Judging Amy: The Left’s Proclivity for Believing and Empowering Women Is Limited to Its Own

From The Daily Signal.com (Oct. 23):

“Believe women.”

The slogan, born out of the #MeToo movement, was a common refrain during the Senate Judiciary hearings in September 2018 leading up to Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. Some even inserted an “all” to make it “Believe all women.” Essentially, the message of “Believe women” was to forsake bias and take women at their word.

During the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett last week, the “Believe women” refrain was absent. Maybe it shouldn’t have been. Not because any women were accusing the nominee of sexual misconduct (there are no such allegations against Barrett) but because time and again, the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary—as well as members of the media—refused to take the judge at her word.

Not only did they often refuse to believe Barrett, but numerous journalists and political pundits also violated a list of rules for reporting on female candidates for public office.

The list was sent by a coalition of powerful, progressive women to the news media ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s announcement of his vice presidential running mate.

The list of sexist pitfalls to avoid included:

• Reporting on a woman’s ambition.
• Reporting on a woman’s likability.
• Reporting on a woman’s appearance or tone of voice.
• Reporting on doubts about a woman’s qualifications, despite her being equally or more qualified than her male peers.

Each of the rules listed above were broken during the Barrett confirmation process. This not only reveals inconsistencies between the way the media chooses to report about men and women, but it also reveals inconsistencies between the way the ideological left insists women ought to be treated and how some of its own treat more moderate and conservative-minded women.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeted in support of Barrett, alleging that the left “doesn’t like women that have their own mind” and said that Barrett is attacked and denigrated because she does not fit the left’s idea of a “perfect woman.” [read more]