AS THE OUTRAGE OVER BRETT KAVANAUGH’S Supreme Court nomination grew, I received an unexpected invitation. Senator Dianne Feinstein asked me to be at the Capitol in person to hear the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, who had come forward with a claim that she had been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh 30 years prior, when they were in high school.
I had founded the “me too” movement to support survivors of sexual assault in 2006, so I had spent the year—since the #MeToo hashtag went viral in late 2017—on a lightning-fast run of red-carpet events, magazine covers, and television appearances. They were so far from what was normal in my life that I often felt completely out of sorts. But here was our first major organizing opportunity. Responding to the call of groups fighting against gender-based injustice, survivors and allies sang out in protest against the appointment of the ultraconservative Trump nominee who faced allegations of sexual violence. It was the first time I had seen our cause send people into the streets en masse.
The hearing room was smaller than it looked on television. I remember being unsure where to sit; this wasn’t like a wedding, where seats were assigned by sides. As the session began, the room slowly reorganized itself across partisan lines. Niceties were exchanged as folks swapped seats and scooted down to be
