Not for Amber Heard, But for Domestic Violence Victims

I am neither Team Johnny Depp nor Team Amber Heard. I don't know who is telling the truth... Perhaps, there is no absolute truth from both of them. I am aware of Johnny Depp's very publicized libel lawsuit against a British tabloid for calling him a "wife beater" was ruled against him. The British judge found that the allegations against him were "substantially true" and that "the great majority of alleged assaults" were proven to the civil standards by the tabloid. 

Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

I had not followed the hearing... I didn't read about its details until I read about the verdicts. Johnny Depp filed the libel case against Amber Heard over her op-ed published in The Washington Post back in December 2018. I read the op-ed for the first time after learning about the verdicts. It was also the first time I learned that she was an ambassador for women's rights at the American Civil Liberties Union. She wrote the op-ed as a part of her work with the ACLU. 

If you are Team Johnny Depp and haven't read Amber Heard's op-ed, I highly recommend you read it before you proudly wear his team jersey. We are all entitled to our own opinions, but there are times when your celebration of that opinion can cause more harm than good. I'm sure Johnny Depp appreciates your confetti... Most likely, he doesn't even know your name. The Washington Post published what Mark Stephens, an international media lawyer, said about the hearing. That Depp's legal team ran a strategy known as DARVO - an acronym for deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender. And, that DARVO works very well with juries. I'm sure DARVO made great TV. 

I hope you are not celebrating a win with a legal strategy that attacks victims. I say all this, not for Amber Heard, but for all the women who are being abused as I write this. The emotional chaos of being abused by someone we love very much... The shame of the abuse. It is easier to deny and continue to be abused, than accept that someone we are in love with has no regard for us... for our lives. That moment of accepting that fact shatters us... It can almost kill us. 

It could be happening to our sisters, friends, mothers and aunts, and they may be hiding it. Don't say you would know because you don't know.

When you wear that Team Johnny Depp jersey, you may be hushing a woman who is being abused. Your intention may not be to shame and silence abused women, but you are risking that with Johnny Depp confetti. And, who do you think needs your support? Johnny Depp or abused women?