I am sick and tired of talking about Brett Kavanaugh. I am annoyed that there is this constant, looming cloud over my lectures, especially my journalism class. Everyone wants to write about Brett Kavanaugh. Heck, I even wrote about him. And I'm doing it now. But this should have never been anything we needed to discuss.
He should not have gotten appointed to the Supreme Court. I watched five minutes of collected snippets from his confirmation hearings with him talking about how much he loved beer, acting like a child, and I knew he shouldn't be in the highest position of judicial authority of this country.
I don't care if he assaulted Dr. Blasey Ford, in terms of that being the breaking point of his appointment. The suspicion of him POSSIBLY doing it is enough to warrant him being denied access.
I don't care if there were lies on both sides and it was a political tug-of-war and it was a crime to put both the accused and the victim out in public like that. This should have been handled behind closed doors, but it also would not have mattered if it was handled behind closed doors.
Kavanaugh still should not have been confirmed.
He has daughters and a wife. Great. That does not mean he is going to save women and make this country great for women. I would argue, like many others, that Kavanaugh being nominated was a product of our political climate. I would argue that our political climate is the reason for a lot of what's wrong right now, because we are losing respect for each other. We're making Brett Kavanaugh the poster child for "it doesn't matter if you do bad things."
We're making this country a breeding ground for hatred and bigotry and making women feel unsafe, then blaming them for feeling unsafe, and not coming to their aid when something happened when they were trying to be safe, or, for the sake of Dr. Blasey Ford, when they decided to act like a teenager and make a mistake one time (if drinking a beer at a party is a mistake. I know plenty of people who do way more all the time).
I don't know why we are making excuses for Brett Kavanaugh and condemning women for doing the same things. I don't know why one mistake on a woman's part means she is forever the person at fault.
And I'm tired of feeling like nothing we do as women in this country matters to anyone but our fellow women.
Sure, I know my father is proud of me. My professors will still tell me my writing is as good as the guy sitting next to me. But god, do I hope we fix some things before they get radically unsafe for women.
But god forbid something happen to me, or my friends, or any women close to me. I pray they will be believed, instead of shoved under a rug because some man decided he and his buddies have opinions that matter more. It's happened often enough.
And I know, I know. I am going on a FemiNazi rant. I'm not being an objective journalist.
But we need to focus on the facts and realize that there is a flaw in the system. It may not constantly be acted upon, but it is enough to make women, to make people who are marginalized, feel small. It is enough to make me fear for my safety if I go anywhere outside my college campus. It makes my friends stay home on weekends because they can't go out and get hurt again. It makes my mom worry for my safety more than my brother's. It makes me need to tell the men I know that they're wrong sometimes, even when they know they're wrong, because if something happens I feel like it'll be my fault.
And I'm tired of it.
