Today’s thoughts: Kavanaugh Hearings

America yesterday stopped to watch the Kavanaugh hearings. News media all over the world attentively followed the hearings  and today   moving articles are showing how Americans all over the world stopped to watch the testimony provided by both Dr. Ford and the Hon. Kavanaugh. This shows how important this appointment to the supreme court is. This shows how the Americans are attentively following the subsequent moves by both Republicans and Democrats.

I believe that more than Americans are following this appointment and subsequent actions. The whole world not only watched the Kavanaugh hearings will be following subsequent votes. I, as many others, watched closely the testimonies provided by both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and the Hon. Kavanaugh. 

I might not be directly affected by this American Supreme Court Appointment, I am not an American after all. However, due to the present world’s mood and strikingly divisiveness, I find myself following it intently. The USA is a reflection of how divisive the world is. This is not mere appointment, this is an appointment that will shape the American’s lives in the future, and mostly, the American women’s future. What happens following the hearing will reverberate through the world. Woman’s liberties, woman’s health, woman’s lives will most certainly be shaped by this judge, and during his hearings his position about these liberties where questioned. I am fearful for American’s women future. I am fearful for all the women’s future.

This hearing also presented what many other women have already repeatedly screamed to the world, but  our patriarchal society so stubbornly refuses to acknowledge. Its double standards. The inequality between men and women. The gender divide is materialized in this hearing. And to better illustrate this, lets look back in history. As many explained,  with this hearing, history is happening... again. Lets remind ourselves what happened almost 30 years ago: the Anita Hill hearing. Professor Anita Hill accused Justice Clarence Thomas for sexual assault, a painful hearing took place where professor Hill described the unwarranted sexual advances made by Justice Clarence Thomas.  At the time after  an unbalanced hearing where Professor Anita Hill was painfully questioned, Justice Clarence Thomas was appointed to the supreme court. A solitary female voice talked, eloquently explained what happened and was not listened too. Her voice was sadly ignored. Her better male counter-part was more believable. In a recent interview, Anita Hill explained how she felt that in todays society this would not have happened, that a background check would be able to pick up any negative behaviour, or any history of sexual assault. That society was more aware of sexual assault, and that women’s voices are listened and acted upon. However, this hearing is showing that unfortunately this might not be the case. As I am writing these words, the voting deciding Hon. Kavanaugh future in the Supreme Court is happening in Washington. This will be decisive in how much our society is  in desperate need of a balanced power between the genders. The Kavanaugh hearing is a stark exemple of how unbalanced the power between a women's voice and the men's are.

The Kavanaugh hearing Thursday began with a 4 hour testimony provided by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford illustrating what happened in earlier 1980’s. She provided an eloquent, compelling, moving testimony which still resonates in me. I memorized how she described the most painful moments of her assault, answering a question by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont: ‘Indelible in the hippocampus, it was the laughter. The uproarious laughter between the two.... In my expense.’ The pain endured by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was a result of a male bonding experience. At her expense, two teenagers bonded while one boy assaulted a young girl. And not only they caused her painful experience, they laughed over it. The revolt that I felt while hearing her recount is un-writable.
Throughout her hearing she was credible, she was compelling and most of all, she was brave. She survived a harrowing assault and was literally put on trial during her hearing attempting to serve her civic duty. She is nothing more than a hero. Her life was turned upside down, she is victim of life threats, her family had to move for safety. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford along  with her family endured all so that what she believed her  civic duty be fulfilled. She was well aware that this might happen, which was the main reason that she requested that her allegations remained anonymous at the time. The persecution of women (and their families along the way) who dare to accuse a man of assault is well documented. The victim is vilified, while the believed perpetrator is subject to what is now coined himpathy. Its beyond my reasoning why she was questioned about her reluctance to come forward. Again, the unbalance between men and women is well known.

