This week’s edition of the Henry Hype has me discussing a tough subject, and I want to put a warning here. This will be a heavy column subject wise but an important one to discuss nonetheless.
Last week, President Donald Trump made a statement to reporters that it’s a “scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of”, referencing the FBI investigation into the allegations of sexual assault against his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the alleged assault that happened in the summer of 1982.
Robynne Henry The Henry Hype
Ford described herself as “terrified” to be in front of the committee, and who could blame her? She was not only confronting her attacker but also making public a very personal and painful event in her life.
Honestly, I avoid listening to Trump’s actual statements because the man always manages to make me angry.
In my opinion, he’s a self-entitled misogynist, who doesn’t fact check himself before speaking and expects everyone to blindly believe him. When the media calls him out on his false statements, he calls them fake news and claims they’re picking on him.
This comment is similar to this, as he claimed the media ignored Kavanaugh’s “very important” career over the past 30 years.
Is his “tremendous success” meant to say that he may or may not have assaulted someone? Does this success make the issue any less important, or somehow excuse his bad actions because he has good ones?
Ford’s testimony shows quite clearly how assault victims have been dealt with when they come forward, especially when it’s against a prominent figure.
While dealing with being revictimized by reliving their experience, everything that they say is questioned and their actions are brought under scrutiny. What they were wearing, if they led their attacker on, and their actions after the events are used to discredit them.
Although less than 10 per cent of rape claims are found to be false, according to the Canadian Women’s Foundation, society clings to this and sees a person as refusing to testify as proof that it didn’t happen.
It’s this, and so much more, that makes it unsafe for women in America and everywhere.
It’s been programmed into us since we were children that boys who hurt us actually like us, they just don’t know how to show it.
Women have been taught to use their keys as weapons when walking to their cars in the dark. To not go out at night to avoid the chance of being victimized, and to generally avoid situations where we could get hurt.
These teachings completely ignore that women are more likely to be harmed by someone they know, and not by the hooded figure lurking in the shadows.
Trump’s claims about it being a scary time for young men in America brought one phrase to mind for me: sorry not sorry.
I’m not sorry attackers are being held accountable for their actions, nor am I sorry that there’s an open forum for survivors to discuss events that haunt them. I’m not sorry that victims aren’t being ignored anymore, or shamed into silence. I’m not sorry some men are being forced to think before they act toward a woman, nor am I sorry that some men are reevaluating how they’ve acted in the past.
Most of all, I’m not sorry that abusers are facing actual punishment.
I am sorry for Ford, and my heart goes out to her. One of the darkest moments of her life was broadcast across many platforms, and nothing about that could have been easy for her.
I believe survivors because coming forward to say they were hurt is one of the hardest things a person can do.
