On November 3rd, President Donald Trump tweeted: “A vicious accuser of Justice Kavanaugh has just admitted that she was lying, her story was totally made up, or FAKE! Can you imagine if he didn’t become a Justice of the Supreme Court because of her disgusting False Statements. What about the others? Where are the Dems on this?”1
Who is this “vicious accuser”?
She is Judy Munro-Leighton and according to a letter from the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, “decades older than” Kavanaugh and also a “left-wing activist.” On November 1st, she confessed to the committee for fabricating her allegations against Kavanaugh. Munro-Leighton had claimed to be the author of the “Jane Doe” letter.2
Judy Munro-Leighton is not Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Judy Munro-Leighton is not Deborah Ramirez. Ford and Ramirez had credible claims and were Kavanaugh’s most prominent accusers during his hearing, whereas Munro-Leighton’s claim to being Jane Doe had barely received any media attention and was never considered a credible source during Kavanaugh’s hearing.
Trump was referring to Munro-Leighton in his tweet, but he was implying that all the other accusers were also lying. By leaving out the name of said “vicious accuser”, Trump had intended for his followers to fill in the blanks with their own knowledge; however, with the insignificant media coverage of Munro-Leighton’s allegations compared to Ford’s or Ramirez’s, a large portion of his followers would have immediately assumed that it was one of the two aforementioned women. And when Trump added “What about the others?” he implied that one false claim meant that all of the other women’s claims were falsified too, undermining the credibility of Ford and Ramirez and fuelling his own campaign.
(Statistically, that’d be quite unlikely. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, falsified rape reports only take up between 2 to 10 percent of all rape reports; however, one in five women will be raped at some point in their lives.3 It is more likely for a woman to be raped in her lifetime than for a woman to file a false rape report.)
Women are not entitled to be believed simply because of their gender. Women are entitled to be listened to and respected because they are human beings.
Too often, this is not the case.
In August of 2012, a 16-year-old Ohio girl was raped by two high school football players. Media coverage seemed to have a bias for the rapists instead of sympathy for the victim as a news reporter from CNN had described the two rapists as “two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students.”4 The “promising future” of a rapist does not justify them committing rape.
In January of 2015, a young woman referred to as “Emily Doe” was raped by a swimmer named Brock Turner behind a dumpster at Stanford University. Turner, who faced a potential sentence of 14 years, was sentenced six months and ultimately only served three.5 Emily Doe will remember the rape for her entire life.
In September of 2017, an 18-year-old Brooklyn woman was kidnapped and raped by two New York Detectives in their police van. Their lawyers accused her of posting “provocative selfies” to undermine her credibility.6 A “provocative selfie” does not equate to an initiation for rape.
In October of 2018, Ford first came out with her allegations against Kavanaugh. She detailed the years of trauma the assault caused her and the laughter of her peers that still haunts her even after 35 years.7 The President of the United States mocked her at a campaign rally in front of thousands of people.8
Is it really a question as to why so many women don’t report sexual assault?
Who is this “vicious accuser”?
She is Judy Munro-Leighton and according to a letter from the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, “decades older than” Kavanaugh and also a “left-wing activist.” On November 1st, she confessed to the committee for fabricating her allegations against Kavanaugh. Munro-Leighton had claimed to be the author of the “Jane Doe” letter.2
Judy Munro-Leighton is not Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Judy Munro-Leighton is not Deborah Ramirez. Ford and Ramirez had credible claims and were Kavanaugh’s most prominent accusers during his hearing, whereas Munro-Leighton’s claim to being Jane Doe had barely received any media attention and was never considered a credible source during Kavanaugh’s hearing.
Trump was referring to Munro-Leighton in his tweet, but he was implying that all the other accusers were also lying. By leaving out the name of said “vicious accuser”, Trump had intended for his followers to fill in the blanks with their own knowledge; however, with the insignificant media coverage of Munro-Leighton’s allegations compared to Ford’s or Ramirez’s, a large portion of his followers would have immediately assumed that it was one of the two aforementioned women. And when Trump added “What about the others?” he implied that one false claim meant that all of the other women’s claims were falsified too, undermining the credibility of Ford and Ramirez and fuelling his own campaign.
 |
| (via the Philadelphia Inquirer) |
(Statistically, that’d be quite unlikely. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, falsified rape reports only take up between 2 to 10 percent of all rape reports; however, one in five women will be raped at some point in their lives.3 It is more likely for a woman to be raped in her lifetime than for a woman to file a false rape report.)
Women are not entitled to be believed simply because of their gender. Women are entitled to be listened to and respected because they are human beings.
Too often, this is not the case.
In August of 2012, a 16-year-old Ohio girl was raped by two high school football players. Media coverage seemed to have a bias for the rapists instead of sympathy for the victim as a news reporter from CNN had described the two rapists as “two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students.”4 The “promising future” of a rapist does not justify them committing rape.
In January of 2015, a young woman referred to as “Emily Doe” was raped by a swimmer named Brock Turner behind a dumpster at Stanford University. Turner, who faced a potential sentence of 14 years, was sentenced six months and ultimately only served three.5 Emily Doe will remember the rape for her entire life.
In September of 2017, an 18-year-old Brooklyn woman was kidnapped and raped by two New York Detectives in their police van. Their lawyers accused her of posting “provocative selfies” to undermine her credibility.6 A “provocative selfie” does not equate to an initiation for rape.
In October of 2018, Ford first came out with her allegations against Kavanaugh. She detailed the years of trauma the assault caused her and the laughter of her peers that still haunts her even after 35 years.7 The President of the United States mocked her at a campaign rally in front of thousands of people.8
Is it really a question as to why so many women don’t report sexual assault?
Annie Xie
Citations and References
1 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1058715144442781696
2 https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/3/another-kavanaugh-accuser-admits-fabricating-rape-/
3 https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/publications/2018-10/Lisak-False-Reports-Moving-beyond.pdf
4 https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/03/steubenville-victim-testimony/317302/
5 https://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/02/us/brock-turner-release-jail/index.html
6 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/nyregion/nypd-detectives-rape-kidnapping-charges.html
7 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/09/27/kavanaugh-hearing-transcript/
8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m00qAeFHaQ
