Survivors feel both hope and fear after Kavanaugh hearing, advocates say

Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in before testifying. Win McNamee/Pool via REUTERS

(Reuters) - For sexual assault survivors, Christine Blasey Ford emerged as a new hero on Thursday, triggering a surge in calls to a national rape hotline as she told senators that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were teenagers.

But even as many saw her nervous yet assured testimony as a landmark moment for the #MeToo movement, the scepticism, indifference and even scorn she faced, both from Republican senators and online critics, was disturbing to victims and their advocates.