Slate's Dahlia Lithwick explains why she would have advised Kavanaugh's assault accuser to stay anonymous

On Sunday, California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford stepped forward to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of violently attempting to rape her at a high school party in the early 1980s. "Immediately after The Washington Post published an explosive story featuring an on-the-record interview with Ford that detailed her allegations, [President] Trump's allies — both inside and outside the White House — launched a campaign to cast doubt on her account," Politico reports.

Several Trump allies suggested that even if true, Ford's allegations are old and aren't that bad. Democrats are "playing a high-stakes game," one outside Trump adviser tells Politico. "You know there are a lot of people in this country who are parents of high school boys. This is not Anita Hill."

The Anita Hill analogy is actually a great example of why women stay silent, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick wrote Friday. "Almost anyone who has played any part in the #MeToo movement might say with confidence that the cost of coming forward is crippling," she said. "Had I been asked to advise this woman ... I would have told her to stand down."

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Ford told the Post she had planned to keep her allegations confidential, until someone leaked incorrect details and reporters came knocking. "These are all the ills that I was trying to avoid," she said. "Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation."