Christina McAlister

How Kavanaugh’s confirmation to SCOTUS affects women and men in the U.S.

Published Oct. 3, 2018

The highly controversial– arguably the most controversial Supreme Court nominee in history– Brett Kavanaugh may take a seat on the Supreme Court as of Friday, October 5th.

So if Kavanaugh is confirmed, what will this mean for women and men across the United States?

Before going into the nitty-gritty of how the Kavanaugh confirmation will affect men and women, in general, it is important to discuss the impact on sexual assault survivors regardless of gender.

Personally, I cannot express how crucial it is that people call sexual assault survivors, survivors and not victims because they have overcome something most people cannot even fathom, so to say they are victims is an understatement to their experiences.

But as survivors watched Dr. Christine Blasey Ford give her testimony, there was a gleam of hope for future sexual assault trials– the hope being that sexual assault survivors are given a thorough, fair trial where prosecutors believe the survivor and give real consequences to those perpetrators. As survivors watched this trial, many felt as though they were reliving their own experiences and trauma which made Dr. Ford’s testimony even more unforgettable. Not only was she speaking her truth, but she was speaking the truth of so many others.

Some would even go as far as to say she made an everlasting impact on the #MeToo movement.

Dr. Ford also truly embodied patriotism, in every sense of the word, for survivors and all American citizens.

“I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me,” said Dr. Ford.

However, if Congress confirms Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justice, men and women will be affected in vastly different ways.

For all of the men that have watched the Kavanaugh hearings unfold, it instilled a fear inside of them that should have been there a long time ago– a fear of their actions having actual, life-long consequences. Given that the vast majority of men who have committed some degree of sexual assault typically receive no form of punishment, this is an important moment in history men should learn from.

To all the young boys growing up in a country with these Kavanaugh hearings, this has taught them how a man of power reacts when everything he has is on the line. During the trials, Kavanaugh revealed many emotions ranging from absolute rage to utter devastation. While Kavanaugh’s short temperament may have been far off from what young boys need to look up to, he did show a great sense of vulnerability which is something young boys should admire. When he began to describe his children’s reactions to the allegations, he started to tear up.

“We should pray for the woman,” Kavanaugh says his daughter responded. “That’s a lot of wisdom from a 10-year-old.”

Yet, these men and young boys do not fully understand the extent their actions have on women as Kavanaugh is still able to succeed with an allegation of a serious offense– sexual assault.

For women, these Kavanaugh hearings are a reminder of the horrible reality we all have to live with which is a reality where men can get away with essentially anything because of our patriarchal, male-centric society. The Kavanaugh confirmation will just be another example of how little to no consequences men receive when accused or proven of sexually abusing women.

As young girls grow up to hear and see the Kavanaugh trials, they are being taught that only men can attain such high power. These young girls are seeing a male dominated Congress and a male dominated Supreme Court which result in a man’s world.

Fortunately, Dr. Ford tried to change this in her efforts to diminish– what she believed to be– Kavanaugh’s wrongful success.

Dr. Ford’s strength and dignity has enabled young girls to see that their truths have power and value, but only to some extent as Kavanaugh’s fate was not shaken by Dr. Ford’s story. No matter the outcome, however, young girls and women should be proud of Dr. Ford as she had enough courage to stand up to the gender inequality in our government and our entire nation.

With Kavanaugh as the new Supreme Court justice, women across the United States are still in danger of having their right to choose taken away. Since Kavanaugh has made it abundantly clear that he is a strong right-winged Christian, his stance on abortion is an issue to take into serious consideration for women across the U.S.

Although Kavanaugh believes Roe v. Wade has set an “important precedent”, his past views suggest that he would permit stricter regulations on abortion set by the government.

This could be a drastic change for women’s rights across America.

Collegiate cheerleader with Down Syndrome is rejected by every George Mason sorority

Published Sept. 29, 2018

Ecstatic, eager and even a little scared is what every young college woman feels for the first time while searching for her sorority sisters at recruitment, but unfortunately for AnneCatherine Heigl, she only felt devastation when George Mason University sororities could not look past her down syndrome.

“She asked why no one wanted to be her sister, and my heart broke” said AnneCatherine’s older sister Lillie Heigl.

Her older sister had encouraged her to rush a sorority and even helped pick out her outfit for bidding day, although AnneCatherine was hesitant, she decided to go through the recruitment process. When she discovered that none of the sororities wanted her, AnneCatherine cried and was extremely upset that she could not take part in the sorority experience her sister and mom had talked so highly about.

22-year-old Lillie tweeted an email she sent to Phil McDaniel, the associate director of student involvement at George Mason voicing how infuriated she was with the sororities that excluded her sister.

