New York: More than anything, she remembers the laughter. The laughter as one teenage boy held her down on the bed, groping her, as his friend watched. Laughter at her expense in a moment of terror.

Christine Blasey Ford speaks during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. Credit:AP

“I was underneath one of them, while the two laughed," Christine Blasey Ford testified before the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday local time. "Two friends having a really good time with one another.”

The US today is a profoundly divided country. But Americans from both sides of politics agreed that Thursday's hearings represented a cultural flashpoint that would reveal something fundamental about their country. In particular, how far it has come in responding to allegations of sexual assault against powerful men.

The #MeToo movement, sparked almost a year ago by revelations about movie producer Harvey Weinstein, has toppled media executives and comedians and celebrity chefs. But could it take down Brett Kavanaugh, a nominee to the country's most powerful court?