The public roasting of Amber Heard became an international sport as soon as the rumors of her divorce from Johnny Depp began to circulate online in 2016. You might want to brush aside the public’s interest as an investment in celebrity culture, but we urge you to take a closer look, especially if you have youth in your life.
The TikTok commentary alone on the case is dangerously shaping what a generation understands about domestic violence. Nearly half of Tik Tok users are aged 18 to 24, and most are women.
As soon as the news broke that they were divorcing, Heard was depicted as a crazed woman seeking financial compensation for claiming domestic violence, one of the oldest tropes women leaving domestic violence face. Everything about Heard was used as evidence of her lack of credibility, including the fact Heard is openly bisexual, which validated Depp’s jealousy of her. Statistics Canada has reported that bisexual people are nine times more likely to be subjected to sexual assault.
The court of public opinion declared Heard the loser long before the current US-based defamation proceedings against her even began. Throughout the harrowing six-week civil trial, the hashtag #JusticeforDepp is regularly trending. This is in stark contrast to #AmberHeardLiar and #AmberHeardisanAbuser, which are also periodically trending. Content creators, influencers, brands and celebrities have capitalized upon Heard’s humiliation for her likes and followers.
In our work as anti-violence advocates, we see the impact this perfectly orchestrated anti-feminist social media campaign has had on how people think about intimate partner violence. It will undoubtedly have a long-term chill on survivors of gendered violence long after the legal case concludes and the social media coverage wanes.
Regardless of the legal outcome, the damage to the movement to end gendered violence is severe. Survivors are watching, questioning if they can leave their toxic relationships without further harm. Children who witness domestic violence see it trivialized as a joke, while people who cause harm see themselves cast as victims. The public has made it loud and clear that women who report experiencing gendered violence are not to be trusted and are deserving of widespread public humiliation.
We are witnessing what Cornell philosophy professor Kate Manne has described as himpathydefined as “the inappropriate and disproportionate sympathy powerful men often enjoy in cases of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, homicide and other misogynist behaviour.”
We see himpathy play out in real-time when Depp’s acts of physical violence and threats against Heard are minimized, or in the case of text messages he sent calling for her to be harmed, funny by the public. In contrast, she heard’s responses to his violence from her have been sensationalized and used as proof that she provoked any violence she experienced.
The social media content, particularly TikTok of the legal proceedings, is inescapable. Users are likely to have come across a livestream of the six-week-long courtroom drama or the short clips mocking Heard. One of the more distributing trends is the use of audio of Heard describing being raped while users act aroused at the thought of Depp doing that to them. Depp’s actions from him, such as his violent text messages about raping Heard’s dead body, are constructed as evidence of his humor from him. In contrast, all of Ella’s Heard’s actions are meticulously dissected as evidence of her lack of credibility.
The social media campaign against Heard is concerning, considering a recent study found that 1-in-3 Grade 9 and 10 Canadian youth in relationships report having experienced dating violence. The social media response to the trial contributes to the myths of intimate partner violence. This case is yet another example of why survivors are reluctant to report.
This is the ideal time for adults to use this case to open up space to talk to the youth in their lives about gendered violence. Right now, young people are getting misleading and harmful information from TikTok — it is our responsibility to counter this misinformation and shed light on the realities of gendered violence. Given the grim statistical reality, it is likely that if your teen hasn’t already experienced dating violence, someone in their life has.