Believe Women*

* Except Tara Reade

So did anyone else notice that Biden was accused of sexually assaulting a staffer? Tara Reade worked for Biden as a staffer in the 90s and she accuses him of cornering her up against a wall and inserting his fingers into her vagina. This did not come out of nowhere. Nevada Politician Lucy Flores in 2019 had accused Biden of inappropriately touching her, and Reade spoke up of her own assault as a way to confirm Flores' credibility.

I admit I am totally getting out the popcorn for this. I occupy a niche Venn diagram in the culture wars on this issue because my entire social circle is blue tribe but I'm also a criminal defense attorney. I think many aspects of MeToo and perhaps even Title IX adjudication have been a long time coming (Harvey Weinstein is basically the platonic ideal of this movement). I also know that some aspects of this movement, most notably the unsustainable decree that we should "believe women" (even as a presumption in its most charitable motte form) and the drive towards viciously adjudicating serious allegations in the public sphere thin evidence would inevitably backfire spectacularly. And I think we're reaching this moment.

So many MeToo supporters have completely boxed themselves into a corner. The most obvious comparison to draw is between Biden and Kavanaugh. Biden is accused of digitally penetrating a staffer in 1993, Kavanaugh is accused of trying to assault someone in the "early 1980s". Reade's allegation is dismissed by some as suspiciously timed because he's in an election, but Ford also did not come forward until Kavanaugh's nomination. Biden up to this point has now had multiple accusations from several women of similar behavior, not to mention his bizarre public disregard for personal space. Two other women have accused Kavanaugh of improper conduct. One claimed that he exposed himself at a college party and thrust his penis towards her although she claims she wasn't sure if it was him at first. The other had an outlandish story of her going to parties where drinks were spiked en masse so that women could not resist sexual advances. Even this scenario never directly accused Kavanaugh of misconduct, just that he attended those parties. Kavanaugh is 55, but the allegations against him had him 17 or 18 years old. Biden's allegations have spanned throughout his whole adult life going into the present.

Basically, if you believed Ford despite the thin evidence, and many people did, I genuinely have no idea how you can't also believe Reade. It was only a matter of time before we got to this point. I'm extremely curious as to how Biden supporters who participated in the public denouncement of Kavanaugh will react.

When Ford's accusations came to light, I basically shrugged. I acknowledge that one of the biggest pitfalls of addressing non-consensual sexual contact is the severe lack of evidence. It's relatively easy to prove that sexual intercourse happened, but near impossible to definitely prove that consent was not there given that these interactions inevitably happen in private. Ford could be accurately recalling what happened. Who knows? Kavanaugh was mocked for pulling out hand written calendars that he somehow kept (???) but fucking seriously how the fuck are you supposed to defend yourself from an accusation so vague and so far in the past? Even if all of what was alleged actually happened exactly as Ford described, I then question as to how much weight do we really want to put on the teenage misconduct of a man in his 50s.

I don't know enough to say whether Reade's claims are bogus, but I agree to an extent that as a heuristic, allegations which only surface when the perpetrator is considered or evaluated for a prominent position should be deemed inherently suspicious (exceptions exist, for example when the position would mean higher access to vulnerable people e.g. child molester suddenly in charge of teenage gymnasts).

I find it really bizarre when people defend Ford by saying "she has nothing to gain!" Umm, of course she does. She nearly had unilateral veto over Kavanaugh's appointment to a very powerful position. I can't imagine the temptation to have that power and trying not to exercise it, especially given how easily everyone accepted her narrative as true. Unless something radical changes, I predict that we'll see far more weaponization of sexual misconduct allegations (e.g. here's a recent NYT example about a lesbian professor hounded by someone aiming for her job position).

When comparing the Biden and Kavanaugh allegations, the Biden allegation seems slightly more plausible to me because the guy is notorious for not respecting women's personal space. I also find the allegations against Bill Clinton (particularly Paula Jones claiming he asked for oral sex in a hotel room) to be credible. It's not a big step to conclude that a similarly positioned man in power in the early 90s may often be tempted to exercise their privilege in pursuit of sexual gratification that they perhaps feel entitled to. In contrast, Kavanaugh had no other credible accusations against him despite the overwhelming support any victim would have received had she come forward (look how well Swetnick was treated relatively speaking despite her ridiculous story).

Maybe this episode just highlights that only losers care about hypocrisy. I would love to see someone openly admit it. I think the closest we got was the guy who created fake Roy Moore facebook pages. The guy was unapologetic and openly said he cared more about winning than playing nice. I respect his consistency. If someone came out and said they only cared about holding sexual misconduct to account if it benefits their political ideology, I would applaud the intellectual honesty.