Right, fuck it, I've been trying to stay out of it all, but I have to say something about it. I don't care what 'side' (ick) you take on the Depp/Heard trial, the use of 'odd mannerisms' as a way to determine deception is deeply, deeply dangerous for neurodivergent people.
This is not to say she ISN'T lying, again, this isn't about that, but it is about the wider implications that these 'analyses' of her behaviour, and her body language, have for vulnerable people. As someone who reacts 'oddly' or in unexpected ways to things, it's dangerous.
The overall sense I'm getting from the narratives around this trial is that if I were to be abused, and would report my abuser, and would go to trial, my very natural weird mannerisms, the way my body language doesn't always match what I'm saying, would be used to discredit me.
Body language analysis, and other pseudo-science around 'detecting deception', is deeply fucking flawed at the best of times, but it's ENTIRELY flawed and useless when dealing with neurodivergent people. Just coz we don't act the way you think we 'should' doesn't make us liars.
Please, I'm begging everyone, regardless of who is actually telling the truth or lying in this trial, please STOP doing this. You are setting precedent that will directly harm vulnerable and marginalised neurodivergent people. Turn the 'body language' analysis youtubers off.
The truthfulness of what someone is saying should not hang contingent on whether or not they perform body language exactly the way that you have deemed acceptable. Especially in cases of abuse, because neurodivergent people are disproportionately likely to be victims of abuse.
This entire discourse is going to leave vulnerable neurodivergent people feeling as though they cannot report abuse, because they fear they will not be believed, and is also setting a standard of what 'truth' looks like that disadvantages neurodivergent people.
I've been sitting here, in my room, listening to my family watch and comment on this trial, and make sweeping generalisations about people's truthfulness based on their mannerisms, and I now no longer feel that they would believe me were I ever to be abused and tell them.
I'm muting notifications for this thread because I can't handle the things I know people are going to say to me. Every time I talk about this trial I receive a barrage of misogyny and biphobia and I just can't deal with that right now. I really, truly can't.
I cannot stop crying. I don't want to leave my room.

Because I always thought my family would believe me if I was abused and told them, and now I'm questioning whether they would.

I wish all 'body language analysis' YouTube channels a very unpleasant 'go fuck yourselves'.
Oh, and yesterday, I had to endure hearing my mums watching a livestream where they were playing 'fuck marry kill' with the lawyers in this trial and debating who was the 'hottest' person in the courtroom.

Fuck all of y'all, seriously. Fuck you. This isn't a game.
Let's not even get STARTED on how 'odd mannerisms' can literally COME from the fact someone has been abused, because PTSD can fuck with you like that and make you behave in unexpected ways or ways where your body isn't quite in sync with what you say. Like, fuck y'all.
I hope you all enjoyed the fucking trial, I'm sure it was deeply entertaining for you. I'm just going to go to bed and stew in the knowledge that I will never, ever be believed if I report abuse, ever, because I have the fucking audacity to have mannerisms y'all deem 'odd'.
The discourse and press around this trial has set the situation for victims, PARTICULARLY neurodivergent and otherwise marginalised victims, back years. We'll be feeling the impact of this trial for years to come. I feel sick.
Whoever you think abused who in this case, whoever you believe or don't believe, we have officially memefied abuse for our own entertainment. We turned abuse into a football match. And people made big money from doing their pseudoscience 'analysis'. That only hurts victims. Fuck.
Shut the internet down, it was a mistake.
People coming in my replies to tell me why you think Heard was lying have entirely missed the point of everything I just wrote, and honestly I don't care why you think that? Read what I wrote. Whether she's lying or not matters not at all to anything I've said.
I have my own opinions on the trial itself. I'm not sharing them publicly because this isn't about that. I'm talking about real, tangible, cultural impact that all this toxic bullshit, this gameification, this armchair detective and diagnostics session, has and will have.
Seeing as I'm now getting more comments because of the verdict: whoop, she was lying, you were vindicated this time. What about next time? When someone behaves oddly and you go 'well, must be guilty' or 'well, they're lying' and they're fucking NOT? What if you get it wrong?
You correctly read that this person was lying. Guess what? I get incorrectly read as lying ALL the fucking time. I know other neurodivergent people do too, they've been sharing their stories on here, particularly when it comes to the police and the courts. What about that time?
A lot of the traits of Heard's that were read as her lying, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SHE WAS LYING OR NOT, are traits I see in neurodivergent people around me. Not crying properly? Check. Strange affectations? Check. Body language not 'matching' what she's saying? Fucking check.
So what happens if you're a juror, and one of THOSE people is sitting in the dock, either accused of a crime or trying to get justice for one, and they do those things? What about them, huh? What will be the consequences of you 'definitely being able to tell' if someone is lying?
Stop this. It's bullshit. Stop the body language analysis, stop the 'well we read this one right!', stop all of it. This isn't a game. This is a real issue that neurodivergent people face on a daily basis, coming up against this sort of assumption, this 'I can tell' swaggery.
Absolutely screw all this. The damage that has been done, in a system that is already so heavily stacked against neurodivergent people, by all this public fuckery, all these assertions, these 'analyses', this conviction, is catastrophic for neurodivergent people. I'm done. Fuck.
And if you are coming to my replies to say 'actually I made my mind up based on the evidence, not my opinion of her body language' then well done, this thread isn't for you or about you, so, I don't know what you want me to say?
You can follow @QueerlyAutistic.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: