The high-profile court battle between the actors involves issues that are painfully familiar to many. Some men who say they have experienced this type of violence believe that this is a turning point
Johnny Depp (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool)
Beyond celebrity intrigue and media frenzy, the high-profile court battle between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard involves issues painfully familiar to many women and men.
The civil defamation case, which must conclude the May 27, 2022, focused on the discussion ofdomestic violence, experienced by an estimated 6.6 million women and 5.8 million men each year in the US.
A court will decide the merits of a defamation lawsuit Depp filed against Heard after she wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post describing her experience as a “public figure representing violence”. domestic violence.”
And as the defamation case nears its conclusion, some men who say they have experienced domestic violence identified a defining moment in the judgment.
Is that earlier this month a recording was played in the courtroom. There Heard is heard saying: “Tell people it was a fair fight and see what the jury and judge think. Tell the world, Johnny. Tell them, ‘I, Johnny Depp, am also a victim of domestic violence, and it was a fair fight,’ and see if people believe or side with you.”
After listening to this recording, Depp was asked on the standhow he responded when Heard told him to “tell the world” that he was a survivor of domestic violence. He told the courtroom: “Yes. I am.”
“When I first heard [about the case], I was a little surprised. I was like: ‘Wow. Who would have thought this could happen to Johnny Depp?‘”, Tony Enos, a pop singer from Philadelphia who said he suffered domestic violence, recalled in dialogue with NBC News.
Amber Heard (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Enos works as a counselor for other men who have experienced domestic violence, and believes thatSeeing a man perceived to be as powerful, rich and famous as Depp claim to have endured domestic violence has made him feel less alone.
In 2 women killed, one is at the hands of an intimate partner, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, or NCADV. In contrast, 1 in 13 men is killed by an intimate partner.
The focus of this trial provides an opportunity to openly discuss the nuances of this type of violence that are often overlooked and may perhaps empower some victims to feel less alone.
Heard testified that he hit Depp “reactively ” while Depp hit her “proactively”. That is, she alleges that she hit her partner at the time only in self-defense or in defense of her sister. She recalled an incident from December 2015 in which she, she said she, Depp buried her head in a pillow and began to suffocate her. “I thought, ‘This is how I die,’” she said on the stand. “He’s going to kill me now. He’s going to kill me and he won’t even know it.”
Depp has denied physically abusing Heard or committing domestic abuse.
Mimi Sterling, executive director of The Family Place, a Dallas-based shelter and resource center for survivors of family violence, toldNBC News thatsome social work training describes the belief that “men may not experience domestic violence like women based on power dynamics.”
“Simply< b> it is not accepted in our society, that men can be victimized in this way”, said Sterling.
The truth is that Depp’s popularity seems to be growing up, contrary to what happens with Heard. Experts have expressed concern that the level of vitriol directed at Heard could push some survivors of domestic violence further into hiding.
Johnny Depp (Jim Watson/REUTERS)
Raven Jenerson, acting clinical director of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), told NBC News that all people, including victims, must work to get back to learn what it means to be masculine and how a masculine person should behave when faced with a situation of domestic violence. Stereotypes about how men should act and how they should deal with violent partners keep more victims silent, experts said.
In opinion pieces , like #MeToo is over if we don’t listen to ‘imperfect victims’ like Amber Heard, of The Guardian, some question whether Heard’s treatment marks a turning point in the movement, warning that Other powerful figures could try to emulate Depp’s comeback with litigation.
“We want people to know that there is no such thing as a perfect survivor. Perfection is relative,” said Jenerson.
On social media, male victims of domestic violence seem to be finding the place to unload and find support.
Searching for the terms “I am a survivor” and “Johnny Depp” on Twitter shows what appears to be thousands of tweets from victims describing how empowered they have felt by the Depp case.
One user wrote: “I am a survivor and I stand with Johnny Depp because what happened to him also happened to me. The same level of depravity and intentional malice.”
Experts believe that a powerful man coming forward in a high-profile, public trial that he is a victim of domestic abuse could have lasting benefits.< /p>
“It often takes high-profile cases, high-profile victims of anything, to bring about the change in our society and the change in perspective that is fundamental”, Sterling said.
(With information from AP)