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At Kavanaugh’s sexual assault hearing, senators must remember: Survivors are watching

"The world is watching to see how Dr. Ford is treated."

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 24: Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory (at microphones) and Women's March on Washington creator Bob Bland (2nd-R) address a rally against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in front of the court September 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of people from half a dozen progressive organizations, including students from Yale University Law School, protested on Capitol Hill for a #BelieveSurvivors Walkout against Judge Kavanaugh, who has been accused by at least two women of sexual assault. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 24: Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory (at microphones) and Women's March on Washington creator Bob Bland (2nd-R) address a rally against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in front of the court September 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of people from half a dozen progressive organizations, including students from Yale University Law School, protested on Capitol Hill for a #BelieveSurvivors Walkout against Judge Kavanaugh, who has been accused by at least two women of sexual assault. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On Thursday, the whole world will have its eyes on the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford steps before the cameras to answer questions about her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

As the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) notes, every 98 seconds, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. One out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. One in 33 American men have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.

“This is such a watershed moment for sexual violence,” Indira Henard, the Executive Director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC), told ThinkProgress. “The world is watching to see how Dr. Ford is treated.”

Statistically, we know there will be survivors in the hearing room, survivors covering the hearing in the media, and millions of survivors watching at home. Here, a year after the #MeToo movement began in earnest, it will be Ford, Kavanaugh, and the senators in attendance who will reveal just how far we’ve come — or, perhaps, still have to go.

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It could be a moment that makes survivors feel heard and taken seriously, that validates the bravery it takes to come forward. Or, it could do just the opposite. The DCRCC, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), and other organizations have used this occasion to provide recommendations to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the hopes that they might push Thursday’s hearing in the direction of the former, rather than the latter.

“We have to remember that survivors of sexual violence, they don’t owe us their stories,” Henard said. “This should not be a trial-like atmosphere. What we’re asking for is a non-biased, survivor-centered, trauma-informed hearing.”

Henard said that members of the committee should remember, at all times, that survivors will be watching. Everyone at the hearing needs to watch their language, and avoid any and all victim blaming. They need to lead with empathy. They should allow Dr. Ford to have her own table, filled with her support team and her legal team. She should have a safe and private room nearby where she can go at any time if she needs a break. They should not, at all costs, interrupt her — that can be very triggering to survivors, and she shouldn’t be given a time limit when she speaks.

Moreover, they need to really listen to her when she speaks, and open up the hearing by acknowledging her story and her bravery, and the difficulty she’s faced.

“That’s really important, that they’re able to name her experience,” Henard said.

These guidelines have been passed along to the committee, but the exact details about the accommodations Ford will be given at the hearing are, according to reports, still being worked out, and not likely to be known until the last minute.

But there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical that anyone’s good advice will be followed.

In the weeks since Ford’s allegations first came to light, the charged atmosphere has been filled with victim-blaming language. It has been suggested by many people — including the President of the United States! — that Ford is lying about her claims because she waited 36 years to come forward. Senators have questioned her drinking, her motives, and her memory. Her request for an FBI investigation into her allegations has been denied. And the committee has failed to subpoena Mark Judge — a witness she names in her story — and two other women who have accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault have not been invited to the hearing.

At this point, it’s hard to believe that anything is happening in good faith.

Even still, Ford is pressing forward. “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,” she wrote in her opening statement to the committee, which was released on Wednesday evening. “I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.”

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Shiwali Patel, Senior Counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, told ThinkProgress that it’s crucial that senators remember how much Ford is risking by coming forward. She is not the one on trial. Kavanaugh is.

“This is a job interview,” Patel said. “The burden of proof is on his shoulders.”

In her opening statement, Ford says that the past two weeks have been the toughest time in her life, besides the assault. She’s received death threats, her family is in hiding, and her personal life has become the fodder of partisan warfare. It’s been rough on other survivors, too. The D.C. Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) has already seen a 15 percent increase in calls to it hotline since the #MeToo movement began, and have seen a sharp increase in calls to the hotline the past week. The national rape hotline has received a 57 percent increase in call volume in recent days. The DCRCC is expecting tomorrow, during the hearing, to be one of their busiest days ever.

And no matter what, the spectacle is going to be tough for survivors of sexual violence to endure. It will be up to the senators to determine whether it’s a day that makes survivors feel like the world is ready to listen to their stories and take them seriously; or whether it’s a day that validates their feelings of shame, and scares them into further silence.

But organizations like the DCRCC and NWLC are going to be watching, and ready to step up and help them either way.

“It’s important for survivors to know that we we believe survivors and we are not going to stand on any of these personal attacks on these women who come forward,” Patel said.

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“This has been a very challenging time, especially for survivors. It’s important to plug in when you need to and want to, and plug out when you need to.”