Your voice, even at its strongest, is still weaker than any man’s, no matter how sniveling and snide. We are here to protect the order, an old order, in which men rule, even when unruly and reprobate. They are saying to survivors: Your word and your credibility may be all that you have, but they are not enough for you to be believed. They are saying that fear and trauma may have shocked you into silence, but in the end, you will be punished for that silence. What those senators are saying to all of us is that, for them, patriarchy and privilege occupy positions of primacy in this country.

Source: New York Times September 30, 2018 23:21 UTC