Upon what grounds was AnneCatherine rejected on? Her older sister Lillie believes AnneCatherine was denied solely because of her down syndrome.

AnneCatherine upholds a courageous sense of character as she is originally from Indiana, but is now 10 hours away to continue her education at George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia. Being so far away from home is hard on any college student, so naturally, AnneCatherine expected to find a home within a sorority but was ultimately rejected.

She is also a D1 student athlete– not to mention the first collegiate cheerleader in the nation to have an Intellectual Disability– and works relentlessly to not have her down syndrome define her which is another impressive quality of AnneCatherine’s that sororities should have recognized.

Her Rho Gamma, a sorority member who separates herself from her sorority in order to help those wanting to be recruited through the process, said AnneCatherine was nothing but confident and friendly to everyone she met– an obvious characteristic sororities seek.

According to Lillie, there were 288 women and 8 sorority chapters at the recruitment her sister attended. This furthered Lillie’s skepticism of George Mason’s recruitment process as this is considered to be a below average attendance for sorority recruitments.

“I struggle to believe that when ONLY 288 women went through recruitment at GMU, and you have 8 chapters, there wasn’t a place for my sister in a single one” Lillie wrote.

From being a D1 athlete to having confidence as well as showing courage throughout her academic and personal life, it becomes difficult to understand why not one sorority chose to accept her besides the assumption of George Mason sororities being discriminatory against intellectually disabled.

Lillie explained in an interview that she knows that this a recurring problem with all sororities. She said when she went through the bidding process as a young collegiate, she never saw anyone with physical or mental disabilities join sororities. There seems to be a lack of education about inclusivity and diversity amongst sororities, said Lillie in the interview.

3 days after Lillie had tweeted about her frustration and disappointment with George Mason sororities, the university’s Panhellenic Council released a statement saying that the council does not have any ability to decide a chapter’s membership selection.

George Mason also said they promise to do better in the future.

The goals of George Mason’s sororities are explicitly stated in their Bylaws which say they strive to promote basic intellectual development and boast on how their sororities are a place for anyone who truly wants to be part of their community.

But it is hard to see these goals being accomplished when AnneCatherine was denied even though she truly wanted to be apart of this community.

These sororities have yet to speak publicly on their behalf, but it seems to be clear that their focus should be on working towards a more inclusive and diverse community.

Why are women trained to apologize?

Published Sept. 22, 2018

Do you find yourself apologizing for the most miniscule, insignificant occurrences that happen in your day-to-day life? Well, I do.

If I bump into someone on my way to class, even if they were the one glued to their phone and completely detached from the real world, I’m the one apologizing. Or if I randomly rant to a close friend or my significant other, I apologize. Then, when my friends and boyfriend call me out on my ridiculousness, I apologize for saying sorry too much. I even apologize for getting “too excited” about my accomplishments or being “too sad” when I get discouraged. Why am I apologizing for expressing myself?

But what strikes me the most is that I find myself saying sorry for being assertive. It can be something as simple as my coffee order being wrong. I hesitate before asking the barista to redo my order- something they are literally being paid to do!- and when I finally find the courage to ask, I make it a point to apologize at least three times for putting them through all that trouble. Why am I apologizing for asserting my wants and needs?

I feel this compulsive need to say sorry for any inconvenience that may occur whether I caused it or not, which most of the time, I didn’t. I then came to the realization that all the women in my life- my mom, grandma, aunts and girlfriends have this same instinct too. The countless amounts of times we say sorry in a day is something we all laugh and bond over. But is this really something we should brush off so nonchalantly?

It’s not.

When we were young girls we were told that it is our duty as females to embody a nurturing and caring nature, but this turns into a curse when we make ourselves feel responsible for taking care of everyone else’s happiness before taking care of our own. When we played with our Barbies, we were taught to care for this inanimate object above all else and if we failed to do that, we were taught guilt. When the boys at school tugged on our hair, we were taught that we needed to apologize for making ourselves vulnerable to that behavior and there was nothing we could do since “boys will be boys”. Boys were taught to be brave while girls were taught to behave properly. Bravery, honesty and good manners all are important lessons for children but this needs to be taught to all genders. This is the precise reason why girls grow up to be afraid and self-conscious of how they act.

All of this has led to women having an instinctual “sorry reflex”.

A study done by LiveScience reveals that women do apologize more because they feel responsible for the emotional experience of those surrounding them. Men typically do not have as low of a standard as women do for what requires an apology.

What has lead to this low standard isn’t clear, but it could be associated with how differently boys and girls are raised.

Why were women raised, and therefore almost trained, to be so apologetic? Maybe it’s time for men to say sorry and be more apologetic. But before changing anyone else, we need to change ourselves, ladies.