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Depp v. Heard, and the anti-woman unhumanity of “#BelieveAllWomen”
I’m not the first to say it, but the unfolding Depp v. Heard defamation trial is serving to further expose the infantile and misguided nature of the “#BelieveAllWomen” sloganeering that arose from the “#MeToo” movement.
Seeing Amber Heard’s narrative fall apart in real time underscores the hastiness of the knee-jerk condemnation Johnny Depp faced when she first accused him of domestic abuse, as well as the insanity of the de rigueur tendency to conflate mere accusation with actual guilt, presumably in the name of identity politics. As Eliana Dockterman wrote in November 2020 after Depp was pressured by Warner Brothers to resign from the cast of Fantastic Beasts 3, “It’s astounding in a post-#MeToo world that a major studio like Warner Bros. would continue to film with Depp even as he was accused of assault in the courts.”
What seems to have been forgotten in this age of “#BelieveAllWomen” is the importance of due process, and the presumption of innocence. Saying that you unconditionally “believe all women” who happen to voice accusations (or even press charges) implies that you support the presumption of guilt, and undue process (for lack of a better term)…
