A woman speaks: Guest Post by Penny Flenniken

Penny Flenniken

"I am angry because I, too, have felt lesser than, unimportant, not listened to--just like Dr. Ford."

                    Penny Flenniken. retired teacher, writer, in Portland, Oregon

Americans are experiencing a multi-dimensional drama in the controversy over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.

The Senate has reduced it to loyalty to the Republican or Democratic team, and the drama is over whether their gender and support for reproductive rights will cause Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski to peel off the team.  Perhaps Jeff Flake, who has been excluded from the team for his apostasy on Trump, will join them.  That is the drama. Do they have 50 votes plus the Vice President.

There is another drama, the divide between men and women. In particular this is a divide between men without college degrees, the men who voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016, presumably out of recognition and unease that their role was eroding in the economy and that their place as the "head of the family" was shifting into something more egalitarian. 

This week the Washington Post reported a poll: Click: "War on Men."

65 percent of non-college-educated white men support confirming Kavanaugh
66 percent of them believe Kavanaugh over Ford
65 percent of them believe Kavanaugh has been treated unfairly
72 percent of them believe Kavanaugh has been the target of a smear campaign

This poll will take many people by surprise.  What could possibly be going on in some men's minds?

"A man's life is shattered."

The fears and resentments of those men polled, plus their spokespersons on Fox News, and the people in the crowd at the Trump rally in Mississippi, all reflect an entirely different view of the world from the view of today's Guest Post writer. Trump voiced their fears. A woman's allegation, from 35 years before and out of the blue, can destroy any man. The phrase "Believe the Woman" means no man has safe harbor, not for his career, his freedom, his property, his family. There is no statute of limitations.

His guilt is assumed to be probable. She is to be described as a "survivor," not an "accuser."

Men perceive themselves as vulnerable, and don't like it. They identify with the man accused. They need not have a guilty conscience. They are in the vulnerable position of being guilty of having the wrong status--a position well known to black and brown people, to immigrants, to women. Only now it is the men's turn.

So that's how it feels to be in the weak position.  Oh.

Some see this state of affairs as overdue. Today's guest post shares one woman's view.

Guest Post, by Penny Flenniken

"My rant on whats happening now."

The beach at Seaside, Oregon was warm. The ocean water frothy from waves that sparked in the sunlight. 

The arts and craft home where we stayed included a gas fireplace and a sun porch. Perfect, but no WiFi . 

Flenniken: A career among school children

So much drama was occurring on Thursday. I watched it on my phone. The woman, the scientist, the soft spoken presence that was 100% certain that an attempted rape had occurred was speaking. She had almost been accidentally killed her by a seventeen year old drunken boy. 

The lunch break was three hours away on the east coast, I told my husband we had to leave. Our joint cell phone plan was out of data. Twenty million people were watching, what was one more? Why the need to watch? 

We packed up hurriedly. We turned on the car radio. More reactions from commentators. They found her believable.  She told her story before she knew Kavanaugh would be the chosen one.  She told it years before.  She told it with pain in her voice . She wanted to be helpful. We drove over roads that were thick with trees and hills that blocked out radio waves.  We reached an open vista where we could hear again. This time it was the man who held the room hostage to his voice, his yells, his sobs of outrage. He was hurt.  His good name was besmirched. 

More yelling by Linsey Graham. More older white men joined him in angry protests calling Dr .Ford's interview unfair and without merit, Democratic dirty tricks. How had those minutes we were out of contact with the story  caused this reversal? Why was Kavanaugh now the victim and not Dr. Ford? How could this man who had attended elite private schools, with plenty of friends, with athletic ability and scholastic  privilege be the one aggrieved? She had not wanted to tell her story to the cameras. She thought it was her duty as a citizen to come forward with her truth. 

Shut up!  Shut up! Old news, not important disqualifying information even if true, say 54% of republicans, who control  levers of power. Don’t talk, don’t say what you think, you do not have the floor, nor the walls, nor the ceiling. 

The old white men are still in charge. So yes I am angry. Not angry at men in general, not at men as a group, but at particular men who think it is their right to the best job, the most money, the best place in line and men who do not listen to the softer voices of women who share the planet with them. Men exactly like Brett Kavanaugh. I am angry because I too have felt lesser than, unimportant, not listened to, just like Dr. Ford. 

When women are praised and held in high esteem it is mostly for their beauty. We know we are most particularly beloved when we make a man feel he is the important one. 

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