When I Was A Kid, The “Oh My God, You Got So Big!” Comment From Grown-ups Used To Really Annoy Me,

Google made this ad for Black History Month... I’m- 😭🥺

No Context Needed

vs

Get it yet?

So the results of the Depp vs Heard case has unfortunately revealed to me that a few of the people I follow (a few of them for a very long time) are Heard supporters and the posts they reblog are along the lines of “it’s bad and will discourage victims from coming forward” while completely ignoring how it will be empowering for male victims who have largely been suffering in silence.

And it’s made me really think about an unfortunate fallacy in people’s thinking when it comes to various buzz phrases and buzz words used when talking about victims of abuse.

“Believe all women.”

Uh… no. A noble idea on the surface, but as has clearly been seen with Depp and Heard, that ideology is just opening the door for female perpetrators of abuse to take advantage of other people’s good will and desire to help victims.

A better phrase would be, “Listen to all victims.”

Emphasis on LISTEN. Not believe. You should never, EVER just believe someone blindly. Especially in something as serious as abuse allegations. But you should always be willing to LISTEN. Take the time to see what evidence comes forward. See what a judge and jury say if the allegations ever make it that far.

Blind belief is putting yourself at risk of being taken advantage of by people who have no qualms with lying through their teeth and telling you everything they think you want to hear.

Listen to all victims, but let the evidence speak for itself.

Me saying that people should look at the sexualisation and pedophilia present in western media with the same lens they do with anime is not me defending it in anime as a medium it’s me saying that a lot of people fall back on orientalist and racist critiques of anime and while turning a blind eye to all pop culture of the West like… Indiana Jones himself is a pedophile who dated a teenager and has a child with her and he’s a pop culture icon… but where are the critiques

when talking about hollywood grooming age-gaps people talk a lot about the Drake (33) and Millie (15) situation and I’d like to present other cases that make me raise an eyebrow:

Wilmer Valderrama dated Demi Lovato when he was 31 and she was 18

John Mayer dated Taylor Swift when he was 32 and she was 19

Jake Gyllenhaal dated Taylor Swift when he was 30 and she was 20 and he is currently 38 dating 23 year old Jeanne Cadieu

Matthew Hussey dated Camila Cabello when he was 31 and she was 21

JayZ started dating Beyoncé when he was 30 and she was 18

Sam Taylor-Wood began dating Aaron Johnson when she was 42 and he was18

Scott Disick started dating Sofia Richie when he was 34 and she was 19

Tony Bennett started dating Susan Benedetto when he was 61 and she was 20

Deborra Lee-Furness started dating Hugh Jackman when she was 42 and he was 28

Alan Ferguson married Solange Knowles when he was 50 and she was 27

Feminism is holding abusing women accountable. She manioulated and used a movement for her benefit and she will face the consequences fir her actions, from abysing Johnny thought manipukating the masses and an activist/resistance movement.

Johnny Depp is innocent

LIST OF PEOPLE WHO'VE KNOWN JOHNNY DEPP AND TOOK AN OPEN STAND FOR HIM OR SPOKE OF HOW GOOD AND GENTLE HE WAS

Vanessa Paradis

Lily-Rose Depp

Kate Moss

Winona Ryder

Paul Bettany

Alice Cooper

J.K.Rowling

Zoe Kravitz

Jude Law

Gwyneth Paltrow

Dakota Johnson

Tim Burton

Helena Bonham Carter

Judi Dench

Angelina Jolie

Michelle Pfeiffer

Gore Verbinski

Armie Hammer

Kate Winslet

Alison Sudol

Ezra Miller

Geoffrey Rush

Kaya Scodelario

Javier Bardem

Penelope Cruz

Anne Hathaway

Orlando Bloom

Kiera Knightley

Marilyn Manson

Patti Smith

Paul McCartney

Doug Stanhope

Alysson Paradis

Geoffrey Rush

Sacha Baron Cohen

Kevin Smith

Kevin McNally

Keith Richards (basically Jack Sparrow's dad)

Lori Anne Allison

Juliette Binoche (activist by the way)

Joe Rogan (radio interview)

Robert Downey Jr.

Victoria Mary Clarke

Shane Macgowan

Joe Perry/ Tommy Henriksen (his Hollywood Vampire friends)

Danny Huston, his co-star in The Professor, said when he met Johnny Depp he "fell in love instantly. There is a short film on the making of The Professor. All of the actors praised Johnny.

being a fan of Johnny Depp is one of the things I‘m most proud of about myself. I never, for once, doubt him. always stood by his side since the beginning of all this shit despite ppl sending me death threats. I will always be there for him. he IS innocent. The fact he’s still so strong and remains so sweet and gentle despite everything he’s been through. He is my hero.

