Amber hears supporters say they are facing misogyny and online threats

• Women who supported Amber Heard at Johnny Depp trial say they’ve been hated online.
• After tweeting “#IStandWithAmberHeard”, the women said they received threatening messages.
• They told Insider they chose to defend Hurd because they wanted to support women more broadly.

Katie Diaz has been an Amber Heard supporter since 2016, when Actor files for divorce From her now ex-husband Johnny Depp. May 4, when I heard it stopped in the couple’s ongoing defamation trialDiaz expressed her support for Heard on Twitter using the hashtag #IStandWithAmberHeard.

But Depp’s fans have also used the hashtag, flooded with comments from alleged Heard supporters “delusional” and question Why would anyone believe her testimony.

Depp sues Hurd She was slandered in an article she wrote in 2018 for saying she was a victim of intimate partner violence. Heard files a $100 million countersuit, both parties have filed Physical Abuse Allegation Against each other, each denied that they were the abusers in the relationship.

On social media, Depp’s fans appear to outnumber Heard’s supporters by a wide margin.On TikTok, the hashtag #justiceforjohnnydepp has 12 billion pageviews, and #JusticeforAmberHeard There are 44 million.I heard already slandered on social media, Many Depp supporters laughed at her and her legal team.

The polarizing nature of the trial has gone beyond people sharing their opinions to include a personal threat to the safety of some users. Eight Heard supporters told Insider they collectively received hundreds of hateful comments because they publicly expressed their support for Heard. Still, they are committed to speaking out.

Some women say they face misogynistic comments and threats online for publicly supporting Hurd

Diaz told Insider that throughout the trial, she received threatening direct messages and tweets from people who appeared to support Depp. “I think some people just get off when they send hate or get a reaction from someone,” she said, adding that she found them “very disturbing.”

Diaz told Insider that she felt the tweets aimed at Hurd supporters were “an attack on women” because many of them contained sexist overtones.

In direct messages to Diaz and other women seen by insiders, people used misogynistic swear words to refer to Hurd’s supporters, and some comments included threats of sexual or physical violence.

Jennifer, a Heard supporter who declined to give her surname for privacy reasons, told Insider she believes the misogynistic comments are mostly from “male rights activists” who are “supporting this trial and how people feel about it.” social media. ”

Much of the online discussion surrounding the Depp v. Hurd trial has been about allegations of abuse by both sides. As Insider previously reportedsome support for Depp appears to be tied to the narrative of “male activism” – a movement based on a belief that men are losing power and facing social discrimination – many of whom Criticizing the #MeToo Movement And suggested that Depp was the real victim, not Heard.

Diaz said some have speculated that Hurd’s supporters don’t believe men can be victims of intimate partner violence, which she says is untrue.

Diaz told Insider, “None of us have said that men can’t be victims.” However, she added that she believes “abusers are still men.”

Statistics from National Coalition Against Domestic Violence – without specifying the gender of the abuser – suggests that one in four women has experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime, while one in nine men is a victim.However, these numbers are controversial because they rely on self-reports, and Some Researchers Believe This social stigma prevents some male victims from admitting or disclosing their abuse.

Online comments take emotional toll on these women, who have taken steps to protect themselves from online hate

After receiving several threatening messages on Twitter, Jennifer told Insider that she deleted every photo of herself from her account because she feared that people might find her personal information and use it to “anger her” “. She added, “I don’t read the comments anymore because they are so irritating.”

Isa Ford, a 20-year-old Heard supporter who lives in France, told Insider that Depp’s fans have been mass reporting her account for violating Twitter’s guidelines.

In an email from Twitter seen by Insider, Ford was told her account was temporarily locked “Hateful Behavior” Violation, although she believes her tweets about the trial were harmless. Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider’s request to clarify which of Ford’s tweets were deemed to violate the guidelines.

Ford told Insider she received messages telling her to “leave social media” and even encouraging her to hurt herself. She told Insider it was “very difficult” to receive such information.

Ivana Escalara told Insider that since the trial began, she has blocked 13,000 users who tweeted about her or posted negative comments. “It’s very difficult to express my opinion without being attacked, which is why a lot of people don’t speak out for Amber and those who have been shut down or restricted from responding,” she said.

These women say they will continue to support Heard online and believe they are also standing up for themselves and women in general

Of the eight women interviewed by Insider, three said they had a close personal connection to the trial because they had experienced intimate partner violence themselves.

Three of them also said they were concerned that female survivors of domestic violence might be discouraged from speaking out because Hurd and her supporters were ridiculed online.

Hurd supporter Sarah, 18, told Insider she believes survivors of intimate partner violence are “watching people’s reactions to this trial and they are likely to be influenced by the narrative that is spreading.”

“It’s not just Johnny Depp and Amber Heard,” she added.

Sarah said she would continue to point out the negative impact the trial could have on women, which she believes is a “double standard” that has led to Hedepp facing more online taunts than Depp.

“All Amber’s movements in the stands are being dissected, and the victim accusation that’s happening right now means that if she’s crying, she’s acting, and if she’s not crying, then she’s not being abused,” she told Insider.

She added, “It’s crazy that Johnny Depp is literally laughing in court when Amber’s actions are being dissected. The double standard is crazy.”

A representative for Hurd declined to comment. Depp did not immediately respond to an insider’s request for comment.

For more of these stories, check out Insider’s Digital Culture team’s coverage here.