Photo of Republican men sat behind their female prosecutor sums up American gender politics

Dr Christine Blasey Ford has testified against Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, in the Senate.

During the hearing, a visibly emotional Ford alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school together in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.

Democratic senators including Diane Feinstein, who Ford initially contacted about the allegations via letter, asked her questions about the incident. But, likely sensing their examination would look better coming from a woman, the all-male Republican members of the committee hired Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to ask questions.

On the decision to use a “female assistant”, Senate majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell, said:

We have hired a female assistant to go on staff and to ask these questions in a respectful and professional way

We want this hearing to be handled very professionally, not a political sideshow like you saw put on by the Democrats when they were questioning Judge Kavanaugh.

Following Ford’s testimony, people shared photos of the view from her seat as she testified in front of a crowd of white men.

People also shared a specific photo of Mitchell, who sat in front of the 11 republican senators questioning Ford. The picture was taken by photographer Tom Williams.

In sharing the photo, some people made reference to McConnell’s “female assistant” comments and wondered why the senators asked Mitchell to do the questioning. Others suggested that the republicans were using Mitchell as a “human shield”.

Others felt that the photo represented the wider gender dynamics in America.

Whatever your view, it's clear this is a photo for the history books.

H/T: BuzzFeed News

More: Trump Jr. really tried to smear Dr Christine Blassey Ford using psychology - the internet wasn't having it