(I will be putting some things in caps, just to highlight certain things and points that I don't want to get lost in the text.)
So now the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial has ended, and hopefully we'll see Depp vindicated in October. If not, there's going to be a whirlwind that female abusers like Heard and their apologists thereof
Most of the media at the moment seems to be either mainstream garbage putting out their hits on Depp, or those who are waking up to the reality that *GASP* female abusers DO exist! *Shock! Horror!* Unless of course your name and title is Jess Phillips MP, at which point you'll defend a female abuser out of spite to keep your mediocre career afloat.
Nevertheless, there's the usual fauxminist scumbag out there who won't let go of their precious rhetoric when reality comes a-knocking. This one was from 5Why. Original link here: https://www.5why.com.au/i-believe-johnny-depp-but-i-dont-regret-believing-amber-heard/
So let's get down to Fisking* an article by Lydia Jupp, who seems to be troubled by this strange thing called "a guilty conscience" but won't recognise reality for what it truly is in order to cling onto her rhetoric like a limpet clings to a rock. Of course, reading shite like this really does wear away at my sanity, but I do it because this article needs to be torn apart.
'When Amber Heard accused Johnny Depp of domestic abuse, I believed her.
Well, we all do daft things, hun.
I didn't actively boycott Johnny Depp - he wasn't a big part of my life anyway - but I thought he was an abuser. If he was in an ad on TV, I would roll my eyes with an uttering of "Ugh. Trash."
And she's not even embarrassed, we're off to an excellent start!
Recently, audio of Amber Heard was released talking about abuse she perpetrated against her husband. This is not a piece dissecting which person is right.
So if you're response to word of mouth against Depp is "trash" but your response to this is "I dunno who is right", really showing your true colours that you'd support a female abuser over a male survivor. Really doing quite badly here.
Ella Whelan, journalist and author of the book 'What Women Want: Fun, Freedom and an End to Feminism", has this week written on the dangers of "believing the victim" and the "corrosive effects of contemporary feminism on justice".
And the results are clear to see. Heard was believed, and her victim was unfairly tarred as an abuser. Believing the victim ended up meaning believing the abuser, and the wokesters like Lydia Jupp have ended up becoming the thing that they wanted to not be. Abuse apologists.
AMBER HEARD IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO DISCREDIT ALL WOMEN
Literally nobody is saying that, except in your own imagination. It is a strawman, you made it up.
Campaigns like #MeToo and #BelieveWomen are the result of centuries of sexual and domestic violence survivors being told they should be ashamed of the crime perpetrated against them,
The subtext is obvious here, she means women, and ONLY women. She wouldn't say "centuries" if she meant male abusers. Types like Lydia tend not to believe that male abuse victims have gone on for very long, are rare, and inconsequential or deserving. This may be true for male survivors, but Lydia doesn't give a shit about them.
'that it should've been their fault, or that it wasn't really that bad.'
Something that patronising wokesters like Lydia say to male survivors time, and time again, without fail, and don't even see the irony that they are what they criticise.
It's a small cultural shift that gives people the space to talk about how that violence affected them and how they healed.
Except for male survivors, in your opinion, clearly.
The reality is the fact that most victims of sexual and domestic violence are women, and most perpetrators are men.
I've said it before, the statistics that claim that are laughably out-of-date. The people who says this now would've been the same people who said "domestic violence and rape hardly ever happens". After all, they're usually quick to disclaim abuse if it doesn't have - or potentially have - fatal consequences.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule and those stories are no less valid because of gender,
2014-2015: 2 million men in the UK victims of abuse:
I wouldn't call them just "exceptions". That's the biggest minimalisation and understatement I've seen on the subject in months.
I can also hear a "but..." coming as in "I'm not racist but..."
"...but it would be reductionist to pretend that there isn't a gender discrepancy."
Yeah, I was right. Can't be reductionist, so let's sweep male abuse victim under the good ol' rug.
The Australian Institue of Health and Welfare explicitly state in their 2018 report on family, domestic and sexual violence that it "occurs across all ages, and all socioeconomic and demographic groups, but predominantly affects women and children.
Hold that thought, I will come back to these statistics later.
The idea of believing people when they come forward about sexual or family violence is not a move from extreme feminists who want to indiscriminately believe every woman and prosecute every man as people like Bettina Arndt would have you believe. It's based in science. Studies as far back as 1998 have shown the response survivors receive when they disclose abuse can influence their decision making process, recovery and well-being.
No, no, no, no, no. It didn't say "believing people when they come forward". It said "believe women". Specifically women. And it enabled a female abuser. You can't wash your hands of this. This is your mess, you clean it up.
As for the studies?
No.
Fucking.
Shit.
'I WILL STILL BELIEVE WOMEN WHO CLAIM ABUSE.'
Of course, nuance and Lydia are very much strangers to each other.
I'm trained to respond to disclosures of trauma with compassion.
Might want to get your money back for that training then, if this is your response to the reality of Depp's suffering, by being obstinate and obtuse. Do better.
You learn that there are three things survivors need to hear: you are sorry, what happened was a crime, and that you will do what you can to help.
And you have shown none of those training qualities here. It's not uncommon for specimens like Lydia to say "Oh I'm trained, I worked with abuse victims" and then show utter disregard for them if it suits them, like here.
This is heard as confirmation that you believe them, that what happened wasn't their fault, and that they're not alone.
Again, refer to my previous comment.
Without that, survivors are a lot less likely to disclose again, or to seek help with any issues that may arise from their trauma, like anxiety, PTSD, or depression.
Again, see my last comment above.
I will always believe people...'
Women, and only women, even if they're abusers. You're not kidding anybody.
