Watching Her Speak for Us All

On Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford was the voice for those of us who are still haunted by decades-old assaults — including me.

Christine Blasey Ford testifying Thursday on Capitol Hill.Credit. Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

One of the most telling moments of Thursday’s Senate hearing for me — a survivor of rape at a drunken high school party when I was 16 — came during a reply to one of Senator Patrick Leahy’s questions for Christine Blasey Ford. He asked her to describe her strongest memory of the sexual assault she experienced at age 15.

“Indelible in the hippocampus,” she said without hesitation, “is the laughter and their having fun at my expense.”

Her agile answer made me cheer, and wince, and seethe with anger all at once.

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