Across the US on Thursday, scenes emerged of emotional communing among women as they watched the Senate judiciary committee testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford, the professor who has accused supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while they were in high school.
They were watching alone or together in groups, in government buildings, in gyms, on airplanes and trains, even on the airwaves of the otherwise staid C-Span.
A woman called into CSPAN during the break and told a heart-wrenching story about her own personal trauma. Take a minute to listen to it in full. pic.twitter.com/sy4zmR5X7z
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) September 27, 2018
“Women everywhere are listening to Christine Blasey Ford’s voice cracking and feeling their own hearts break, just a little bit more, at the world we’ve all inherited,” tweeted the New York Times’ Sheera Frenkel.
Couple listening to the #KavanaughHearings on the uptown 1 train @wnyc pic.twitter.com/yNiBtGr5zO
— Amanda Aronczyk (@aronczyk) September 27, 2018
On the subway listening to the hearings...Ford’s voice, I’m ready to cry on this train.
— LaurenGoldenberg (@LaurenGolden__) September 27, 2018
I count three women visibly crying with headphones on in my subway car.
— jess mcintosh (@jess_mc) September 27, 2018
I have the CSPAN video on at work. This just broke me: listening to 1 male caller say he can tell Ford is lying, followed by a crying, raw woman calling in and saying "I'm 76 years old and I thought I was over it until I heard this testimony and it is just breaking my heart"
— Madeline Trimble (@MadJoyTrimble) September 27, 2018
Responses like these came as Ford, who explained her terror at having to be there, answered questions in front of the panel in a setting that very much resembled a trial, with Republicans hoping to discredit her as a witness.
Asked what details of the day in question she would never forget, Ford spoke of the vivid elements seared into her memory.
“The stairwell. The living room. The bedroom. The bed on the right side of the room. The bathroom … the laughter. Uproarious laughter. The multiple attempts to escape,” she said.
“Outside of the hearing, there are groups of women huddled over their phones streaming Dr Ford’s testimony, crying,” wrote the Atlantic’s Elaina Plott on Twitter.
“I walked into my building’s gym and it was full of women,” wrote Melinda Byerly, founder of the digital marketing company Timeshare CMO.
“Halfway through my run I stopped and fell to my knees crying. For eight-year-old me. For 15-year-old Dr Ford. For all of us. I wasn’t alone. We comforted each other. I just cannot cry anymore. I am too angry,” she went on.
“Just another woman out here crying on a train with my headphones on watching Dr Ford testify,” added Mary Anne Hitt of the Sierra Club. “Hugs to all of you out there doing the same, wherever you are. Given how much that hurt to watch, I can’t fathom how painful it is for her. So courageous. #BelieveSurvivors”
Watching the hearing on an airplane TV of a brave woman. I didn’t notice right away that tears had started to stream down my cheeks.
— Micaela Connery (@MicaelaConnery) September 27, 2018
Dr. Blasey Ford’s fear was palpable, trauma evident, and bravery commendable. Believe her. #BelieveSurviviors
Others took note of Ford’s seeming desire to be accommodating, even here, given the circumstances, to a group of men skeptical of her experience.
What's breaking my heart right now is Ford's desperate and quite earnest desire to please.
— Jennifer Senior (@JenSeniorNY) September 27, 2018
She's so polite. She's trying to be so accommodating. She's shocked any time her needs are accommodated in the slightest. Even in her worst moment, under the harshest spotlight, she has been conditioned to put the needs of others above her own.
— Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) September 27, 2018
Some on the right appear to have concluded that the optics of the hearing are backfiring against Republicans.
Every GOP campaign strategist and Hill staffer wishes they had the button to open the trap door under Rachel Mitchell’s chair. What a total and complete Political disaster for Republicans.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) September 27, 2018
“Extremely emotional, extremely raw, and extremely credible,” Fox News’ Chris Wallace said of Ford’s testimony halfway through the hearing. “Nobody could listen to her deliver those words and talk about the assault and the impact it had had on her life, and not have your heart go out to her.
“This is a disaster for the Republicans,” he said.
