Open Letter
November 21, 2022
To Whom it May Concern:
We are a community of former strangers who came together on Twitter by way of our shared support for actor Johnny Depp. We number in the thousands and represent a broad array of perspectives on political and social issues. Our community spans four generations, multiple continents, and countless cultural backgrounds. Most of us identify as women and the majority are survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual assault (SA) and/or child abuse and neglect (CAN). We are also family, friends and allies of survivors, adding our voices to theirs to call attention to the trial and what it represents.
Open Letter in Support of AH
This letter was prompted by the Open Letter in Support of Amber Heard released last Wednesday, Nov. 16, but is not solely a response to it. It is also intended to set the record straight on the following issues:
(1) Who makes up the Depp support community?
(2) #MeToo or #NotYou? Who is the arbiter of victimhood?
(3) Vilification is in the eye of the villain: online harassment around Depp v Heard
We will not use this space to discuss the specifics of the Virginia trial, the UK trial, the pending appeals, or any of Ms. Heard’s ongoing litigation with her former insurers. Doing justice to any of those topics would require a separate discussion.
We also want to acknowledge that although we disagree with those who defend Heard and object to many of their tactics (see Item 3), we share their commitment to the final goal stated in the letter: “to support the ability of all to report [IPV] and [SA] free of harassment and intimidation.” Justice for every victim is and always will be our primary concern. We wholeheartedly support this objective.
However, we emphatically reject the remainder. Although the letter purports to raise awareness we fail to see how, because it doesn’t find its basis in reality and therefore cannot address it. Echoing the sensationalist rhetoric Team Heard favored during the trial, the letter employs experts of varying distinction and relevance, seemingly to bully dissenters into complying with the preferred narrative. Our response is an effort to clear up misconceptions and give the letter signers an opportunity to better understand who they’re speaking against. Though we would love to change minds, we know that may not be possible.
(1) Who We Are and Who We’re Not: Incels and Pick-Me’s and Skirts, Oh My!
Who We Are: Our community consists of a diverse set of independent thinkers who closely followed Depp v Heard and were troubled by the disconnect between what happened in the courtroom and media coverage of the trial. We’re proud to count dedicated and longtime Depp fans in our ranks, but that doesn’t describe everyone. Some identified with Heard originally, believing her to be a survivor. In fact for many of us, the catalyst for throwing our full support behind Depp was our horror at watching someone we believed to be an abuse victim utterly and irrevocably destroy her own credibility on the stand. The seeds of doubt planted by Heard’s testimony were further cultivated by her failure to produce any verifiable evidence, and the physical impossibilities in her depiction of her abuse. But her first day on the stand was a turning point for a lot of us, many of whom saw shades of our own abusers in her demeanor and behaviors.
As a group we’re well-informed about the VA trial, as well as the longer history between Depp and Heard. Most of us watched the trial in its entirety and a good portion have deep knowledge of the UK decision as well. We’ve fought to expose the truth at every opportunity, notably crowdfunding $7,000 in under 24 hours to obtain copies of the trial documents when they were unsealed in June. We are a completely organic, grassroots movement fighting for a cause we believe in. (Note: Lawyer Andrea Burkhart posted these documents on her website. Only $3,300 was needed, and with our enthusiastic support excess funds were donated to Children’s Hospital in LA.)
Who We Are Not: First and foremost, we’re not a single-minded monolith, nor are we living stereotypes. We resent the condescension and casual misogyny implicit in depicting Depp supporters as caricatures or reductionist tropes. Stanford professor Michele Dauber’s repeated insistence on referring to Depp’s female lawyer Camille Vasquez as a “skirt” is an interesting example of this phenomenon, as is the choice to label female Depp supporters “pick-me’s,” “remoras,” and a variety of other sexist insults that remove our capacity for independent or analytical thought, reducing us to vapid man-crazy simpletons who can be more easily dismissed. We’re similarly disgusted by ad hominem attacks reducing the men in our community, many of whom are survivors themselves, to “incels.”
We question whether employing toxic gender stereotypes against our group is truly aligned with current feminist thinking or best practices for supporting survivors. These attacks serve no discernable purpose apart from providing a vehicle for aggression. To be clear: we see the signatures on this letter as endorsing and enabling this behavior. This is not advocacy. It’s silencing, gatekeeping, and forcing people to deny what they saw with their own eyes. Frankly these tactics are coercive and more in line with patriarchy than progress.
It’s also worth noting the breathtaking arrogance required to assume a community of abuse survivors, advocates and allies is suffering from a “fundamental misunderstanding of intimate partner and sexual violence and how survivors respond to it.” It feels paternalistic to claim you’re doing this in support of a community you simultaneously dismiss as too naive to participate in discussions about their own trauma. Are the tools of oppression and privilege fair game as long as you disagree with the people you’re silencing?
(2) #MeToo or #NotYou? Who is the Arbiter of Victimhood?
The tone and direction of the #MeToo movement at present is concerning. At the beginning it was embraced as an overdue reckoning for abusive men in positions of power. But movements need to adapt over time in order to remain relevant, as well as establish checks and balances to prevent corruption and mission drift. There is wisdom in the exhortation “Believe Women,” but we don’t think that’s ever been the end of the sentence.
In order to be forces for good, #MeToo and organizations like the Women’s March need to acknowledge and welcome abuse survivors of all genders. Voicing blind support for women who bring allegations against men before evidence is presented and the accused has his day in court is reckless and irresponsible, full stop. Women can and do lie. Historic oppression is not a justification for depriving anyone of their rights, and we reject this kind of thinking as harmful and discriminatory.
