Thread by @Jessicae13Eaton

THREAD ABOUT ANDREW GRIFFITHS INTERVIEW TODAY.

1. My MP has today disclosed that the reason he sent thousands of texts, had sex with his constituents, paid women to beat each other, cheated on his wife, dressed women as pigs and calls women sluts is because he was abused

2. He also disclosed that the reason he did it was because he has mental health issues. This thread will dissect why that simply is not true and why this media spin is damaging to victims of abuse everywhere, and why it is harmful to men and women with mental health issues.

3. First of all, latest statistics show that around 1 in 5 British adults were abused in childhood, but they DO NOT go on to exploit women, Dress them up as pigs, call women sluts, cheat on their partners or pay women to beat each other.

4. Andrew Griffiths did not have a sudden breakdown in behaviour, he has been acting this way for years. In his own text messages he tells the women that he has a slut who he dresses up as a pig and has sex with behind Kate’s back. This is not a one off episode, clearly.

5. Andrew thinks that by using his experiences of abuse and mental health issues as an excuse for his behaviour, no one will comment because it will make them look horrible. However, people who work in this field know different. We know that abuse doesn’t lead to these behaviours

6. I would like to ask Andrew why it is that he has spent years watching our local mental health services get cut and shut down, if he was so close to he cause. Why he bullied mental health activists who were campaigning against closures.

7. This is typical DARVO. Deny, attack, reverse victim and offender. He denied it. Then he attacked Imogen and the other women. Now he’s reversing his role to become the victim in all of this so he never has to take responsibility for what he did whilst serving as our MP

8. Claiming that the reason you exploited and abused women for your own sexual gratification is because you were sexually abused in childhood is an insult to the millions of boys abused in childhood. This is the pathologisation of abuse victims.

9. I do not buy the explanation that this was a one off episode of losing control when your constituents know you have been sleeping around this town, coming on to women, bullying your colleagues and threatening people for years. Take some responsibility for your actions.

10. I hope that the therapists working with Andrew are clever enough to see when someone is using past trauma to excuse their own abusive behaviours. We see this in DV. We see it in SV. We see it in rape. We see it in all sorts of behaviours. Anything but take responsibility.

11. I am not disputing that Andrew may have been abused. And that he has a life of trauma - but I will confidently say that in 9 years of working with over 1000 of victims of abuse/trauma, I’ve yet to meet one who has done what he did and then tell me it was bc they were abused.

12. I would also like to address Andrew’s known use of prostitutes. Maybe he can explain to us why someone with a history of sexual abuse would pay to sexually abuse women, beat them and dress them up as pigs whilst calling them sluts?

13. Can we also remember that NO MATTER WHAT WAS DONE TO US IN CHILDHOOD WE DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO HARM OR EXPLOIT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.

14. Finally, let’s address the obvious porn use. These fetishes about dressing women as pigs, degrading them, abusing them, beating them, leaving bruises on them (as he says in his texts) do not come from being abused as a kid, they come from PORN.

15. As I said in my protest against him, how can any woman trust a man who treats women like animals and sex objects that he can use, abuse and beat for his own sexual pleasure? We make up 51% of his constituency area and yet this is who we are to him. Objects, fuck toys.

16. I’m sorry to be so critical of someone who has disclosed abuse and MH issues but I will not stand by and let either of those things be used as an excuse for abusing women whilst Tory MPs fawn all over him.

MAKE HIM TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

17. Last tweet cos he’s put my off my fucking breakfast.

People who abuse, exploit and harm women do it BECAUSE THEY WANT TO, BECAUSE THEY CHOSE TO, BECAUSE THEY LIKE IT.

Not because they were abused. Not because they have mental health issues.

End of.