I followed her testimony, and I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. She provided compelling evidence that this assault happened, and the accusations of a Democratic plot is nothing more than ludicrous. She told her story for the first time to her husband before Brett Kavanaugh was nominated by Trump as a supreme court pick. She told her story to her therapist, again before Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. She is open to an FBI investigation. She provided witnesses to the assault, and until now, none deny her allegations. But above all Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has nothing to gain from this allegations and only to loose. And she already lost so much. Following Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accusation, other women described disturbing behaviour perpetrated by Brett Kavanaugh, which provides if not more prove attesting his toxic behaviour, doubts about his character.

Mostly, this hearing screamed how unbalanced the voices between men and women are heard. The female victim is vilified, whilst the accused (if not truly the offender) victimised.  Another example of how unequal this hearing was is reflected by the way the questioning of both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh happened. Rachel Mitchel, a prosecutor appointed by the Republican senators, painful questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford attempting to find wholes on her description of the assault. Unsurprisingly, this same prosecutor failed to question Judge Kavanaugh throughout his testimony. Rachel Micthell was only allowed to question Judge Kavanaugh a few times, and after a dreadful performance by Brett Kavanaugh she was prevented to continue her line of questioning. If  Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was literally on trial, Brett Kavanaugh was allowed to dodge the prosecutor questioning.

If only Brett Kavanaugh could have skipped this hearing altogether… His performance was pitiful. He sniffed. He was aggressive. He cried. He screamed. He was disrespectful to many senators, more notably Dem Sen.Amy Klobuchar. He was aware of crossing a line as following a short recess he apologized for his behaviour. However the line was crossed. The disrespect happened which cause me to question, if he behaves this way publicly towards a woman Democrat Senator, how can I believe that he respected women in the past, or respects them privately? Mostly, how will he perform as a Justice Court Judge if he is showing bad judgment so publicly? How can anyone be assured about his impartiality, but mostly about his sense?

Through his testimony he was evasive. He continuously eluded many questions. He is not open to further FBI investigations into these allegations. His performance during the hearing casts more doubts on his behaviour rather than answering the questions that would reassure senators on his credibility and character. He mostly showed that he lacks the temperament required of a Justice. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, when questioned Hon. Kavanaugh sharply notes:

Brett Kavanaugh  lacks temperament. But mostly, he lacks credibility, the most important character that supreme court justice judge should possess. If you are not credible yourself, how can you implement credible justice when judging supreme court cases? The world is watching America. Depending on how this story unfolds America will be dictating how further away from a credible judicial democratic system will be.

  

I understand that we might never truly know if a sexual assault happened, or who perpetrated it in this instance. This ends up to whether you believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford or Hon. Brett Kavanaugh. However I do hope that when the senators cast their vote they remember how badly Brett Kavanaugh's performance was during his hearing. Mostly his inability to be tempered. He did not acted as demanded to a Justice. He rather acted as an arrogant, entitled man choosing to ignore any questioning regarding any investigation about the allegations. This was not an intelligent way to conduct the hearing, having him choosing to act differently he might have been able to turn the hearing to his side. Some commentators concluded that he was performing having one individual in mind - Trump. Having read how approving Trump was concerning Brett Kavanaugh’s performance this was not terribly far off. However he is ignoring all the women, all the victims of sexual assault, anyone who empathised with Christine Ford and anyone who perceived his behaviour as entitled, aggressive and disrespectful. The way the committee acts and votes now will also enlighten and measure  the weight of the women's voices are, now and in the future.  

I began by mentioning the inequality present in society today. Not only the hearing results will unfold America’s supreme court future, it will also show how further away from a equal gendered society we are. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford whole life was turned upside down by a boys sexual assault. Depending on how the story unfolds and whom you believe, this boy might be rewarded with a life position in front of the America’s supreme court, dictating (in)justice. What about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford? A life free of sexual assault or its consequences will never happen, but at  least I do hope that one day she finds herself justice, and the knowledge that her voice was truly heard. 
In-between, our fight for a society gender-equal needs to go on.

