Churlish Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh put on quite a show yesterday. He yelled, he gnashed his teeth, he blamed the Clintons and liberals, he warned that the world would end, he got choked up recalling his days as an untouchable prep-school beer guzzler, and he told demonstrable whoppers. There's an acronym that sums up his petulant, aggressive behavior: DARVO. It stands for "Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender."
From University of Oregon psychology professor Jennifer J. Freyd:
The perpetrator or offender may Deny the behavior, Attack the individual doing the confronting, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender such that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the true victim -- or the whistle blower -- into an alleged offender. This occurs, for instance, when an actually guilty perpetrator assumes the role of "falsely accused" and attacks the accuser's credibility and blames the accuser of being the perpetrator of a false accusation.
Institutional DARVO occurs when the DARVO is committed by an institution (or with institutional complicity) as when police charge rape victims with lying. Institutional DARVO is a pernicious form of institutional betrayal.
Here's a Daily Kos article, "Kavanaugh's opening remarks are a master class in a common sexual abuser defense tactic", that shows how Kavanaugh used the DARVO strategy to win over the judiciary committee.
“YOU’LL BE SORRY, PEE-WEE HERMAN!” pic.twitter.com/Hys99RKS7F
— Christopher Cooper (@ARTofCOOP) September 27, 2018
