1/
"Weinstein's lead defense attorney, Donna Rotunno, tried to raise doubts about [Sciorra's account] . . .
"I didn’t understand that was rape," Sciorra said about the encounter.
"You were 33 years old," Rotunno said."
usatoday.com/story/entertai…
2/
First of all, DARVO alert. A: Attack the credibility of the victim.
I'm sure we will be seeing lots more DARVO coming from the defense.
dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/defineDARV…
3/
And second, this is a dangerous mislead about the nature of chronological age and power and the dynamics of betrayal trauma.
dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/defineBT.h…
4/
It is also stunning to me on a personal note. When I was 33 (29 years ago) and suddenly all over the news as a target of the FMSF, I was almost always introduced in media coverage as "the daughter, Jennifer."
5/
This baffled me as I was at the time a married mother of two children and a tenured professor of psychology and relatively empowered and privileged in the world. To go from being an accomplished adult to a child through media portrayal was stunning.
6/
Stunning and deeply sexist.
7/
"You were 33 years old," Rotunno said.
Now we see the flip side - we see women who were in vulnerable positions where there was a current great power asymmetry portrayed as if they had reasonable choices and power when in fact they did not.
8/
What do I conclude from this? That the forces of denial, the forces that protect an oppressive status quote -- that those forces will distort reality in any way -- no matter how inaccurate -- that is expedient for protecting the oppressive status quo.
9/
A woman who is 33 and has achieved social power (who speaks of abuse) is knocked back down as if a child. A woman who says that when she was 33 and dependent on a powerful abuse is knocked down by implying she had equal access to power and choice.
10 - and Last/
We can change this. We already are. We just have to keep up the courage and the solidarity. I especially hope we continue to cherish the courage of truth tellers and nurture institutional courage.
jjfreyd.com/project-on-ins…
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