On Thursday of last week, I was riding the train from Manhattan to Washington D.C. to interview futurist Lucie Greene at The Wing, an all-women’s club and work space. What a day it was to be surrounded by a room full of women. We were all set to talk about her new book Silicon States, covering the power and paternalism of big tech and how their influence is encroaching on the civic landscape. I watched the US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on my laptop as I hurtled towards the city where it was happening. I’d expected to feel dread and anxiety watching Dr. Christine Blasey Ford give her testimony. She described, in detail, her account of the night in the early ‘80s that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her, covered her mouth to muffle her screams, all while laughing with friend Mark Judge.

Around the country and across the world on Thursday, women like me listened to Dr. Ford testify and collectively relived our own experiences of sexual assault, sexual misconduct, harassment, belittling and dismissal at the hands of men. We all have our stories. As Dr. Ford stood up, she said, “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.” She spoke, with all her courage, because she thought we needed to know about the moral character of a man, who, if nominated to the Supreme Court for his lifetime, would inherit the swing vote to shape the laws of the United States and potentially repeal reproductive rights for women, limit access to birth control, limit LGBTQ rights, and reduce equal pay protections.