BELIEVING

The well-known attorney examines gender-based violence as a systemic problem in American society.

In the U.S., at least one woman in four experiences violence at the hands of an intimate partner, including sexual and verbal abuse as well as physical assault. There are other forms of violence, though, including economic discrimination and psychological harassment, “that are interrelated and affect women from before birth to old age.” As Hill notes, transgender and nonbinary people are disproportionately subject to abuse, particularly if they are Black. One unfortunate victim of violence was a gender-nonconforming middle school student who was hounded into committing suicide. By Hill’s account, the resulting report included plenty of information on everything except the harassers and whether other children were subject to the same abuse. “A thorough understanding of how to prevent what happened…and change the behavior of those who were responsible requires us to understand how the school culture supported his torment,” writes Hill, which in turn requires administrators to take a more active role in containing such incidents. As it is, by the time they enter college, increasingly more young women and nonbinary people experience abuse and harassment, and courts have done little to help. Naturally, the author recounts her own experience as the subject of harassment and of a hostile reception when she reported that experience during congressional hearings over whether to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Of the charges leveled against Joe Biden of inappropriate behavior, she holds that an inquiry should have been neutrally applied to both Biden and Trump: “Transparency in the process would boost public knowledge and enable us to make informed decisions about the men—because, so far, it’s always been men—whom we elect to lead our country.”

A powerful argument that ending gender violence is an attainable goal, if only we apply ourselves to the work.