Why are some feminists buying into the narrative that the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial verdict is a fatal blow for #MeToo? We have always known that there would be false allegations of abuse among genuine #MeToo disclosures. Some women lie, just as some men do. And we knew that women would continue not to be believed. #MeToo is about removing systemic barriers that prevent the abuse of women being treated seriously. It is about treating women as believable and their allegations as important. There is no reason why Heard’s loss should undermine that.
Fighting that good fight is not helped, however, by some commentators’ willingness to skate over evidence that Heard herself was repeatedly violent towards Depp. Dismissing this with terms such as “imperfect victim” is troubling. And, ironically, it risks reinforcing toxic ideas about masculinity – take it like a man, stop being a baby – that anti-violence advocates deplore. Depp might have come into this trial as the more powerful party, but that doesn’t mean we can gloss over clear evidence of violence against him. Doing so does not just undermine our cause, it also undermines our humanity.
Nicole Smith
Wellington, New Zealand
• It is imperative that people stop viewing this trial through the lens of the #MeToo movement and the supposed reversal of its progress. As Gaby Hinsliff says, “a justice system [is] founded on the principle of believing the evidence, even where that sometimes leads in uncomfortable directions” (Was it really asking too much for Amber Heard to be listened to without prejudice?, 2 June).
Hinsliff finishes by stating: “All women really ask of men – and, arguably, vice versa – is the chance to be heard without prejudice.” Heard was. The jury gave up six weeks of their lives to painstakingly go through the evidence in detail. It indicated that Heard was not telling the truth. This should not create a challenge for the #MeToo movement, if it cares about the truth, and not condoning the egregious defamation of an innocent person, who happens to be a man.
Sally Collins
Welwyn, Hertfordshire
• My interest in celebrity is minimal, but Moira Donegan’s excellent article (The Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial was an orgy of misogyny, 1 June) encapsulates everything that is deeply disturbing about the potential negative consequences for survivors when speaking out about domestic abuse. I have worked in this field for many years in a variety of settings, and a common denominator has been the false notion of the “perfect victim”. But there is no incongruity in anger being a consequence of living in fear, and survivors have a right to express this. Amber Heard wasn’t afforded that right in the humiliation-as-entertainment that she experienced in court. Women of the world will watch closed-mouthed.
Pattie Friend
Isleworth, London
• The trial verdict is a product not just of a masochistic culture that empowers violent masculinities while seeking to control women and denigrate female agency – as demonstrated by the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, and rightwing support for it – but of the playing out of struggles over women’s bodies and rights on social media versus through judicial and bureaucratic systems. #MeToo was, sadly, destined to lead to such an outcome.
Deana Heath
Liverpool
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