evile

Is it an indication of the level of misogyny in America that most of the public believes Johnny Depp’s side of the story over Amber’s or does she just come off as a nastier, less credible person?

The United States is definitely a misogynistic place; one has only to examine the tenets of the main religions practiced here (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), the beliefs and practices of organizations such as Proud Boys, One Percenters, Oathkeepers, MRA, the KKK, Incels, etc. and the higher eschelons of power in corporate and political life to see that women tend to be discounted, dismissed, reviled, and held in low esteem in general by society.

However, as AH herself said “One does not inform the other,”

The fact that our society is generally misogynistic and awful does not excuse or dismiss the existence of female abusers. It certainly does not exonerate female abusers such as AH.

The fact that so many misogynists have decided to hang their hats on the AH/JD situation does not make misogynists correct or good. It certainly does not ‘disprove’ the ‘me too’ movement or mean that ‘me too’ should stop happening. Men are still abusing women. Men in power are still misusing their positions to take advantage of women and silence them when they try to speak out.

However, Female-on-male domestic violence DOES exist. Women can be abusive, and their abuse can be as bad or worse than male abuse —because women can inflict as much physical damage as men can, because women are often more emotionally intelligent so that their verbal and emotional abuse cuts deeper and lasts longer than a mere physical bruise, and because the systems in place in society are not adapted to handle the reality of female abusers, so that their victims are often not believed and the damage done is minimized or dismissed.

AH is a nasty, less credible person. She is a proven liar. That does not make misogyny the correct response to her behavior. It should also not discredit the efforts of feminists to bring about equality for all., or tar all feminists with the same brush.

I hope that we, as a species, can move towards treating each situation with the care and consideration it deserves rather than lumping one abusive woman in with ‘all women,’ as an excuse to hate and mistreat all women or conflating one abusive man in with ‘all men’ and using that as an excuse to mistreat and hate all men.

=====================

Posts tagged 'quora' were originally my answers to peoples' questions on quora.com.

They were monetized but I am giving them away for free here.

If you feel inclined to support my writing, here's my paypal

And if you prefer to pay it forward, I recommend Safe Place as an excellent place to support.