Let's Listen to Women

Over the last week, Exonians, like so many people across the country, have engaged in conversation over the sexual assault allegations against newly-confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. As a prep school graduate himself, Kavanaugh’s narrative is something the Exeter community is familiar with, not only through the list of Exeter’s own sexual misconduct cases, but through sexual misconduct cases throughout the New England boarding school community. In fact, just less than a month ago, Owen Labrie, the perpetrator in the prominent 2015 St. Paul’s assault case, asked the New Hampshire Supreme Court to repeal his felony sentence.

In so many of these instances, the divisive question seems to be whether the accused committed the crime or not, and for the most part, the opinions seem to be partisan. For example, if you Google search “Juanita Broaddrick,” who accused Bill Clinton of raping her, the first page mostly consists of articles covered by Fox News, with only one New York Times Opinion in support of her. Conversely, “Anita Hill” yields several Washington Post articles praising her bravery and drawing parallels to Dr. Ford’s testimony against the Republican-backed Supreme Court nominee.

So, where does this leave women? Why is the exploitation of female bodies a ‘my-guy-your-guy’ issue? Here are five reasons why we should believe the women speaking out on sexual assault, whether their perpetrators are Democrats or Republicans:

First, of the 40 percent of rapes ever reported, only about two percent are ultimately determined to be false. According to the FBI, other felonies have the same percentage of false charges, yet people claim they are false far less often. As Men Against Abuse Now, an organization at Stanford University, put it, “We are much more likely to disbelieve a woman if she says she was raped than if she says she was robbed, but for no good reason.”

Second, the accusations that are false typically all follow the same trends. Two of the common examples are teenagers who report false accusations in order to avoid getting in trouble with their guardians and people who feel they need some form of psychiatric or medical attention for matters unrelated to assault and falsely report as a sort of cry for help. According to studies done by the University of Minnesota Duluth, close to half of these false accusations are not reported by the alleged victim, but by someone the victims knows, typically a parent. Another clear trend in false accusations is that the accusers rarely pursue any of the original charges after the accusation has served their goal, and the few that do usually have histories of previous lies, criminal activity or mental health issues. An example of this is Crystal Mangum, who in 2006 falsely accused Duke University’s lacrosse team of sexual assault; she led an extremely chaotic life with previous reports and even went on to be indicted of second degree murder. Obviously, not all false accusers follow Mangum’s exact narrative, but there is still almost always some commonality, even if it is not to the same degree.

Third, if a case goes to trial, defense attorneys ask victims the most ridiculous questions. For example, here are some of the questions Brock Turner’s lawyer asked Jane Doe: “What were you wearing? Why were you going to this party? Did you party at frats? Were you wearing your cardigan? What color was your cardigan?” She was also asked about the events that transpired, even though she was assaulted when she was intoxicated and unconscious. This is what Doe had to say about her questioning: “I was pummeled by narrow, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, innate questions…After physical assault, I was assaulted with questions designed to attack me, to say ‘see, her facts don’t line up, she’s out of her mind, she’s practically an alcoholic, she probably wanted to hook up.’”

Fourth, not only does questioning to find holes in a victim’s story make a victim uncomfortable, but it also does not prove anything; the law does not accurately represent science. According to Harvard Medical School teaching assistant James Hopper, when the defense circuitry in the brain is activated in a traumatic experience, the information being recorded by the prefrontal cortex can be mixed up. This means that victims will remember certain details and senses, but not necessarily the order of events. However, it is exactly that natural, brain mix-up in victims’ stories that are used to discredit them.

In addition, many states, such as Alabama, still require victims to “earnestly” fight back during an assault in order for it to constitute as an assault. However, the well known fight-or-flight instinct has actually been redubbed the fight, flight or freeze response by stress experts, as freezing is a natural response in the body to trauma. No one blames victims of bear attacks for freezing instead of mauling the bear back.

Finally, after the victims come forward, their lives are never the same. The Washington Post just published an article titled “Dear dads: Your daughters told me about their assaults. This is why they never told you,” about how it is difficult for victims to share experiences with sexual assault with people close to them.

Chessy Prout, the victim in the St. Paul’ most recent sexual misconduct case, returned to school after Labrie’s transfer only to find a “toxic” and “divided” place where several community members went on to raise $100,000 for her perpetrator’s defense fund.

Just this week, Christine Blasey Ford received numerous death threats in response to her testimony against Kavanaugh. She and her family cannot even live in their home anymore. The trajectory of her career in psychology will undoubtedly change permanently. The President of the United States has mocked her publicly for the entire country to see. A boy who assaulted her grew up to be a man sitting on the highest court in America, never to face any consequences for his actions.

Neither Broaddrick, nor Hill, nor Ford have any reason to lie. They received no money, and they compromised their physical safety, all on behalf of civic duty. They did not even want or receive good fame. In fact, upon hearing about Kavanaugh’s nomination, Ford wrote to her representative with her story in hopes of quietly reversing his nomination. When a victim comes forward, she does so with the knowledge that with the system that exists today, she is likely relinquishing her way of life for eternity, even more so when the man she is accusing has far more power than her. That is not an easy sacrifice. Let’s believe women.