Last week, Professor Lesley Wexler Wexler spoke with the Illinois News Bureau about the impact of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The following is an excerpt from that conversation:

Did Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony change American attitudes toward sexual assault? What effect did Brett Kavanaugh’s subsequent testimony have?

Their respective testimonies before the Senate Judiciary Committee crystalized certain attitudes rather than changing them.

The lasting effect of Ford’s testimony will be to give victims a strong image of someone speaking truth to power. I think she empowered a lot of victims to come forward. We saw the Twitter hashtag #WhyIDidntReport that generated thousands of responses.

Kavanaugh’s testimony really mobilized Republicans and served to confirm to much of their base that the allegation of sexual assault was an orchestrated partisan smear. It also gave credence to their concerns about the lack of due process and other constitutional protections for those accused of #MeToo-related allegations.

Read the full interview at Illinois News Bureau.