Justice for Johnny Depp

On June 1st 2022, Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day, John Christopher Depp II won a defamation lawsuit proving his innocence, and rightfully condemning his abuser. Today is a good day.

Cheers to everyone who fought for the truth, may this be the start of a new chapter in the lives of victims and their journey to justice.

White privilege at its finest. Storm the Capitol, get sent back home peacefully and having a SWAT team hold your hand while walking down the stairs.

Feminism vs Female Empowerment vs Feminist Exemplification

In the past years this thread of labeling anything that’s female positive as feminist has really skyrocketed and it bothers me greatly. Great female representation and female empowerment does not make a thing feminist. Something that illustrates, explains or describes a feminist value or point of view does not make that thing feminist.

What defines something as sexist or empowering or feminist is the context and the message or objective that it wants to convey.

There are men in the industry who are progressive and works towards equality by hiring more women, and actively trying to give us better female representation. There are women who direct women in films about women and who try to maintain a crew or team of mostly women. In both cases, none of this makes their project or them feminists.

The majority of the entertainment industry responds and caters to The Male Gaze – it does so even if there are no men operatively involved in the project, because 99.9% of people in the industry do not make art, they are here to make money.

And although it is based on what we commonly call artistic careers, that does not mean that there is a really artistic background or objective in the things being made – it’s purely commercial in a vast majority.  The ultimate goal of the entertainment industry is to sell. Therefore, much of this "art" is not progressive, thought-provoking or subversive in any way, specially if the person in charge believes that this could cost them money. The main objective is to market to the consumers and they do so at the expense of everything - this includes quality, values, points of view, consciousness and self-awareness. And this is when two very interesting things happen: Faux Feminism & Female Exploitation.

Female Exploitation is when the person in charge believes that what sells is quiet, beautiful and sensual women – this is the main thing, and the character's story is secondary (so much that most end up being just eye candy or as a manic pixie dream girl). In this case they think of subversive and thought-provoking as something that can harm their income. So the actresses talent and creativity doesn’t really matter, as long as they’re pretty and sell.

Faux Feminism is when the person in charge believes that the money is in the feminist pov and they make films that could pass as feminist and with strong female characters that follow closely and/or represent the political climate and feminist discourse of today – but that does not make the product feminist, mainly because in most cases they do this in the most superficial way for a monetary gain. Keep in mind, in this cases they don’t explicitally use the word feminism in attachment to whatever their selling, but it’s very obvious.

And sometimes is neither of these, but instead Casual Feminism - when something could represent, stand for feminism but that wasn’t the intention at all. Feminists saw it and were like HECK YEAH.

Is feminist a project in which mostly or only women participate? Is feminist a project where the main roles are 99% female? Is feminist a project that addresses sexism? Is feminist a project that’s inclusive? Is feminist a project with independent and empowered women? Is feminist a project that criticizes the way in which society treats women? The answer to all this is NO.

What defines whether something is feminist or not, is first and foremost if whether its exhibitors/creators are feminists or if it was written to represent/stand for feminism explicitly and consciously. If I wear a shirt that says I am feminist, that does not make me feminist. Being a fan of Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Emma Watson or any other feminist does not make me a feminist. Reading one feminist book does not make me feminist (it’s the start, if so I decide). I'm just wearing something, following a person, consuming a product. And many artistic products are attributed the term feminist when they are not in the slightest. If you assume that it is feminist because it exemplifies feminism or is potentially empowering for women, that does not make it feminist. Talking about self-love, girl power, sorority and sexism does not make you a feminist - it makes you self-aware of your rights, strengths and weaknesses and that is excellent and encouraged, but it does not make you feminist.

Why? Because Feminism is a philosophical, social, political, economic and artistic current. What makes a feminist person a feminist, above all, is that they identify themselves as such, with all the awareness of what feminism is because they have studied it or are constantly studying it or have the intention of studying it.

We can long and dream for a feminist awakening in the entertainment industry, but precisely because of that we should not label just anything as sfeminist, because labeling something or someone as feminist when it is not is a disrespect to the person or product and misleading; and it is harmful to the people and products that are feminist and that are mostly ignored, criticized, received in a negative way and usually overshadowed by pseudo-feminist products with better marketing, plus it only helps to preserve the misinformation and misunderstanding of what feminism is and superficializes it. Not to mention it can perpetuate some misconceptions.

Something or someone not being feminist does not mean it is sexist and there IS feminism in the entertainment industry, but very little and it usually suffers from detractors from the industry itself; so what we find mostly is female empowerment, in an initial and often diluted facet.

So no, we can't call it feminist but we can call it empowering since many women feel that spark of strength, they feel identified and reflected accurately, maybe they even feel understood - and that is something very valuable. We can also use them as an exemplification of feminism, there are many artistic projects that are not feminist but serve to explain, illustrate or describe a feminist point of view because they showed it excellently.

