Kavanaugh accusations warrant investigation

Sexual assault should not be a partisan issue.

That’s not a statement I ever thought would have to be spelled out in black and white, but rather a given based on human decency. But here we are.

It’s a statement that seems to have been forgotten in the wake of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s bid for the Supreme Court, which has been fraught with accounts from multiple women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward earlier this month to accuse Kavanaugh of attempted sexual assault, while just last weekend, another woman reported an incident of sexual misconduct allegedly perpetrated by Kavanaugh during his time at Yale.

The reality that sexual assault is abhorrent and must be thoroughly investigated regardless of circumstances or party affiliation appears to have fallen by the wayside in the aftermath of the accusations. The women’s claims have alternately been brushed aside in favor of a quick resolution — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a gathering of activists, “We’re going to plow right through,”— and repeatedly dismissed as political ploys, even by our nation’s highest elected official.

President Donald Trump cast doubt on the veracity of Ford’s account, taking to Twitter to announce, “If the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”

Kavanaugh and Ford are scheduled to testify at a hearing Sept. 27 before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The responses to the president’s comments were explosive, sparking a Twitter hashtag that was soon trending worldwide. Thousands of men and women took to social media to tell their stories of sexual assault, sometimes for the first time after years or even decades. They tagged their gut-wrenching accounts #WhyIDidn’tReportIt, hoping to shed some light on why many survivors choose not to tell police, universities or friends and family.

Their stories are startlingly similar. Victims feared retaliation, they thought no one would believe them, they were afraid they would be criticized for their response. And it’s difficult to refute that reasoning when those exact scenarios are playing out in media reports all over the country.

Any time a successful businessman or politician is accused of sexual misconduct, the concept of false accusations gets a lot of attention. This is despite the fact that prevailing research indicates that false reports are extremely rare, making up just 2 to 10 percent of all sexual assault reports, and almost never lead to wrongful conviction or jail time.

To be clear, 2 to 10 percent is far too many, but it is not a significant portion of the total, particularly when you consider that experts estimate the majority of assaults — about 63 percent — are never reported at all.

Part of the reason these incidents tend not to be reported when they happen is due to a societal fixation on timing. If a powerful person is accused of assault as an adult, their supporters insist it was in the past, and should have no bearing on the present. If they are accused as a teenager or a young adult, accusers are told to think of their future.

That leaves victims caught somewhere in between, and reveals what thousands of sexual assault survivors could tell you — that there is no socially acceptable time to report your abuser.

Several high-profile individuals have stepped forward to share their own experiences, including Ronald Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis, who recently went public with the story of her own assault. She defended Ford’s recollection, saying, “Requesting an investigation into the incident isn’t a big ask.”

If the accounts of Kavanaugh’s behavior are true, justice should be immediately forthcoming. The same applies if they prove to be false. But the nation deserves leaders that care about the distinction.

It is not unreasonable to request an investigation into such a serious matter, and citizens on both ends of the political spectrum should be clamoring for one thing: the truth. No matter how long that takes to uncover. Given that Kavanaugh stands to be confirmed for a lifetime appointment, I think we have the time.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].