22/05/2023 | By Caitlin Baker | @c8linbaker. Image by Kat Smith
In recent years, Cancel culture has become engraved into society and I can't help but notice the impact on women from a feminist perspective. Why does the media choose to villainise women?
Cancel culture is a relatively new phenomenon that has emerged in recent years. It refers to the practice of publicly shaming or boycotting individuals or organisations that are perceived to have acted inappropriately or offensively. While the intention behind cancel culture may be to hold people accountable for their actions, it can also have negative impacts on mental well-being. In some aspects cancel culture has turned sinister, boycotting people for a mistake rather than allowing them to educate themselves.
Cancel culture truly is all around, you can't miss it. It's very likely that you have been impacted by cancel culture in one way or another as YouGov states '45% of 18-24 year olds...know what it is, compared to 40% of 25-49 year olds, 31% of 50-64 year olds, and 26% of those aged 65 and above.'
Cancel culture is purely a toxic trend causing people to fear sharing their opinion over the thought of getting 'cancelled', 'A majority of Britons (57%) say they have, at least sometimes, found themselves stopping themselves from expressing their political or social views for fear of judgement or negative responses from others.'
A substantially large part of cancel culture is hate-following and hate-watching, which you've also more than likely participated in. "Hate-following is deciding to follow someone on social media, even though you know you disagree with what they say, or think they are a terrible person," according to University of Melbourne media lecturer Jennifer Beckett. Hate-watching can be described as "to watch and take pleasure in laughing at or criticizing." Hate-following and hate-watching implement a toxic mindset that allows us to cancel people for entertainment and then feed off the hate they're receiving.
"cancelling is not actually about morality; it's about dominance." - psychologist and author of 'How To Build A Healthy Brain', Kimberley Wilson via Vogue
What does this have to do with feminism? I'm glad you asked.
Cancel culture and those who enforce it have taken it upon themselves to villainize women. The cancellation of women and the long-lasting impact appears to be a lot harsher than the cancellation and long-lasting impact of men. Why? Why is a woman being scorned from society yet a man appears able to rise from his wrongdoings?
A prime example is Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp took Amber Heard to court on allegations of defamation after she suggested he abused her in a 2018 'Washington Post' op-ed. The media were quick to choose sides, opting for Johnny as he seemed to be the more desirable one to defend. This has nothing to do with evidence, this has to do with Johnny's reputation. Johnny was well-known and well-liked by the public for his films from 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?' to the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise. Nobody wanted to think a man we've grown up watching and idolising could be capable of such heinous crimes, from that point on the cancellation of Amber Heard was inevitable.
In July 2020 Johnny Depp lost an attempt to overturn a damning high court ruling that concluded he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard and left her in fear for her life. Even with this ruling the media still attacked Amber Heard ridiculing her for anything they could while Johnny stood idly by.
In April 2022 Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp was taken to the US. During round two of the trial, Amber's lawyer, Benjamin Rottenborn read out texts Johnny sent to Paul Bettany regarding Amber. These texts spoke of Johnny burning, drowning and raping Amber. What Johnny said was despicable yet Johnny received little to no backlash, the media continued to board the Amber Heard hate train.
Why?
Why did Johnny receive no backlash for saying such horrendous things yet Amber faced death threats, vile comments, and memes about small comments she made during the trial like her dog stepping on a bee.?
Why has the media chosen to glorify this wicked man and villanize this woman when they're both as bad as each other?
The Women's Network states, 'Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan are prime examples of females who have been cancelled, with the public ridiculing them for their struggles with drug addiction and mental health. Instead of taking them seriously and seeing them as people who need help, they became the butt of jokes. These two women have struggled to make a comeback in their acting careers because of how the public perceives them. However, male actors who have also struggled with drug addiction, like Ben Affleck, have not seen their careers affected to that same degree. This blip in his life does not hold him back from continuing to be successful in his career unlike his female counterparts.' We as a society choose to demonise women who have done the exact same things as men which is why cancel culture has such an impact on feminism. Cancel culture allows people to find an excuse to hate on women, to degrade women and to patronise women.
How can we as a society of feminists stop the negative impacts of cancel culture on women?
Stop enforcing it.
Stop enforcing cancel culture, it's as simple as that. Cancel culture is simply glorified bullying, it has the word toxic written all over it. the toll it takes on mental well-being can be ghastly, VeryWellMind states 'Unfortunately, cancelling often turns into bullying. Like bullying, if you've been cancelled, you may feel ostracized, socially isolated, and lonely. And research shows that loneliness is associated with higher anxiety, depression, and suicide rates." Growing up I know for a fact my generation was constantly told that bullying is wrong and that it's never acceptable. Why all of a sudden because we've given it a different name is it now socially acceptable? VeryWellMind also touches on how the mental well-being of the bystander can be impacted, 'After seeing so many people being cancelled, some bystanders are plagued with fear. They become overwhelmed with anxiety that people will turn on them if they fully express themselves. This can cause them to keep their thoughts bottled up instead of talking about and working through their opinions and emotions. Bystanders might also worry that others will find something in their pasts to use against them. Or they may fear that every word they say or write is going to be examined under a microscope and construed as offensive, even if it wasn't meant to be.' Cancel culture has a negative impact on everyone not just the one being cancelled. We need to allow people to express their opinions and emotions without there being a threat of being cancelled, we cannot allow our emotions to bottle up over time and result in greater impacts on mental well-being.
I firmly believe that cancel culture should be thrown away. However, I do believe it's important to call someone out on their wrongdoings to allow personal growth. Instead of enforcing cancel culture try enforcing call-out culture, 'Call-out culture is about calling, attention to someone's wrongdoing and giving them a chance to learn from and correct the issue.' Call-out culture allows people to recognise that they've done something wrong and educate themselves, it doesn't install fear or anxiety such as cancel culture. Call-out culture is less vile towards the person being called out, it lets them know they've done something wrong without aiming to ruin them.
The bottom line is that cancel culture impacts feminism negatively, there's no need for a woman to get harsher treatment than a man for doing the exact same thing as she does. Cancel culture is used as an excuse to bully women, an excuse to be a bully and a misogynist.
Will you put your foot down and stop enforcing cancel culture? Speaking to all feminists, we need to.
Did you enjoy this article? Do you want to hear more? Listen to ‘Cancelling a Feminist’ on Spotify, a more informal take on the treatment of women throughout cancel culture.
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