Women are allowed to be annoying, bitchy, mean spirited, unkind, lousy, lazy, finicky, anxious, disinterested, disingenuous, disrespectful, and also be believed when they come forward about sexual harassment or assault. Women are allowed to be unliked and also believed. We cannot keep equating our own inability to like someone to our ability or lack thereof to believe them. I don’t see this inability when it comes to men. In fact, I think so many people love a redeeming arc in a man, but hate it seen in women. Why? Why? Why do men get to have comeback stories from things like addiction, theft, bad workplace behavior, even things as heinous as manslaughter… but a woman can’t come back from a bad interview? A bad press junket? A bad relationship? I can’t think of men so hated the way women like Amber Heard and Blake Lively are hated right now. Even beyond them. It’s so easy to hate women right now. Cynthia Erivo, Lea Michele, Jennifer Lopez, Brie Larson, Rachel Zegler, Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, and so on. I see unprecedented amounts of hate for these women and more nearly everytime they make a headline, but I don’t see the same energy for men. And if any one of them were to come out about sexual harassment or assault, I guarantee I’d have to see more comments about how it doesn’t matter because they’re famous, or how they brought it on themselves, or how they’re probably lying because they need the engagement or sympathy. It is so much more important to believe women than it is to belittle them, even the ones you dislike or distrust. Even if she did lie, I promise you, the men that they “ruin” the career of can always come back. The internet will open their arms to any man with half a jawline or lukewarm wit.
