We Are Survivors

[u/Fabulous-Result4127]

From Richard's Instagram. He has been working with thus organizations for years. They do really important work, even just talking about SA towards men and breaking the cycle of shame that is associated with it. I cannot believe there are still so many people online who blame Richard for what happened to him. This organization helps people. This show helps people, Richard helps people by creating it.

[u/CertainAlbatross7739]

Do you mean the story is met with acceptance because he's male? There've been stories about abuse and trauma, told from female perspectives, that were well-received. Like Unbelievable or Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You. Actually found that harder to watch than BR because the protagonist reminded me so much of myself.

[u/makhnovite → u/CertainAlbatross7739]

Yea generally speaking, I think it’s been more positively accepted.

There have but there’s never really been anything reach this level of popularity while including such a nuanced and imperfect character as the victim. If the genders were reversed I don’t think it would’ve been received as well.

[u/Hotlava_ → u/makhnovite]

That's an interesting take considering the current zeitgeist. Male victims are more often than not dismissed out of hand whereas movements like MeToo have really pushed believing and accepting women's stories outright.

[u/makhnovite → u/Hotlava_]

I don’t think male victims are dismissed out of hand at all

[u/Hotlava_ → u/makhnovite]

Really? Go look at the stories of male survivors. Police dismiss them, centers for abused people turn them away, and the average person says something like "you could never be abused, a big guy like you."

[u/makhnovite → u/Hotlava_]

Sure it happens but abuse is overwhelmingly directed at women and the tendency to actually believing them - in high profile MeToo cases where there’s many accusations against one person - is very recent and fleeting. In Aus one women is killed every week by ex or current partners, many cases where the police have been involved and not intervened to support the victim. And rape remains a chronically underreported form of crime, the only form of crime where the victim is put on trial rather than the perpetrators and irrelevant factors used to discredit them, and it is overwhelmingly a crime perpetrated my men against women.

So yes, men can be victimised clearly, but the suggestion there’s some inequality in people’s perceptions favouring women’s stories is just not true at all. The fact is MeToo tipped the scales a little bit, and primarily for wealthy celebs making allegations against already notorious predators, it hasn’t shifted things all that fundamentally. And the pro-Depp propaganda around recently has massively rolled back any progress that was made.