Jace and I are currently in a holding pattern. For the next four weeks we wait for Judge Gonzales to read through the ‘secret’ ICAC manuals. Jace has been in jail now for over 4 months. I can’t imagine the emotional damage this is doing to him. I can tell you the amount of emotional damage I have absorbed has made my previous mental state unrecoverable.

Recently talking with my sister Maureen, who is very politically vigilante, we discussed the Kavanaugh Issue. I often take the devils advocate position but with what happened to Jace, I have new insight into what sex crimes and allegations do to people’s lives.

If you believe that prostitution is the ‘oldest profession’ (no, ladies, motherhood is not a profession – although I agree it often feels that way!), then profiting from prostitution is the second oldest profession.

We usually think of pimps when we think of making money off of sex. But lets broaden that definition. Profit can be quantified by dollars, but ‘profit’ can also be indirect – like awards, kickbacks, prestige, prizes, ego boosts, etc. It’s a form of abuse of power, having control over another.

And sex is ‘sold’ in many ways besides prostitution. As we all know.

But what about sex for profit in politics?

The Vancouver police department used sex to seduce men looking for consensual adult sex to fill their task force coffers with federal grant money AND state lottery money.

Is this different than prostitution? Or pimping? How? Why? I believe on many levels these things all have parallels that we choose not to see.

Is using Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations to derail Kavanaugh’s appointment not another way of using sexual crimes and accusations to gain profit? I am not saying she is lying or not. I DO NOT KNOW THAT ANSWER. But to say there was no political profit to be made by what happened would be obtuse.

Sex sells. We all know that. And sexual accusations stick. Regardless of the truth, regardless of the reason the accusation was brought to light. There are victims on both sides of this fence and as a society we can not condemn either party without proper facts.

If you don’t know, don’t assume.

If you haven’t lived it, don’t judge.

I am not defending Kavanaugh – I am defending Jace, and any man who has been falsely accused of a sexual transgression. And I am defending  every woman who has come forward to tell the truth and been dismissed. When we all stop using sex crimes and accusations for profit, we are able to work on the real issues, prosecute real crimes and support real victims.

Whichever side they are on.