punishment for her crime of speaking up against the man who assaulted her.
And in the end it was all for nothing, because “Brett Kavanaugh will help me get away with crimes” is the only thing that matters to Trump, and “we do whatever Trump wants” is the only thing that matters to Republican senators.
Plus the whole thing’s been twisted around into some kind of completely fucked up reverse victimization where Brett Kavanaugh is not only innocent, not only qualified for the Supreme Court, but he is the victim and Dr. Blasey Ford is the aggressor. It’s not enough for him to merely be innocent; now he’s a cause célèbre, a totem of the poor downtrodden rich white boys who had their lives ruined (i.e., almost didn’t get everything they wanted) over a little thing like sexual assault.
It’s a political frame-up, it really happened but it wasn’t him, he did it but it wasn’t so bad and he was just a kid–all three of these ideas coexist quite comfortably within the Republican party, because they don’t really care what the truth is. The truth is that he assaulted multiple women and everyone knows it but that is simply not as important as installing a Supreme Court justice who will help achieve Republican goals. The same way that Trump is a blithering incompetent who also assaulted multiple women, and everyone also knows that, but what are you going to do? Pay a slightly higher tax rate on your multi-million-dollar estate?
I would like to not take this personally. I would like to shrug and say “yeah, everything sucks, what did you expect, there’s nothing to do but vote for our lives in November.” But it’s getting to me, as a survivor and a human being. I’m furious and I’m terrified and I really don’t know whether to expect the country to recover from this.
I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.
I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.
So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈
We all are stardust 