One out of three teenage girls is sexually assaulted, harassed or abused. One out of three female adults are scarred from trauma they experience as a teenager.
One of these women is Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Her alleged abuser, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, was nominated to become a Supreme Court justice and is waiting for his confirmation.
Ford spoke at his hearing Sept. 27, and told her story of the party where Kavanaugh attempted to rape her. She said that although she was scared to speak at the hearing, she felt it was her civic duty. Ford has become a hero to women across the country who have felt silenced by a man in power.
In a time where #MeToo is still strong and Pantsuit Nation is at large, women have been given a voice after decades of stifling their truths. Following the election of a president that has boasted about groping women and belittling them, women united to speak out about their experiences with this and to show support for those who have ever been taken advantage of by a man.
Ford is a symbol of what women supporting women can accomplish, and proof that the time of men dominating government even with questionable pasts has come to an end.
For too long, the excuse that it’s not fair to ruin a man’s life because of something they did as a teenager has been acceptable. What’s truly not fair is that the victims of this assault have to live with the fear and damage these men caused. Their lives have already been ruined; that’s not right.
Writing off a boy’s actions because they were a teenager and didn’t know better, or saying that this is normal behavior and every teenage boy does something like this perpetuates the stigma that boys are too immature and lack any self control or decency towards their female counterparts.
There is a serious danger to prolonging this excuse. We are teaching teenage boys that it’s perfectly okay to abuse and assault girls, and we are teaching teenage girls that they should expect this behavior because it’s their fault boys can’t control themselves.
Men should be held accountable for the actions they commit whether they’re 15 or 35. No longer is it tolerable to push these horrible, disturbing, scarring memories under the rug. Any man, especially one that could potentially join the most powerful court in the nation, needs to face the punishment for the crimes they commit.