'I can't cry any more. I'm too angry': women respond to Ford's testimony
Women watch Dr Christine Blasey Ford testify about Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged assault to Senate hearing
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.
“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.
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”
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.
“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.
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“This is a disaster for the Republicans,” he said.
