This letter is in reply to Blaine Blackstone’s disgraceful article about Christine Blasey Ford. He questions her decision to come forward with her story at this time. Gee, let me guess … She doesn’t want a sexual predator to become a member of the Supreme Court! And as Ms. Ford expected; she and her family have received death threats and other harassment. You continued in your letter to attack Ford, doubting she would testify and if she did her testimony would be discredited. What do you have to say now that she has testified and many people and organizations such as the American Bar Association find her words to be credible and want an investigation? This Washington circus could have been avoided by simply having the proper (and professional) authorities investigate Professor Ford’s story instead of Republicans trying to rush Kavanaugh’s confirmation through ahead of this November’s elections. The GOP expects to lose their majority in the House and possibly the Senate, so they want to load the Supreme Court with a nominee they believe will continue the rampage of Dark Money in our elections, and the real red meat for the GOP base; destroy Roe versus Wade. What is even worse is more and more people (men and women) are stepping up with their own stories of what was going on during drunken parties in high school and college where Kavanaugh attended.

Finally, Mr. Blackstone claims to be a retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant. I would have hated to have been a victim of rape and encounter him as the officer to whom I had to report the crime. This country has a serious problem with sexual assault and follow up by law enforcement agencies. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits submitted to law enforcement agencies are NEVER tested. USA Today and journalists from more than 75 Gannett newspapers and TEGNA TV stations have found at least 70,000 neglected kits in an open-records campaign covering 1,000-plus police agencies – and counting. There are 18,000 police departments across our nation which is where the estimate of hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits comes from. Testing those kits could identify suspects, stop serial rapists, bolster prosecutions, and even exonerate the wrongly accused. There is no consistent policy in our country to test rape kits. I quote Sarah Haacke Byrd, managing director of the Joyful Heart Foundation, “Time and time again, we have seen that law enforcement frequently disbelieves victims when they’re seeking help from law enforcement.” Since there is no mandatory requirement for rape kits to be tested they get tossed into storage and forgotten.

And for Mr. Blackstone, a retired police officer who should know better, here are some more facts:

* One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives. Think about that Mr. Blackstone, the next time you are in a room with five women.

* In eight out of 10 cases of rape, the victim knew the person who sexually assaulted them.

* One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old.

* 12.3% of women were age 10 or younger at the time of their first rape/victimization, 30% of women were between the ages of 11 and 17.

* In college, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted

* More than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault.

* 63.3% of men at one university who self-reported acts qualifying as rape or attempted rape admitted to committing repeat rapes.

Girls and women in America don’t report rape because they are too young to understand what happened or they fear they won’t be believed or they are ashamed or they will be accused of causing the rape, their reputation will be ruined, their lives will be hell, and the rapist will get away with his crime anyway.

Christine Blasey Ford is an American hero for coming forward and telling her story, along with all the other women who have been assaulted by powerful men like Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Charley Rose, and Matt Lauer, etc. Let’s not forget the thousands of women and children assaulted by Catholic Priests, other religious leaders, boy scouts leaders, athletic coaches and doctors, and other men in positions of authority. Our society has been letting rapists get away with their crimes for years and years and you Mr. Blackstone as a retired police officer should know that! Stop blaming the victims and blame the abusers. Hold men responsible for their crimes!

Kathleen Stiles,

Hot Springs