Fridays Thoughts: Why I think women should create a new campaign, “Create a page 4”

 

I will be blunt; I never gave too much thought to the #nomorepage3 campaign (read more about this movement here) until now. Actually, this matter was firstly mentioned by my other half a couple days ago, who asked me what I thought about it. I honestly replied that I never thought about it…  I am a woman, I also consider myself a feminist, and I am a mother who hopes to educate a respectful, mindful and considerate young man.  However in a world where gender inequality reigns, where unfortunately we find violence and disrespectfulness towards women daily splashed in the news, the Sun´s page 3 was not in my list of worries. 

I am unconvinced about certain aspects of this matter. We seem to be forgetting that this campaign is aiming to control an editorial line of a newspaper. I will not be dwelling on the fact that the freedom of speech may be an issue here, but I wish to highlight that I believe ending page 3 is not a solution for what campaigners aim to achieve. In my opinion, page three is not the main problem here. The problem at heart is a behavioral one. Let’s not forget that page three is reaching a large audience that is actively purchasing the newspaper. We aim to change how its audience receives, thinks and feels about page three. The ultimate goal is to educate page´s three consumers. And ending page three will not accomplish this. 

Nevertheless, and given yesterday´s twist and the exchanges of words between #nomorepage3 campaigners and glamour models, page three was heavily debated.  Along the way, social media was also subject to name shaming. Firstly, I would like to express how disappointing was to realize that women, feminists or not, so easily turn against each other. Instead of discussing a matter as important as the objectification of women, the debate diverted and no longer was constructive. Let’s consider both sides of the issue at hand: I understand that the Sun´s page three may be a way to models to earn money, and surely their occupation must be respected. And of course that we all are free to do whatever we wish with our own bodies! However, it still objectifies women in a sexual context though, moreover in a newspaper claimed to be a family one that obviously should promote family values. There’s no clear answer to the problem at hand, as both sides raise valid arguments.  

Yet, no more page three campaigners were cautiously shouting victory, until thisThursday. The Sun revealed once more a page three with a young topless model, claiming that they had a “mammary lapse”. It is obvious today that the demise of page three was never planned to happen (even during this short-lived hiatus, page three was always available online), and the whole event was a mere publicity stunt. Nothing more than an extremely patronizing publicity stunt. If before, glamour models never felt used, now they should feel cheated, as their defense for page three was clearly unnecessary, and they were mere pawns in this charade.

But a clear victim emerges from this mischief, and one I am sad to report, in total agreement with Claire Cohen, which is feminism. This event created a divide amongst women in general, and within feminists particularly. Between the ones that sided with the glamour models perspective (pop by London Mum blog to read more about a models view on this matter) and the side that feverously ranted against page3 (read more here). On the brighter side I was deeply pleased when realized that the men are supporting the women´s position on this matter! See how they are showing “TheSun” their support!

This brings me back to my opening title. There could be a solution to bridge this divide, one that should appease all sides, “The Sun”  included… And that is:

Let’s not finish with page three at all! 

Why not create a page 4? One solely dedicated to male glamour models… 

Feminists would be pleased that inequality would be partially addressed as “The Sun” would be objectifying men as well women. 

Glamour models would be relieved as their work spot would be spared. It would also create more job opportunities. 

“The Sun” would be happy as their revenues might even go up! They would be reaching to a whole new audience after all.

This is an entirely new perspective on how to consider this issue. I would certainly like to see how the male audience would receive this brand new page, or even how the editorial line would react to the idea. Would they welcome it? Would they shuffle it? Refuse it altogether?

If the idea is refused altogether, what are the reasons for its refusal? So it is alright to have a page three but not a page four? Why is that?

Along the way some claim that women are overly sensitive towards page three. Either having, or not having a page three counterpart would certainly shed some light! 

I am mostly interested on how the male audience would feel about a possible page four? Would they feel insulted? Would they feel objectified? Would they enjoy it? 

A page four would raise an entirely new set of questions, but would certainly be an eye opener for a broader audience. And would really be an historical moment. One where men are truly equal to women, in the newspaper page level. I definitely want a page four to be created!

 What’s your opinion on the matter? What do you think about a page four on “The Sun”?

 

I am linking up with this amazing blogger:

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