Christine Blasey Ford didn’t seek publicity – whether or not Brett Kavanaugh is guilty, her treatment has been appalling
Can you trust your memory to accurately recall what happened during those hot and heady years of teenage crushes, student parties and late-night drinking and smoking behind your parents’ backs?
Christine Blasey Ford is a respected professor of psychology in California, with two teenage sons. A registered Democrat, the largest donation she’s given to the cause is $100. Brett Kavanaugh is a right-wing Catholic Republican judge with two daughters who has spent his entire life immersed in politics, and who has assiduously courted power. Now he’s reached the pinnacle of his career, and is nominated for a vacant position in the US Supreme Court.
His seamless rise through the white male meritocracy ground came to a juddering halt last month when Ford made public her claim that back in the 1980’s – when she was 15 and Kavanagh 17 – he pinned her down on a bed at a student party and tried to force himself on her.
She says he tried to pull her clothes off and rubbed his body against her, placing his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. She also says that when a drunken friend of his jumped on top of them, she managed to escape.
The alleged incident affected her so much that Ford decided to tell friends about it and discussed it with her therapist in 2012. She says she has come forward now because she’s troubled that a man who can potentially behave like this could be in a position where he can make decisions that will impact so many women’s lives.
Hundreds of former students of the school Ford attended have written letters of support, and called for a “thorough and independent investigation”. Many say her story is consistent with stories they heard while attending the college.
In retaliation, Kavanaugh has published a letter signed by 50 women who have worked with him saying this version of events is not credible and that he is a wonderful man to work with. He denies all allegations.
The big question is: can a teenage memory be trusted?
When I wrote two memoirs (Baggage and Fallout) which charted my teenage years and my acrimonious relationship with my mother, I had to reconstruct my childhood and the events which led me to walk out at 18. I lost my virginity at 15 to a man called Jimmy, who I met once at the Marquee Club in Soho. I arranged to go to his flat one Saturday, and that was that. I can remember the precise bus journey before and after, and the furnishings in his flat, but not a lot about the actual event, other than my relief when it was over and the deed done.
I can remember other sexual exploits after that (when I was 16) in a lot more detail. According to many psychologists, central events can be recalled with clarity, while details may change in the telling.
I see no reason to doubt Ford’s account, even though the right-wing media in the US has been digging through her life and trying to wrong-foot her. Her therapists’ notes from 2012 reveal she originally said four boys were in the room, while she told The Washington Post this month that there were only two involved. Does it matter? Not really. It suits the media and the Republicans to focus on false memory rather than the central charge of alleged sexual harassment.
The cost of speaking up has been huge: Ford has received death threats and gone into hiding. She has been asked to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee (which includes 11 white men, two of which are in their 80’s) who are charged with approving Kavanaugh’s appointment. Ford has asked for an FBI investigation into her claims, which would mean that witnesses were interviewed in a controlled environment and that a measured and fair account of events would result. She’s said she will testify before the Senate but not this Monday.
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit are pulsating with false claims about both parties: allegations that Kavanaugh’s mother (who is a judge) made a ruling which cost Ford’s parents their home; that Ford accused another judge of sexual misconduct; that her students wrote negative reviews of her work; and that she is a “major donor” to the Democrats – all 100 per cent false.
Originally, Ford wanted to tell her story in confidence. She wrote to her Congresswoman, who passed it to the senator for California, Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now Ford is exposed to the full glare of publicity and her life will be changed forever.
You’d think that, post-MeToo, women might feel more comfortable speaking out about events that traumatised them in the past. Forget it – the treatment of Ford shows that any accuser of a powerful man will be fair game as a predominately white male establishment seeks to protect their own. I do not expect this courtroom drama to have a happy ending for either party involved. Meanwhile, other women watch, appalled.
