As the hearing has unfolded today at the Senate Judiciary Committee with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifying that she is “one hundred percent” certain that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, the response from many women to the systematic gaslighting of the professor and research psychologist has been frustration, anger, even reliving trauma. Despite the 27 years that have passed since the Anita Hill hearings and the more recent successes of the #MeToo movement, many see this as evidence that nothing has changed — that any woman who reports sexual assault will be dismissed, impugned, and degraded.
And it’s not just men doing the dismissing. A group of Republican women who recently stepped forward to dismiss Ford’s claims reinforced this as well — claiming alternately that she was unreliable, jealous, and even if the violent assault she described happened, that this is normal, everyday behavior for young men. “Tell me what boy hasn’t done this in high school,” said one. “Please, I would like to know.”
In the midst of this swirling tempest of misogyny, both internalized and regular flavor, another voice emerged to minimize Ford’s heartbreaking testimony: Rachel Butera, the voice actress for General Leia in the upcoming animated television series Star Wars: Resistance. In a now-deleted tweet, Butera posted a video where she repeatedly mocks Ford’s voice during the professor’s testimony.
“This is how I sound,” Butera imitates in a high pitch. “I know it’s a surprise to even me that I talk this way and I’m a doctor and a grown…
