Kavanaugh’s Accuser

After a fairly energetic conversation with Drew, this morning, I did some research and wrote this opinion.  I think it’s good enough to share here.

Kavanaugh’s accuser: my first response to hearing that a woman was coming forward to accuse Kavanaugh of an incident that occurred in high school was to hold my breath. My natural inclination is to always take the side of the victim. As a woman, I have to, I know what it’s like to have my accusations dismissed. I know what it’s like to hold it all inside because you’re not sure what your responsibility in the incident was.
On the other hand, why would she wait until now to call him out on it? And how seriously do we consider high school behavior? I shudder to think of who I was at 17 – what I thought was acceptable and what I didn’t. Is it fair to judge this man in his 50’s by something that happened when he was 17?
Then I read what she claims happened. For me, the accusation escalates from heavy petting to attempted rape when he reportedly covered her mouth to keep her from screaming.
So why would she wait this long to come forward? Why now?
Without going into details, I had an experience when I was 12 years old that caused me to cut off all communication with a family member. Sadly, he wasn’t the first, but he had gone the furthest. I was smart enough to get myself out before it could really hurt me. And then I spent the next 20 years questioning if I’d overreacted. Did I cut this family member out of my life for no reason?
I think most of you would agree that I’m an intelligent woman. (I hope) I was college educated and I even had the one or two people I’d told about the incident telling me that I had done the right thing. But it wasn’t until I was in my 30’s before I realized that I had absolutely NOT overreacted. I had done the exact right thing.
With that kind of insight, I don’t really have to wonder why she’d wait this long to come forward. Perhaps by the time she realized that what she’s claiming happened to her was absolutely wrong and not her fault, Kavanaugh was already established in his law career.
But now he’s being vetted for the highest court in the land. That’s a huge motivation to come forward. And this is post-#metoo, when women are more empowered to come forward about such things. Why NOT now?
She’s taken and passed a polygraph. She’s asked for an FBI investigation. So now there’s a tug-of-war between those who want to vote to confirm him and those who want an investigation first.
One group is being accused of convicting a man without a trial and trying to delay the vote. One group is being accused of trying to rush it through to avoid finding out what really happened.
I don’t have an opinion, yet, on what the right answer is but I don’t see the harm in waiting.