Kavanaugh And Ford: The Hierarchy of Single-Sex Schools

I am a 2017 graduate of Holton-Arms School, the same high school that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford attended. As a Holton student, my group of friends consistently interacted with the all-boys high schools based in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV), particularly with boys from the Landon School. Personally, I rarely hung out with boys from Georgetown Preparatory School, the school Brett Kavanaugh attended, although several of my friends did. This is not a criticism of anyone who attended these schools but rather of the culture of DMV single-sex schools. I loved my all-girls school. It gave me the courage to criticize the culture it inadvertently cultivated.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]Students of DMV single-sex prep schools interacted in a social setting infused with moneyed and gendered hierarchies in which participants saw themselves as partaking in the greatest party culture in the country.[/su_pullquote]Students of DMV single-sex prep schools interacted in a social setting infused with moneyed and gendered hierarchies in which participants saw themselves as partaking in the greatest party culture in the country. Based on a 1983 letter Kavanaugh wrote concerning his senior beach week published by the New York Times, and on comments from Kavanaugh’s close friend and participant in the assault of Dr. Ford, Mark Judge, I gather that aspect of DMV culture has not changed significantly over the last forty years. In his 2005 memoir, “God and Man at Georgetown Prep,” Mr. Judge stated that the DMV was “positively swimming in alcohol, and [his] class partied with gusto.”

[su_pullquote align=”right”]The boys threw the parties and the boys had the power… They controlled the selection of female company and often felt entitled to order from that selection.[/su_pullquote]The boys threw the vast majority of our parties. These gatherings consisted of boys solely from one all-boys school but girls from several different institutions as boys’ schools fostered competitive, cultish rivalries. If a boy from one school attended a party hosted by a boy from another, the guest would immediately, often forcefully, be removed from the household. The boys threw the parties, and the boys had the power. They dictated every facet of social engagement from guest lists to black lists; they controlled the selection of female company and often felt entitled to order from that selection.

Black lists consisted of the boys’ exes, effectively shunning their former girlfriends from this elite circle. I saw girls called whores for breaking up with guys, whores for talking to another guy, whores for dancing, whores having their limbs yanked and flung to the floor for hooking up with an ex’s friend. A whore for being the one who was broken up with and thinking you had the right to make choices in reaction to your ex’s choice. Our exes made the decision to leave our lives in the romantic sphere, yet wielded the power to dominate our social spheres long after their exits.

This was boys’ treatment of their exes. I can’t imagine the united defense that would have played out had a girl accused one of their “brothers” of sexual assault and he had denied it. I can’t imagine their treatment of a girl they may have perceived as attempting to ruin their brother’s life based on a lie. Despite the fact that several of my friends were sexually assaulted in high school, I’ll never know if this would have been the reality of their reaction, as not a single girl came forward.

Many media sources identified accounts of Kavanaugh’s heavy drinking and lurid statements as fundamentally contradicting the image he put forward in his defense: a boy who attended a serious academic institution, got straight As, exercised, did community service, and worked a summer job. However, descriptions of Brett Kavanaugh as a sexually-aggressive and belligerent drinker do not contradict but rather complement this image. In the DMV, the boys who made competitive college applicants, went to country clubs, and came from prestigious families were the same ones who left their exes with bruises and shattered their spheres of social engagement.

[su_pullquote]It tells them that if they attend these elite institutions and work hard that they are entitled to the kind of life and the kinds of jobs they desire. They had a right to the world, so why wouldn’t they have a right to our bodies too?[/su_pullquote]The culture of single-sex schools in this region ingrains in these boys’ minds that they are the best: socially, physically, and intellectually. It tells them that, if they attend these elite institutions and work hard, they are entitled to the kind of life and the kinds of jobs they desire. They had a right to the world, so why wouldn’t they have a right to our bodies too?

Sexual assault was a frequent and silenced occurrence in our community. The DMV culture nourished male-dominated hierarchies that provided boys with the power to destroy a girl’s social world and a sense of entitlement that dominated their physical and sexual conduct. Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation proves to these boys that the narrative arch of their upbringing reigns true: they can commit these acts, and their conduct can even become public, and they will still rise to one of the most authoritative positions in determining the future of our nation with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Rachel Olick-Gibson studies in the College of Arts & Sciences and she can be reached at rachel.olick-gibson@wustl.edu.