We also contest that false allegations of SA are so rare they present no cause for concern. The most frequently cited statistics indicate that 2-8% of reported cases are fabricated. According to the FBI, there were approximately 140,000 cases of rape reported in the US in 2019. Even using the 2% figure, that still gives us 2,800 people falsely accused (and possibly convicted) of horrific crimes they didn’t commit every single year in the US alone. 2,800 innocent people condemned the second someone points the finger, because there’s increasingly less room for an objective assessment of the facts. This isn’t progress.
The simple truths we stand behind as a community are that false accusations are real and need to be addressed, and that anyone of any gender can become a victim of abuse. Contrary to the misinformation we saw around the trial, men are frequently victims of IPV, which is clearly evident in published statistics.
Among the figures relevant to the topic at hand, these two in particular highlight just how far the narrative being pushed by Heard supporters has strayed from reality:
1 in 3 men experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.
97% of men who experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner had only female perpetrators.
The trial could have opened up a larger dialogue about the experiences of male survivors, particularly around social stigma and barriers to reporting. These are conversations that need to be had if we are to effect real change with respect to IPV and SA. The crucial work of unpacking a complex issue like this, particularly one so weighed down by trauma, can’t be done effectively if we refuse to acknowledge the reality of the situation. I can’t imagine why any activist would choose to ignore a huge segment of the population they claim to support.
Much has also been said about the supposed ‘chilling effect’ Depp’s victory is expected to have on women who are victims in the future, possibly discouraging them from seeking justice for fear of being sued. We want to clarify that there is currently no evidence this chilling effect exists. It’s far too early for numbers on something like that, and those of us who work directly with victims report the trial rarely mentioned, if at all.
We’re also a bit unclear on how an anomalous legal battle between two celebrities is leading us toward a dystopian future of extreme female subjugation…but it was a short letter. What we do know is that in the Heard Hellscape of Feminism Through Fearmongering, women are once again “the weaker sex,” forever infantilized and assumed incapable of wielding control over a man. So before we’re overcome by the vapours and start seeing the wallpaper come to life, we have to ask: does any reasonable person believe this? Whose purposes does it serve? What is to be gained by this regressive characterization of women as powerless?
If at a later date there is observed to be a chilling effect on reporting as a result of this case, we’ll be happy to reevaluate our stance (we do that). But we have to wonder what purpose it serves to cultivate a toxic narrative no one is actually observing in practice. Are you really warning us, and if so, what do you hope to accomplish? Is your success predicated on whether or not we abandon our own reasonable conclusions and accept something we believe to be a lie? Are you absolutely sure it’s feminism and victims’ rights you’re defending, or is it possible the personal agendas of some of the people surrounding Heard have muddied the waters? Are you prepared to stake your reputation and values on that? We have questions, to say the least.
(3) Vilification is in the Eye of the Villain: Online Harassment Around Depp v Heard
We’re all aware of how hyperpartisan our political climate has become, and we know that in typical circumstances, members of our group might never have crossed paths. We’re extremely proud that our community was able to provide space where people from disparate political and cultural backgrounds could engage in respectful, productive conversations. For many of us that represented a first, if that’s any indication of how toxic things have become. That we bridged the yawning chasms forming across the landscape of civil discourse is an accomplishment unto itself. That we did it with such enthusiasm and respect for one another is a testament to how deeply affected we were by the trial, and the conviction with which we believe that Johnny Depp is innocent of the accusations leveled at him by Amber Heard.
Interaction with Team Heard has been a different story altogether. We’ve seen unacceptable behavior on both sides of this issue, and we disavow it. But the attacks from Heard supporters have been truly dehumanizing and often aimed at targeting our vulnerabilities as survivors. The Open Letter’s assertion that “the vilification of Ms. Heard and ongoing online harassment of her and those who have voiced support for her have been unprecedented in both vitriol and scale” has no basis in fact and is not supported by any evidence we can find. The Bot Sentinel “report” used as a source for this claim by Heard’s team and the media was written by a man Heard had previously hired to produce evidence of this harassment. Bit of a conflict of interest if you ask us. We’re also concerned by the many troubling issues revealed by a deeper look at his methodology. (Note: Further information regarding Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy, his professional history and the integrity of the report HERE [link to Nate’s lawsuit].)
For defending a fellow survivor and attempting to correct misrepresentations of the trial, members of our community have been doxxed, swatted, implicated in false CPS calls, had their children threatened with SA, and subjected to an endless barrage of vile insults and gaslighting. (Note: For further reading please see screenshots of tweets by prominent Heard supporters and members of her team HERE [link].) This type of behavior is poisonous and should be labeled as such.
Moving Forward
Much like the man who brought us all together, what we’re after is the truth. Our goal was simply to say our piece and push back against unfair characterizations. As you can see, there’s a lot of ground to cover for just the few issues we chose to highlight. And therein lies a primary obstacle to our attempts to combat disinformation: the truth is complicated. This is a messy story with a long history. To do justice to the details we would need weeks. That’s partly why we tell people to watch the trial and decide for themselves–it’s not a deflection on our part, it’s the most direct way to help people access the truth.
We forcefully push back on the weaponization of the #MeToo movement in service of a privileged woman who was criticized not because she was a victim, but because she is a liar and a serial abuser. The Open Letter for AH was a coordinated effort to silence survivors and sway public opinion in Heard’s favor directly before her appeal. It’s the brainchild of a zealot who spews misogynistic vitriol and stokes angry mobs while invoking feminism and justice. We don’t doubt this wasn’t apparent to all of you at the outset, and we encourage you to consider retracting your endorsement. You’d be met with a lot more gratitude than you might imagine.
Sincerely,
The Johnny Depp Support Community
Veritas numquam petit - Truth Never Perishes 🏴☠️