Gilead of Republicans Stand by Their Man, Kavanaugh

[Content Note: Sexual assault.]

The first thing to do is eradicate from our collective sense of right and wrong the notion that if Republicans only knew some men were rapists they would actually care.

Republicans control 2.5, and soon to be 3, out of 3 branches of the U.S. government. They can do what they want. And so, they will. Yes, we — women in particular — are angry and will instigate a backlash. Republicans and their president curiously do not seem concerned about this.

The second thing to understand is that Brett Kavanaugh's spittle-flecked, sobbing testimony looked a lot like tears of frustrated, entitled rage — a rage that many people who aren't men and/or who aren't white know quite well.

Credible default human is very credible.

Notice how so much of his testimony was him recounting his top-dog academic, cultural, and legal experiences, as though we all take it as a given that a man of such stature couldn't possibly have done wrong and therefore shouldn't experience consequences for shitty, frat-bro behavior. Notice how he blubbered about his sports buds, and his female mentees, and the Anonymous Woman Friend who purportedly texted him that he was "a good man," as though any of it rendered an attempted rape of a woman factually impossible.

That "misconception" alone, in a society that didn't hate women and in which actual competence mattered, would disqualify him from sitting on our nation's highest court. Yet, here we are. The people who hold power in our nation do hate women, and it's looking more and more like the number one question asked of their job applicants is "How much?"

(And if you're still saying Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election because she didn't visit Wisconsin, you've lost the fucking plot).

Much of Kavanaugh's display was familiar precisely because it fits the pattern of fragile conservative white man, much like the white men who run the Republican party and who consistently rig systems in their own favor, who simply cannot fathom having his birthright questioned. As he continued to toot his own horn, it were as though he simultaneously kept being reminded that, no, many people don't see him as a good man, not at all, and it kept making him more and more vehemently angry. So angry, in fact, that he could at times barely form words, as he poked his tongue into his cheek instead, furrowed his brow, condescended to Democratic female senators, and fought back rage-tears instead.

And that was his behavior ostensibly sober, during a job interview, in public.

For those who are purportedly, admittedly ignorant of rape culture, such as conservative elite David French, they would do well to look at Kavanaugh's obvious anger to begin to understand why survivors of rape and assault often react the way they do and in ways that don't seem "logical" to other white men.

Finally, understand that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony was heroic, regardless of outcome. And, so is our continued resistance.

Dr. Ford went into all of this in spite of the multitudes of rape culture, misogynistic narratives pervading our society. That women lie and men are automatically credible, for instance. That an elite white Christian family man could not possibly be a predator, for another. That conservative men protect, or even give a single fuck about, women.

I will never not be in awe of women and all that we endure.