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Lindsay Lohan, Amber Heard and All 'Imperfect Victims': You Deserve Better

By Courtney Enlow | Think Pieces | August 15, 2016 |

By Courtney Enlow | Think Pieces | August 15, 2016 |


In the past few days, two deeply disturbing videos have been released, each exhibiting some of the abuse faced by Amber Heard and Lindsay Lohan, both by their partners (Johnny Depp and Lohan’s fiancé Egor Tarabasov, respectively but not respectfully—fuck them both).

Warning: these are disturbing. At least they should be. You should be disturbed by these videos and not looking for reasons to explain or excuse.

This video taken by Heard was released to TMZ. Johnny’s army of jizzrag friends have already dismissed it.

Sources connected with Johnny tell TMZ … the video is “heavily edited” and there are portions where Amber is seen smiling and egging him on. The sources add the video was a complete set up by Amber.

Heard is also having to defend herself against accusations that she released the footage herself. Maybe she did and maybe she didn’t. It was possibly a friend of hers trying to help. Frankly, fuck it, I would. Can you imagine being abused by your husband and the whole world focuses only on you and your motives, declaring you a golddigger, a liar, his famous friends pushing this narrative far and wide. No one believes you. What else can you do?

For better or worse, Heard’s story gets covered, and she does have her supporters. The same cannot be said for Lindsay Lohan.

I have certainly done my fair share in ridiculing Lohan over the years. Because she is kind of an asshole. She is attention-seeking. She is a liar who has blamed “the black guy” and “someone else’s pants” and everyone else for her behavior. She’s the female equivalent of Charlie Sheen in many ways. Only, and you know what’s coming here, one of them has faced a disproportionate amount of punishment.

Even among feminists, internalized misogyny means there are certain victims we don’t trust, usually ones who’ve been publicly “messy.” So many times I’ve heard “I believe all of Cosby’s victims, except Janice Dickinson.” And when news first broke of Lohan accusing her fiancé of abuse in a very strange string of tweets (including one where she announced she was pregnant with a Google image search of her movie Labor Pains) people paid attention to the spectacle, but not the message. Because she’s lied before, she’s been a spectacle before.

If it weren’t for this video, most people wouldn’t believe her still.

Of course, to say “most people” implies this is being covered. It’s not. It’s barely a blip. The majority of the coverage is actually discussing why there is no coverage to begin with.

Society will take any reason not to trust a woman. Even a “perfect” victim faces an obscene amount of pushback and judgment. But when the woman has a “history,” no one takes her seriously. Both of these women are bisexual (in Heard’s case this has been used against her to imply she’s non-monogamous, and in Lohan’s case it was seen by many as another piece of evidence in an ongoing meltdown), and both have faced tabloid and legal troubles. The odds are stacked against both of them and they both desperately want to be heard despite a world that won’t listen because they’re not worthy.

So, I’m sorry, Amber and Lindsay. I’m sorry to all women branded “untrustworthy.” “Unworthy” at all. You all deserve better.