David CookI still believe Christine Blasey Ford.
Her testimony Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee was compelling and brave, cogent and vulnerable. She appeared deeply human; what she said and how she said it did nothing but further my belief in her.
As I wrote in last Sunday's column, my sympathies were already on her side. Her sexual violence claims about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh - decades old, even without much corroborating evidence - have always seemed believable to me.
But not to many of you.
"It is a shame what people like you, and honestly most of the media, will do anything to anyone associated with Donald Trump just because you don't like this President," one reader emailed.
"It is pretty easy to see through your left wing bias," emailed another.
The only bias I claim is a bias against sexism, sexual violence and rape. I would gladly welcome committee hearings for Bill Clinton's accusers as well as U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison's, and am nauseated by the way that Ford's sexual violence charges have been seemingly politicized and manipulated by certain Democrats for political gain.
My fear is that these hearings - Kavanaugh called them "a circus," perhaps fittingly - will make it harder for rape victims in the future, discrediting even more the perilous process of reporting rape.
"This is a nation of laws not emotions," another reader emailed. "A drunk teen can not remember anything about 36 year old (non) incident and you and the Democrats are using and abusing her for your filthy political agenda."
It's a strange experience to write about sexism and feminism in this town; it's as if there is some deep-seated resistance to basic feminist ideas and experiences, namely: that women are equal to men. (To champion a woman who comes forward under the most intense scrutiny is...filthy? Her possible assault is a...non-incident?)
Since Ford's story emerged, I've noticed an automatic sympathy or allegiance to Kavanaugh, as if so many would rather believe him than her.
"It's a very sad time when a person is not presumed innocent," another reader said.
Yes, of course: We should defend and celebrate the presumption of innocence.
And that should include rape victims.
Let me put it this way: so much of America raged against these accusations, wanting Kavanaugh to speak and testify and tell his story.
Good.
I can understand that.
Yet where is the equal outrage on behalf of women who've been silenced? Why not rage for their voice - to speak, to tell their story - just as you did for Kavanaugh?
So much of America believed this was a smear campaign.
A character assassination.
"Grotesque and coordinated," Kavanaugh said Thursday.
How ironic.
That's exactly what rape victims say.
Their character and reputation wrecked. (What were you wearing? How much did you have to drink? You were asking for it, weren't you?) Their trauma met by the slowness of a justice system that doesn't seem to care. (Tennessee has a reported backlog of 9,000 untested rape kits, dating back to 2014.)
Their story minimized or misheard.
Why not come to their defense with as much vehemence as Kavanaugh's?
This is not to say that supporting Kavanaugh means you care nothing for rape victims.
It is to say that we still lack a clarity and moral precision in how we view sexual violence.
"I do not doubt that Dr. Ford might have had a traumatic event in her youth - she apparently was a wild teenager," one reader said.
A wild teenager.
Doesn't deserve.
To be raped or assaulted.
Why is that difficult to understand?
"Him-pathy - the inappropriate and disproportionate sympathy powerful men often enjoy in cases of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, homicide and other misogynistic behavior," writes author Kate Manne in the New York Times.
I must be fully honest: on Thursday, I was also moved by much of what Kavanaugh said. His testimony, too, was forceful and compelling. I appreciated his tears and found his anger justified. (I wonder if Ford had been as visibly angry, would her anger have been as applauded and respected?)
"It's hard to make a decision about who is telling the truth," one reader said.
Yes.
Now, a broken America seems even more broken.
I heard from people near and far disturbed by so much of this.
I am, too.
But rape and sexual violence have been happening for centuries in this country.
Perhaps we can agree that should disturb and outrage us the most.
David Cook writes a Sunday column and can be reached at dcook@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook at DavidCookTFP.