#WhyIDidntReport then, and I sure can’t now

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers. How can that be? After all, aren’t all women supposed to stick together? Aren’t all men potential perpetrators, just looking for an opportunity? Shouldn’t all women be believed automatically? 

I have no sympathy because there’s no way for her to prove it, and no patience for this because I have been there myself. I didn’t go public about it until this week, because, like Dr. Blasey, I can’t prove it, and there’s no point in trying to destroy a man without any actual evidence. 

I remember more specific details about my attack than Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers do. I can tell you his name, where I was, what kind of car we were in, and what I was wearing, which included a coat, turtleneck and pants. Years later I learned my attacker had a pattern of this type of predatory behavior, when other girls from my high school talked to each other about it. Had any of us known at the time, he would have run out of girls to go out with. But he counted on our silence, and the fact that most of us wouldn’t warn others. 

Three quarters of the time women are victimized by people they know. They are co-workers, dates, or friends. Under my circumstances what was I going to do, scream? He didn’t beat me or leave bruises on me. He was simply stronger than I was. It’s a story far too many women can tell, but in my case, even if I had claimed sexual assault that very same night, how could I possibly have proven it? 

He would’ve said, “We were just making out, and she was okay with going further.” And there would’ve been nothing I could have done to refute it. When I was in high school women just didn’t speak out about those kinds of things. And did I mention he was rich, good looking, and popular? I was going to make a claim against a guy a lot of girls were lining up to date? Good luck with that. 

I don’t recall hearing about anyone being raped in my school, and yet now I know that it happened to numerous girls. Nearly 40 years later, the last thing I would do is accuse my attacker of something he can’t defend against and I can’t prove, even if he ran for President. What would be the point? Again, if I couldn’t have proven it that night how can I possibly prove it now?

In the case of Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers, if we believe the first one’s story, even if she had spoken out immediately, or run out of the room screaming, at a drunken teenage party, who would have come to her rescue? Have you been to an unsupervised teenage party? Everyone disappears into bedrooms, and that’s the end of it. No one cares what goes on in other rooms. After all, she wasn’t bruised or beaten, so everybody would’ve laughed it off.

The guy who victimized me and other girls at my high school demonstrated a pattern of attacking women. Perpetrators like Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Darren Sharper, etc., have demonstrated long patterns of bad behavior with women. A young man who gets away with abusing women usually doesn’t stop. Why should he?

There is absolutely nothing in Brett Kavanaugh’s entire career and life that points to a pattern of bad behavior with women. Over sixty five women he went to high school with have defended him. Ex-girlfriends have publicly defended him. No one else, left or right, has claimed he was anything other than respectful. As far as I’m concerned, that alone is compelling proof that their claims are false. 

I’m not sure what Brett Kavanaugh’s first accuser thought was going to happen when she sent the letter to Diane Feinstein. Dr. Blasey’s accusations were their last shot at derailing him; didn’t she think her name would come out? It’s not possible or fair to lob grenades at somebody and remain anonymous, especially when the stakes are this high for Kavanaugh and the nation. 

The additional accusations are sickening, and either they are true, in which case he should not even possess a law license, or they are a complete fabrication, in which case the accusers should go to jai. Those of us on the right view this as nothing more than a political ploy to try to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation and delay any other nominees until after the midterms.

The Senate Judiciary GOP is offering the accuser a chance to testify publicly, which I promise you is far more than Harry Reid would have offered if a Democrat Nominee  were on the line. But now her defenders are asking, “How could she possibly remember all the details? After all she was traumatized!”, and claim that she’s just going to be sliced and diced by the members of the Senate GOP. You wanted to be HEARD? Here’s your chance, sister. 

If the witness isn’t credible after all the accommodations made by the GOP and they cave on this, they will be decimated in November. And who’d want to be the next male nominee anyway? Step right up, fellas. Who’d you know in Middle School…?

I’ve actually seen columns from lefties decrying the due process Kavanaugh is entitled to receive. Let me get this straight – any woman, any time, under any circumstances, should be believed without affording due process to the accused? Yep. Apparently so, in today’s America.

This goes far beyond left or right politics. This is about putting half the population on notice that the other half can take them down at any time with decades-old accusations that cannot be verified or refuted. 

Feminists have hijacked the #MeToo movement and made it nothing more than the latest weapon to bring men down, which also conveniently ignores legitimate victims like me or anyone else on the Right. If Brett Kavanaugh’s career can be derailed by specious claims, all men had better beware. Someone you don’t even remember might be coming for you next. 

Heidi Harris