'...who disclose their experience of violence because I would prefer to take a chance on looking naive over turning my back on a person who has experienced genuine trauma. This is not a call for people to believe every single allegation of abuse, regardless of context, but rather a request for compassion and empathy.
Aye, right. You DID turn your back on a person who has experienced genuine trauma. You and all people like you are the ones who suggest that it's worth the risk ignoring male abuse victims in case Amber Heard was telling the truth. You are NOT calling for compassion and empathy, you're begging to hang onto your antiquated and outdated attitudes towards sexual and domestic violence, but the world is seeing the reality of female abusers. Time to wake up to that reality.
I don't regret believing Amber Heard.
Really? I do.
I'm sorry that I could have played a part in the social damnation of Johnny Depp.
No you're not, or you wouldn't have written this pathetic article.
'However, I will never apologise for believing someone who came forward saying they've been abused.'
You shouldn't apologise for believing someone, you should apologise for enabling the devious and wicked lies of an abuser because she's female (and white). The fact that you decided to write this article shows that you're shameless in your special pleading, and don't want to wake up to the reality that female on male abuse is far more common than society would ever wish to realise.
OK, now that's over, remember what I said about the statistics? Well, I took a look at them myself, and here's a few interesting things I picked up from them.
'Men are more likely to experience violence from strangers and in a public place;'
OK, that's a really weird thing to say in an article covering domestic abuse specifically, but let's crack on.
1 in 6 women and 1 in 16 men have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous partner.
OK. 1 in 6. That's about 16.67%.
1 in 16. That'd be about 6.25%.
And we're dealing with statistics specifically in Australia here, which has a population of about 25,523,307 as of July 31st this year.
That's about 4,254,735 women who experience physical/sexual abuse in a domestic environment.
That's also 1,595,207 men who've experienced physical/sexual abuse in a domestic environment.
There may be a difference between the two figures of about 2 million, but let's remember a few things.
a) Women underreport abuse a LOT so these figures are probably not accurate. Men underreport abuse EVEN MORE than women.
b) Considering some of the reprehensible ignorance in our world regarding abuse against men, against women, and against both, there's likely many more men who don't realise they're being abused (women too, but society is far more alive to the risks against them.
c) Women and men have their own unique barriers as well as common ones when it comes to reporting abuse. Women fear being shamed as being unstable and "slutty" while men fear being labelled as "weak or effeminate" especially if they've been sexually assaulted by a woman.
d) This one I can speak with personal experience that correlates with Depp's experience. Men who are abused by female abusers fear being falsely accused by their abusers, and this is used as a weapon against them.
Let's move on to what else this site says.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men have experienced emotional abuse by a current or previous partner.
1 in 4 women is about 25%, and 1 in 6 men is about 17%, a roughly 8% difference.
6,380,826 women on the receiving end of emotional abuse in Australia.
4,338,962 men suffering from emotional abuse in Australia.
It means that according to these statistics that Lydia cherrypicked a quote from, NON-LETHAL abuse for women is MORE common than LETHAL abuse for women. By about 84,227.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Furthermore, it means that while there are MORE women suffering from emotional abuse, it means that the statistics state that there are a fraction MORE men suffering emotional abuse than women suffering lethal abuse.
While the number of REPORTED cases for female victims is higher, let's remember that these statistics only refer to REPORTED crimes.
In 2014-15, on average, almost 8 women and 2 men were hospitalised each day after being assaulted by their spouse or partner. (AIHW 2017b). From 2012-13 to 2013-14, about 1 woman a week and 1 man a month were killed as a result of violence from a current or previous partner (Bryant & Bricknell 2017).
That means about 730 men a year put in the hospital by their partners. That is not what I'd call a small number. While the number of women is about 2,920 hospitalised, let's remember another thing.
MALE violence is BLATANT.
FEMALE violence is LATANT.
That means it's more subtle, less obvious, and less easy to spot.
As for the rape numbers, let's take a look at this 2014 article from Time Magazine by Cathy Young (and no you may NOT just dismiss her because you don't like her, Lydia & co).
Nearly 7 percent of men,...reported that at some point in their lives, they were "made to penetrate" another person - usually in reference to vaginal intercourse, receiving oral sex, or performing oral sex on a woman. This was not classified as rape, but as "sexual violence".
Was NOT classified as RAPE but as SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
I admit, when I first heard about the dispute back in 2016, I payed little to no notice. I just thought "oh dear, disappointed to hear that he's done that" and didn't give it any further thought. Now however, having seen the evidence for what really happened, I feel rather ashamed of myself for having thought that. Not that I think we should flog ourselves for these mistakes - unless they led us to do something terrible, like join in on the attack on Depp's life and career.
However, I had the good graces to turn that around and throw my support behind Depp, for what little it might have counted. This blog was only just getting fired up, but my womderful followers all highlighted the case to me more and more as time went on. This so-called writer has just obtusely pretended that everything is still A-OK as normal.
It's time to call idiots like this so-called "writer" out, who had the sheer brass neck to quote some vile little twitter troll called "feminist witch" delving in a bit of concern trolling, a VERY damaging thing to do to abuse survivors. People like these are NOT allies. People like this are dangerous, and MUST be held to account. They lie, they cherry-pick, they verbally and emotionally abuse and bully survivors and their advocates. And all for the sake of protecting their precious view of the world.
Let's highlight the flaws in these statistics.
Let's call out these lies.
Let's make a difference.
And in thanks for sitting through the drivel I've just had to rip apart, here's an example that Lydia and fauxminists like her out to educate themselves on, just to they can see how it's done:
Sincerely,
The Invisible Man
*A term meaning "to deconstruct an article or piece of writing and expose the flaws it has", it's got nothing to do with sex.
