Power Trip
How the Patriarchy Protects Itself
The Brett Kavanaugh circus shows us how little has changed
The men of the Senate Judiciary Committee stepped carefully into last week’s hearing with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh, well aware that the specter of Justice Clarence Thomas’ 1991 confirmation was still in the room. Those closely watching the proceedings hoped that enough had shifted in the cultural landscape since the last time another accomplished, professional woman — Anita Hill — leveled claims of sexual misconduct against a powerful man seeking to gain even more power.
Instead, we were shown just how little has changed.
In the decades since Hill, there’s been a long-overdue reckoning with how hard women must fight to be heard — let alone believed — when they call out men who harm them. The #MeToo movement and the many high-profile instances of assault allegations that have accompanied it demonstrate that exposing bad behavior can finally (sometimes!) result in power slipping from a man’s grasp. At least for awhile.
But for men accustomed to power being both at their backs and at their fingertips, there’s a collective panic happening over these shifts. “It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you…
