Thread by @LeslieMac

I see we've reached the "why didn't she tell an adult at the time" stage of the GOP response to #ChristineBlaseyFord - SIGH. Gather round & let's have a chat with some historical context to this convo.

I am 10 yrs younger than Ford & Kavanaugh - the first prominent study on the phenomenon called "Date Rape" was conducted in 1987... when I went to HS in the 90's "Date Rape" MOST people didn't consider it a true crime. #facts

Add to that the pure fact that sigmas & consequences of having BEEN raped are HORRIBLE NOW - they were down right unfathomable in the 80's & 90's. So no - a teenager that was just assaulted in a "date" scenario in the 80's would not have told an adult.

Now - let's talk about these "elite schools" - where adults routinely abused students with knowledge of staff and literally "Passed the Trash" around in the form of predatory teachers with no consequences for DECADES. bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/08/…

No really - it's happened at all of them, including the one I attended in the 90's. These elite schools are BREEDING grounds for powerful white men & women who learn to abuse power there - & yes lots of it happened while I was there timesunion.com/local/article/…

Kavanaugh's own school Georgetown Preparatory in MD - had it's own sex scandal where a priest/teacher was found guilty of fondling two students - he taught there from 1989-2003 - I just want to bring CONTEXT to this convo - washingtonpost.com/local/former-p…

And what is sadder still - all these dudes running to defend Kavanaugh KNOW what it was like in the 80's & 90's. They are fully aware of this because THEY benefitted from the ridiculously high bar that existed for something to be called rape.

So yes - I am EXTREMELY confident that in the 1980's/1990's if I had an encounter like #ChristineBlaseyFord had with Kavanaugh, I would not have reported it to anyone. I know because it did happen to me & I FOR SURE didn't admit that I was assaulted until years later.

For real - most men & boys TODAY don't understand consent and we've been talking about it openly for almost 20 years in this specific context. But you want to be skeptical b/c a teenager who wasn't penetrated in her assault didn't say something in the 80's? FOH.

I'm just typing these tweets shaking my head thinking back to my own state of mind during this period - how many times "what was she wearing" &"why did she let herself be along with him" ran through MY OWN head during that time? TOO MANY.

And let me be clear - not having the specific understanding of consent that exists today is NOT an excuse for assaulting someone at anytime. I KNOW for sure that at any time I knew what was happening was wrong, I just also knew I couldn't do anything about it.

The fact that the first time #ChristineBlaseyFord disclosed her assault was in couples therapy makes her VERY credible. SUPER common scenario for those of us that haven't disclosed our assaults. It gets in the way of a good relationship & as we seek to fix it - it all comes out.

Her timeline from assault to disclosure to public admission are lock & step with statistical data on the subject. nsvrc.org/sites/default/…

I was having a deep convo with some girlfriends recently and we were discussing how many of us counted an assault, trauma or non-consensual experience as our first sexual encounter (not even sex - just encounter). It was 80% of us.

TFW you wake up to see classmates of #ChristineBlaseyFord validating with this thread... “The women also say that what Ford is alleging “is all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton. Many of us are survivors ourselves.”
m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b…