Senator accused of 'sIut shaming' Julie Swetnick by tweeting letter using the phrase 'high-end call girl'

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is facing backlash for “sIut shaming” Brett Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick after tweeting a letter from an ex that suggests she was promiscuous.

The office of the senator, who has described the Supreme Court nominee as “a very strong, decent man” and the judge’s first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, of being “mistaken,” tweeted Tuesday, “A Utah man named Dennis Ketterer [a former Democratic candidate for Congress and former weatherman] reached out to the Hatch office this week with information about accuser Julie Swetnick, and her allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.”

Ketterer’s statement includes details such as the following:

• “During a conversation about our sexual preferences, things got derailed when Julie told me that she liked to have sex with more than one guy at a time. In fact sometimes with several at one time. She wanted to know if that would be ok in our relationship.

• “I asked her if this was just a fantasy of hers. She responded that she first tried sex with multiple guys while in high school and still liked it from time-to-time. She brought it up because she wanted to know if I would be interested in that.”

• “Julie never said anything about being sexually assaulted, raped, gang-raped or having sex against her will. She never mentioned Brett Kavanaugh in any capacity.”

Ketterer also wrote that at one point, he called Swetnick’s father to get her phone number, seeking her help with his then-campaign. “He told me that she had psychological and other problems at the time.” Ketterer disclosed that he had been violated by a family friend in his youth — “I know what it’s like to be sexually assaulted and not be believed” — and concluded, “I do not believe her allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh.”

In Ketterer’s full statement, he admits to being married with children when they met and said that he initially thought Swetnick was a “high-end call girl” because she approached him at a bar, “she was alone, quite beautiful,” and “at the time I weighed 350lbs so what would someone like her want with me?” Ketterer also called Swetnick “very sexually aggressive” and said that he ended their relationship specifically due to her “penchant for group sex” at a time when AIDS “was a huge issue” and also because he had children.

The letter was called a character smear, sexist, and an attempt to discredit Swetnick’s claims. In September, the Washington, D.C., resident said that in 1982, she attended parties with Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge (who has been accused of participating in some of Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assaults). She alleged that both young men spiked young women’s drinks in order to render them powerless in subsequent gang rapes. Kavanaugh has denied the charges.

In response, a few people dug up a 1995 Washington Post article about Ketterer’s lawsuit against a former employer, WJLA-TV, in which his reported mental illness was the catalyst for his dismissal.

And the GOP was condemned for believing the accused, rather than their alleged victims.

“Ketterer’s letter is an example of how certain white heterosexual men exercise an ambivalent sexism: that women are either ethical or hostile,” Margaret L. Signorella, a professor of psychology and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Pennsylvania State University, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “Some men have the power to treat women as sex objects while putting their wives and daughters on pedestals.”

The letter also matches a psychological theory called the “just world” hypothesis, a self-protective reaction in which people make snap judgments about others in an attempt to justify a crime, says Signorella. “That can help us feel more in control.”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Julie Swetnick says Brett Kavanaugh and his friends spiked drinks so girls could be ‘gang raped’

• Social media reacts to Lindsey Graham’s ‘I’m a single white male’ and ‘I will not shut up’ comments

• Alyssa Milano is being shamed for her ‘revealing’ top at the Kavanaugh hearings

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