I can not help but think of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's one-piece swimsuit

Since Dr. Christine Blasey Ford spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have constantly thought about one detail of her testimony: the one-piece swimsuit she wore the night of the alleged sexual assault.

I think of how Ford's voice rose while saying, "Brett mended my head and tried to undress me. He was having a hard time because he was intoxicated and I was wearing a one-piece swimsuit under my clothes. I go back to the details of the play in my mind, imagining its elasticity, as well as the pure coincidence of Ford having carried that, of all things, under his clothes.

Most women can name a seemingly insignificant thing that saved them.

I'd imagine that for three decades, Ford has also been emphasizing its one-piece swimsuit, which seems to be one of the few life-saving grids that she has had the night she alleges that Brett Kavanaugh has attempted to rape her, allegations that Kavanaugh categorically denied. One of the reasons why Ford's allegations seem so credible to some women is that they have their own version of this one-piece swimsuit – that is, most women can name a seemingly insignificant thing that saved them from an unwanted sexual experience.

When I had my first car, I was so thrilled with the freedom that I took to go to an early morning dinner and eat alone. I took my omelette and watched the cars go down the boulevard. I loved this routine, but I did not know yet that being a lone woman in the world during those hours put me in danger. I quickly understood this fact when a customer followed me to my car and pushed me against it.

A restaurant waiter was eating a cigarette outside and ran to my rescue, scavenging the alien. The chain of events had moved so quickly that at the time of signing up, I was in danger, I was already out of danger. I do not know if this stranger wanted my body, my wallet, my car or just to push me, but I know that if the waiter did not smoke at the same time, he would probably have taken what he wanted from me .

And like most women, I imagine, I have more stories in which something seemingly insignificant had saved me: someone accidentally entering the bedroom, a light switch turned on, cops scattering a party.

Kavanaugh's supporters claimed that he had reason to doubt Ford's claims, as she cleverly remembers certain details, but she fails to remember the location of the house or how she returned home. At a recent rally in Mississippi, President Donald Trump even mocked his inability to recall such details to a crowd thrilled with such jokes. But Ford, a professor of psychology, explained the biological reason for these failures: "Epinephrine, a neurotransmitter, encodes the memories in the hippocampus, so that the experience related to the trauma is blocked there, while other details are derived. "

Something as random as wearing a one-piece swimsuit may seem like a favor.

Women often take stock of environmental elements, weighing those who work for their benefit, as a well-lit street, and those who act against them, such as walking alone. In the case of Ford's allegation, the specific details that she remembers – their presence on the second floor, the loud music, the narrow staircase, her one-piece swimsuit, the jump of Mark Judge on the bed – were so many specific elements that contributed to his situation. more difficult (the first three) or helped his escape (the last two).

These are the types of elements that women so often compare: measuring the weight of a closed door, a dark room, a body stronger than theirs. Women have psychological checklists that allow them to assess the level of danger they are in and, if so, how to survive exactly.

Women can often feel helpless: our bodies are usually outmatched, our credible allegations of sexual assault are brought to the limit, and the justice system is rarely enough. The ideal would be not to live in a world where sexual violence against women is so commonplace and so insignificant for the perpetrators, but the current reality is that the National Rape Network, which is the only one in the world. Abuse and incest indicates that one in six women will be abused. an attempted rape or a complete rape during his life. Thus, women feel helpless, so much so that wearing something as random as wearing a one-piece swimsuit may seem like a saving grace.

This does not mean that men and non-binary people are not as victims of sexual violence because they are. But men like Kavanaugh – men who are the perfect storm of wealth, privilege and status – do not have to learn the mental skill to weigh the environmental elements that act in their favor and against them. . Men like Kavanaugh are the ones who have friends in the room, whether at a house party or at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, which earned him a lifetime appointment to the country's highest court. And I always think of all the women who have their own version of Ford's one-piece swimsuit and the way our government has let them down.

This editorial reflects only the views of the author and is part of a larger, feminist discourse.

If you or any of your acquaintances have been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit the site. online.rainn.org.

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