Thread by @SusanBordo

THREAD: IT’S ABOUT EQUALITY, STUPID!
No, I don’t think you’re stupid if in protesting the Kavanaugh confirmation, you’ve been demanding that “women’s voices be heard” & our “stories believed.” But I the bigger—and uglier—reality is NOT that we aren’t heard or believed. (1)

It’s that we aren’t really equally protected—under law OR custom, in this country. The grim fact is that over and over we learn that we are still “other” to the white male norm. You can call it “double standards.” I call it failure to treat women as persons. (2)

Imagine Ford as a man accusing a drunk K of holding him down and attempting to rob him at knifepoint in an alley. Would “boys will be boys” be even mentioned? Would the denial of an equally drunk witness be seen as credible? Would the FBI check be allowed to be as cursory? (3)

Let’s say others come forward with similar accusations. Would the senate not feel obliged to check them all out thoroughly? Would we hear about how “unblemished” K’s record is, or how restrained he is in the courtroom? Would the GOP not seriously consider withdrawing his name? (4

Would K’s frothing-at-the-mouth (in the 2nd hearing) not have to be seen as at least some evidence of a tendency to inappropriate aggression? Some corroboration that he just might have the wrong “temperament” for the Supreme Court? That he just might not be so “unblemished”? (5)

But attempted robbery is, after all, a crime & we have to take it very seriously. Even the GOP couldn’t get away with the sham FBI “background” probe they slid by. But sexual assault? When the perp is 17 & drunk? & the accuser is just a girl? And hey, she wasn’t even raped!(6)

The fact is that a Christopher Ford would have been treated very differently than Christine Ford. That’s why I don’t like to see us asking to be “heard” or “believed.” It makes it too easy for them to just give us a “voice” (as they did with Ford) and then crap on us anyway. (7)

It’s equal treatment under the law and in practice that we still don’t have. And it’s not only in this area, but in many others—reproductive rights, for example. It’s not just about “choice”; our full personhood is at stake: (8)

(As I encapsulate in this meme:) (9)

The point I make in the meme is elaborated in a piece called “Are Mothers Persons?” And after this past week I have to wonder if that shouldn’t be broadened:

“Are Women Persons?”

Not for the GOP.

NOVEMBER!!!!!!!! (10)

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