It appears you missed the points of the initial op-ed by responding to the article on modern evangelicalism by decrying the situation around Kavanaugh. Nevertheless, your response of “Even if the allegations are true, Dr. Ford never claimed that Kavanaugh raped her. Sexual assault and rape are not the same thing” is an active contribution to the normalization and deemphasis of rape or sexual assault, otherwise known as rape culture.

Statements and beliefs of this sort lead to the perpetuation of ideas that victims a) are responsible and therefore to blame for being attacked (i.e. “what were you wearing?” or “were you drunk?”) and b) are not credible. This creates an environment where victims are resistant to speaking out against their attackers due to the risk of facing societal backlash on top of dealing with the emotional, physical, psychological and mental pain of being raped and/or assaulted. (This can be compounded by other factors, such as if the community of the victim values virginity/sexual purity as part of a woman’s worth).

Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford decided to speak out about an extremely painful and dehumanizing moment of her past and was greeted with rebukes that she did not come forward sooner and that she was making it up as a political ploy.

Despite calmly stating, with psychological facts, that she knows her attacker was Kavanaugh, her account was undermined. Even if criticism shifted to people saying, “something clearly happened to her but how do we know it was Kavanaugh,” a phrase that has come up in several of my personal conversations on the topic, this still actively undermines Ford’s testimony as a Doctor of Psychology in addition to as a human being. In saying that “there is no evidence to support her claims,” you are saying that a woman’s voice and life experiences do not hold equal weight in court to a man’s voice, especially since court-given testimony is considered evidence.

In the hearing, Kavanaugh sits in front of a jury of predominantly men, repeatedly saying that he likes beer and never assaulted anyone. Why are his words more meaningful than Dr. Blasey Ford’s? Why did no one question his ability to remember the events of that evening, as they have questioned her over and over again? If a woman were to respond as aggressively as he did in a hearing like this, she would be dismissed for being too emotional and incapable of holding such a position.

I’m not saying that he should have been convicted without a trial; this was not even a trial. But to give instant credibility to a man accused of a serious offense using the mere premises of it having been a long time ago and his accomplishments since then is to deny grace and justice to everyone, from victims of sexual assault to any youth who has been convicted of a lesser offense at an age younger than 17.

The Brett Kavanaugh appointment became more than attempting to pick a new Supreme Court Justice but a representation of how America responds to sexual assault. We consistently highlight the lives of the accused (particularly if they’re white: recall “the swimmer” Brock Turner) and cast doubt on the victim. To all the sexual assault victims in the Calvin community, I am deeply sorry for the pain this process may have caused you. You are loved, your voices matter, and you are more than the wrongs that have been done to you. This applies to women and men.

The fact that conversations about Kavanaugh and women’s empowerment inevitably flow back to men and how they feel is evidence that there is still much work to be done in terms of women’s equity. There is room in this conversation for everyone, but it must be done with love and respect regardless of gender, race, religion, economic class or political party.