In the court of public opinion, men and women still not equal

When it comes to public opinion, women face harsher trials than men — long before any verdict is reached, writes Zayda Dollie.

*CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses rape and sexual assault

THE FEUD BETWEEN co-lead and director Justin Baldoni and Hollywood actress Blake Lively on It Ends With Us has culminated in competing lawsuits. It is a feud being fought on the internet in routinised he said/she said cycles with no end in sight.

Lively’s accusations of sexual violation were announced to both Baldoni and the public in the form of a New York Times splash. The decision to make the allegations news before they had been verified has given Baldoni grounds to countersue the New York Times.

A film dispute over who decides what and who gets credit for it is not unique to this industry or any. A conflict over creative differences and executive rights could have been labelled as such. They’re called issues — we’ve all got some.

A private issue doesn’t have to be of public interest, but any conflict will become news when nuanced with sexual intent or misconduct. This is a mechanism of news that both serves and fails its victims. It can be hacked. Sex does more than add a juicy layer to a story — sex can qualify a story as news, by turning it into a legal matter.

The Far-Right's war against women in America

Whether it be abortion law, birth control rights or sex education censorship, the far-right in the U.S. appears hell-bent on restricting the basic rights of women, Patrick Drennan writes.

If there were residual effects from the global-reaching ‘Me Too’ movement of 2017, then they have all but dissipated in the eight years since it peaked.

At its height, the movement saw the conviction of Hollywood producer and serial rapist Harvey Weinstein after The New Yorker published the accounts of 13 women alleging sexual assault. The power in #MeToo was that it flipped the social script by turning victim-shaming into victim-validation.

But the movement had an expiry date — Weinstein's 23-year sentence was overturned and he now faces retrial.

Most sexual assault cases never make it to court in Western societies, according to statistics in Australia and the UK. The number of women who withdraw charges either during the investigation or court proceedings has been rising over the last ten years.

Part of the reason for this was found by a Senate Inquiry:

‘Victim-survivors are … discouraged from reporting, by knowing that their private lives and personal information will be publicly examined during any criminal trial.'

Women don’t tend to come out unscathed in a situation involving sex, whether they were at fault or not.

By all accounts, in the Baldoni vs Lively case, she had the power in terms of fame, finance, sway and a more commercially successful career. Lively has been in the spotlight for a lot longer than the people she is suing.

And yet her position of power has granted her no immunity. She has not been spared the public scrutiny that ordinary women fear before facing a courtroom or an interrogation.

It is difficult to see Lively as a victim, the same way it was difficult to see Amber Heard as one in the much-publicised Heard vs Depp trial from 2022. Heard was mostly criticised when she appeared in court after ex-partner and movie icon Johnny Depp sued her for defamation and Heard countersued. Incidentally, Baldoni and Depp shared the same PR crisis team.

Lively and Heard face the same problem all women face. Women do not survive this process — the judgment comes long before the verdict.

For women in the public eye, reputation is a form of currency. It is lucrative but ultimately an unreliable form of security. It will not shield them when shots are fired. A woman will spend much of her life trying to protect her reputation, rather than being protected by it.

For a man, a good reputation is bulletproof. A man with power and influence is virtually untouchable.

In the Depp vs Heard trial, the couple's former marriage counsellor told the jury:

"They engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse."

And yet in terms of public life and career prospects, Depp lost almost nothing. Heard left Hollywood in 2022 and is rumoured to have rebuilt her life in Spain. Meanwhile, the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 6 has just dropped.

A woman has more to lose from her interior life being exposed. She becomes subject to the kind of judgment that impacts her future career and social prospects, if she is left with any. Men and women might be equal in the eyes of the law, but never in the eyes of the public.

Women's rights are paramount: The world is failing on gender equality

I'm sitting in Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands. A small island nation located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is beautiful.

After Lively declared war, Baldoni's legal team hit back with the ultimate countermove, ensuring Lively's defeat, no matter who wins in court.

Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman told media:

"We plan to release every single text message between the two of them. There is nothing that in any way is a concern about this entire situation from our perspective, and we want the truth to be out there."

While complete transparency may seem like Baldoni is on the right side of the law, the added scrutiny only succeeds in dividing him from his more famous co-star. Lively is a celebrity — she has spent years cultivating her public persona. Full disclosure is not something she can back when she uses her public image to protect herself from the public. The problem is that her image lies in its hands.

The public decides how it sees Lively, not the other way round. There is no way for her to win.

Lively will be judged by the same standards reserved for all women: she will be judged on everything.

By the time she is tried by the public and subjected to its scrutiny, a court verdict will become irrelevant. Like most women, Lively will have lost more than anything she stands to gain during the process.

Zayda Dollie is an IA assistant editor who believes in the power of stories and in having female voices heard. You can follow her on Instagram @zayda_dollie_hendricks, X @ZaydaD or Bluesky @zaydadollie.