Why are people so quick to dismiss Amber Heard’s domestic abuse claims?
Scanning through the internet and Twitter over the weekend, you’d be forgiven for thinking that she had committed some sort of crime.
What actually happened is that the internet courtroom has ruled that Amber Heard is a lying gold-digger.
Domestic abuse is something that is rarely talked about. The people who speak up about their experiences are some of the bravest people around. Yet these people are few and far between, and honestly is it any wonder?
The reaction to Heard’s domestic abuse allegations shows us exactly why domestic abuse is so underreported. People are so quick to dismiss the claims because she’s a celebrity.
Because she’s a celebrity she’s doing it for the money and the attention.
People were quick to dismiss Nigella Lawson’s claims until the picture of her former husband Charles Saatchi grabbing her throat emerged. We won’t believe it until we see proof.
Domestic abusers rely on this sort of dismissal of disbelief. Domestic abusers know their victims won’t speak up, and use this to their advantage, convincing their victim that if they do speak up that nobody will believe them. This sort of stigma is what we now need to fight.
It is all of our duty to listen to both sides and not just dismiss the claims. If the tables were turned, would we be so quick to dismiss them if they were from Johnny Depp?
The automatic assumption that Heard is lying speaks to something much darker about society as a whole.
“She’s a younger woman.”
“She’s doing it for the money.”
“She was out partying afterwards”.
The image we have of a domestic abuse victim is someone suffering outwardly, and yet if you’re a victim, you have to keep normal appearances at all costs.
None of us know the full story behind Amber Heard’s allegations about Johnny Depp. The only people who really know are the couple themselves.
But do not dismiss Amber Heard’s claims based solely on what she was doing directly after the alleged incident. This is something that needs to be played out in a court of law, not the court of social media.
