We’re in a moment of antifeminist backlash, and, increasingly, that backlash seems aimed at silencing women, or punishing the women who won’t shut up. It’s a perilous time for women’s speech – or at least, it’s a perilous time for women who speak out against sexism. Over the course of this spring and summer, threats to feminist activists and abuse survivors have multiplied and become more serious, with women who speak out against men’s violence or in favor of women’s rights increasingly targeted by abusers, vigilantes, antifeminist activists and lawmakers, and the courts.
The trend became inescapably visible this spring, as the actor Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard stretched on for weeks. Depp’s court battle against his ex-wife, his second time suing over the allegations that he beat and sexually assaulted her, attracted frenzied, hate-filled attention on social media the way a boulder gathers mud as it rolls downhill. But though Depp’s lawsuit received an unusual amount of attention, his tactic of suing his accuser over her disclosure is not unique.
