October 17, 2018
Page 13
O PINION
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GOP Playbook Was Textbook Abusive Behavior
Women who
were outraged
are mobilized
by a nny
M artinez
Shortly before
he became a Su-
preme Court jus-
tice, Brett Kava-
naugh made two
things clear: He
likes beer. And he’s
a
self-righteous
beneficiary of pre-
sumption of innocence.
Indeed, Kavanaugh was pro-
vided a considerable benefit of the
doubt for a man credibly accused
of a horrible crime. In an ordinary
job interview, much less one for a
lifetime appointment to Supreme
Court, most people couldn’t count
on the same.
Kavanaugh defenders said a
lot about the presumption of in-
nocence. But in truth they were
following a much more menacing
playbook, common to many abus-
ers called out for their behavior.
Psychologists call it DARVO:
deny, attack, reverse victim and
offender.
Fielding questions from report-
ers the other day, President Trump
said this: “It’s a very scary time
for young men in America.”
And it certainly should be, for
young and old men alike that have
taken advantage of or degraded
women who are now having their
moment and speaking
out. Trump painted these
people as victims, not of-
fenders.
This tactic was also
used by Sen. Lindsey
Graham, who compared
what Judge Kavana-
ugh was experiencing to
“hell” and vilified Dem-
ocrats for giving voice to his ac-
cusers.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s
credible (and polygraphed, might
I add) account and moving testi-
mony through hours of question-
ing was recognized by both Dem-
ocratic and Republican senators.
That questioning was presid-
ed over by Rachel Mitchell, a
prosecutor hired to represent Re-
publican senators on the commit-
tee, none of whom are women.
Mitchell delicately handled Dr.
Blasey Ford’s testimony for these
Republican senators — who then
roared back into action when
Judge Kavanaugh took the seat.
That’s when these senators
asked their own questions and
used the hearing to defend their
nominee. Unlike Trump, most
tried not to attack Dr. Blasey Ford
directly. But they were unmistak-
ably painting Kavanaugh as the
victim.
Mitchell’s hiring demonstrated
that these senators remain badly
out of touch with how to engage
with allegations of sexual assault.
They hired a female prosecutor to
avoid accountability, not to en-
gage the accusations seriously.
Dr. Blasey-Ford had zero to
gain and has already sacrificed
so much. “I’ve had to relive this
trauma in front of the whole
world,” she lamented.
Yet Republicans still treated
her little better than Anita Hill.
“Are you a scorned woman?”
Sen. Howell Heflin infamously
demanded of Hill. Then as now,
they showed the same clear dis-
dain the GOP has for an empow-
ered woman who knows she has
the same rights as a man.
Kavanaugh has been con-
firmed, but Blasey Ford’s testi-
mony wasn’t in vain. Her coura-
geous and credible account has
helped millions of Americans
confront the reality of sexual mis-
conduct — and how far we still
must go in the way these cases
are handled.
More women are standing up,
and more men are standing with
them. Fourteen men were arrest-
ed in one recent protest against
Kavanaugh’s
confirmation,
alongside many women.
One of those male protestors,
a hip hop artist named Mysonne
General, said this: “By standing
for women, we have to acknowl-
edge there is a culture of sexual
violence, a culture men have ben-
efited from, and in order for it to
change men have to change it.”
A few old politicians are still
relying on DARVO. They’re try-
ing to take sexual misconduct and
violence towards women off the
table as a political issue. In ad-
dition to exonerating powerful
men, they’re protecting rape cul-
ture.
But outraged women are mo-
bilized. And more than ever are
running for office. Candidates
like Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, Nika Edgardo,
and Representative Ilhan Omar,
to name a few, are showing that
uncompromising women can run
— and they can win.
Anny Martinez directs the Ja-
maica Plain Forum for the In-
stitute for Policy Studies office
in Boston. Distributed by Other-
Words.org.
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