Let’s see some examples of what I’m talking about:

Mean Girls is a great example of a feminist movie. It represents and portrays feminist points of view and feminist values consciously and with the intention and awareness of doing it directly from a feminist stand. It has the feminist label very big and very visibly. It was written by a feminist (Tina Fey), inspired on the novel of another feminist (Rosalind Wiseman). The director is not a feminist, as far as we know, but that doesn’t take away from its value as a feminist piece of work in any manner.

Legally Blonde is another great example of a feminist film. The writers, Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith are both feminists, Kirsten notably being a Riot Grrrl. It is based on a novel written by a feminist (Amanda Brown). And just as Mean Girls, it represents and portrays feminist points of view and feminist values consciously and with the intention and awareness of doing it directly from a feminist stand. It has the feminist label very big and very visibly. Also, it is very female empowering.

Now let’s talk Harley Quinn, because is a very interesting one.

First, let’s talk about her in the comics. She wasn’t created by feminists. She isn’t coded as feminist. She is not written as a feminist character. She is not female empowering for most of her story. Nor she or her story are an exemplification of feminism. The character is not meant to represent or embody feminism in any way. So is she a feminist character? No.

Now, in the movie Birds of Prey. Again, she wasn’t created by feminists. Was the script written by a woman? Yes, but not a feminist woman. Is the movie directed by a woman? Yes, but again, not a feminist woman – the director even said in an interview that she didn’t want to “sound too much like a diehard bra-burning feminist”. The film had an all women crew. Again, Harley isn’t coded as feminist - she is not written as a feminist. The character is not meant to represent or embody feminism in any way. BUT is it female empowering? HELL YES. And the movie as a whole is a great exemplification of feminism, this is another quote from the director: “a harlequin’s role is to serve, they’re nothing without a master and so the movie is about Harley Quinn becoming her own master. And not just Harley, but the Birds of Prey as well. All these women go through something and they’re all trying to break free from their own chains”. So is the movie feminist? No, and so are not it’s characters. But we can and should embrace and celebrate Harley Quinn from a feminist point of view.

Is Hermione Granger a feminist character? No. But she is female empowering and an exemplification of feminism. The actress who plays her, Emma Watson, is a feminist but that doesn’t magically makes all the characters she portrays feminists or well written female characters.

On the other hand, Lisa Simpson IS a feminist. Is the voice-actress a feminist? I don’t know. Are the creators feminists? I dont know either - but it doesn’t matter because Lisa is a feminist and she is explicitly portrayed and written as such, she voices feminism and is meant to embody and represent a feminist (even if it’s an 8 year old one) – and she does so very well if I might add.

So stop calling everything “feminist” and stop telling people that if they believe in equality they are inherently feminists even if they dont want to use that label themselves, stop this specially towards people (I’ve seen this in comment sectons). In my experience, there are three types of women who refuse the feminist label:

1) The Closeted Feminist: a woman that’s not afraid to speak up about their opinions but doesn’t describe themselves or their povs with the word feminism even though their arguments and discourse has a feminist stand that is based on feminist theory to the point where it’s obvious this person has immersed themselves in feminist books, podcasts, films, documentaries, etc – this could be because labeling oneself as a feminist is dangerous. Either in their house, or in the society they’re a part of – and with this I mean that it could actually lead to abuse or active persecution. Not everyone has the same freedom, background and opportunity you do.

 2) The Double Agent: they say they don’t need feminism and they don’t believe in it but they still stand for equality and justice. Usually this person doesn’t really understand what feminism is because they have never cared to learn about it and yet they go round commenting on feminist blogs about “how feminists are wrong” – this person believes the patriarchy’s version of what feminism is. This person is aware of the injustice and inbalance but thinks feminism is sexism towards men, hatred of men and that is used for women as a women-victimizing campaign to get pity points and advantages. This are the people that said Taylor Swift played the victim for 13 years.

 3) The Free Woman: she doesn’t believe in feminism, she probably voices hate towards feminism and feminists and thinks very low of them because “she doesn’t need feminism” because she loves the men in her life and has “never suffered sexism” first hand so it doesn’t exist. The Free Woman and the Patriarchal Feminist have in common that they feel feminism victimizes women and is sexism towards men. The difference is one thinks inequality is a myth and the other one knows it’s still a thing.

If ya’ll read all of this KUDOS TO YOU and THANK YOU. I’ve been thinking about this for almost a year and it took me a long time and effort to write this and put my thoughts into words cause I’m really bad at expressing myself and lack communication skills. I’d like to write too about the difference between Feminist Icon – Feminist Woman – Iconic Women, just because I’m tired of that mess too.

I’m German. Our schools teach us about what the Nazis did to get the power in our country. They teach it to us in history lessons almost every year.

Believe me, what is happening in the US rn and what has been happening under Trump for quite a while now feels very, very similar.