Three women alleging separate sexual assaults, and one man: Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

If Kavanaugh is eventually found guilty of assaulting Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, or Julie Swetnick, but is still sworn into the Supreme Court, there’s an underlying issue of casual sexism and rape normalization in the United States that’s made more evident than it already is.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and blatantly calls them “smears,” despite a reasonable amount of evidence, including classmate testimonials, a polygraph test and therapist notes.

Ramirez’s allegation against Kavanaugh, which dates back to their time at Yale University is reflective of a college culture that does not empower women to report assaults. More than 90 percent of victims of sexual assault on college campuses do not report such incidents. Women last week shared some of these experiences via the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport on Twitter, echoing stories similar to Ford and Ramire’s.

Shana Maier, an associate professor and director of the master’s criminal justice program at Widener University, said the build-up of this toxic culture is the product of different environments and attitudes.

“I think, unfortunately, rape is still normalized and overlooked, and there is still so much victim blaming. It doesn’t help the situation that the president has had a history of allegations and there is a recording of harsh statements against women, and that he still supports Kavanaugh,” she said.

It doesn’t matter that Ford and Ramirez only came forward about their alleged assaults decades after. What matters is that the two women are telling their stories in an effort to shed light on a man who could reshape the interpretation of laws in the U.S. for decades to come.

Maier said if anything positive has come out of these allegations, it’s that more victims of assault are coming forward and sharing their own stories of survival. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, the organization’s hotline received a 42 percent increase in calls between Sept. 21 and 22. This mirrors a similar spike in calls made in 2016 after Trump made comments about sexual assault.

“I think it’s incredibly important. The downside is that it’s triggering people, but the good side is that people are getting sick of being quiet about it, and are reaching out for services. That’s a good thing that they’re reaching out,” she said.

Lianza Reyes is a junior broadcast and digital journalism major. She can be reached at lireyes@syr.edu.

Published on September 30, 2018 at 8:07 pm