Believe women
{{Short description|American political slogan}}
File:Believe women cropped.jpg.]]
"Believe women" is an American political slogan arising out of the #MeToo movement.{{r|Doyle}} It refers to accepting women's allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault at face value. The phrase grew in popularity in response to the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination.
Jude Doyle, writing for Elle, argues that the phrase means "don't assume women as a gender are especially deceptive or vindictive, and recognize that false allegations are less common than real ones."
Criticisms and "Believe all women"<span class="anchor" id="Believe all women"></span>
Rebecca Traister, writing for The Cut, calls the phrase "compelling but flawed": it is often recast as "believe all women", and used as a "deeply problematic" and "clumsy imperative" that has "enfeebled the far more important argument that we should encourage them to speak more, and listen to them more seriously when they talk".{{cite news|last1=Traister|first1=Rebecca|authorlink1=Rebecca Traister|date=26 February 2020|title='You Believe He's Lying?' The latest debate captured Americans' exhausting tendency to mistrust women.|work=The Cut|url=https://www.thecut.com/2020/02/chris-matthews-elizabeth-warren-believe-women.html|accessdate=29 April 2020}}
"Believe all women" is a controversial alternative phrasing of the expression. Monica Hesse writing for The Washington Post argues that the slogan has always been "believe women", and that the "believe all women" variant is "a bit of grammatical gaslighting", a straw man invented by critics so that it could be attacked, and that this alternative slogan, in contrast with "believe women", "is rigid, sweeping, and leaves little room for nuance".{{cite news|last=Hesse|first=Monica |author-link=Monica Hesse|date=12 May 2020|title='Believe Women' was a slogan. 'Believe All Women' is a strawman|newspaper=The Washington Post |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/believe-women-was-a-slogan-believe-all-women-is-a-strawman/2020/05/11/6a3ff590-9314-11ea-9f5e-56d8239bf9ad_story.html |access-date=12 May 2020}} Libertarian journalist Robby Soave writing for Reason disagreed with this interpretation, arguing that "#MeToo advocates demanded a presumption of belief for every individual who claims to be a sexual misconduct victim: i.e., believe all women". He noted that Susan Faludi of The New York Times admitted to having "encountered some feminists who seemed genuinely to subscribe to the more extreme interpretation of the hashtag."{{cite web |last1=Soave |first1=Robby |title=Feminists Who Now Claim They Never Meant 'Believe All Women' Are Gaslighting Us |url=https://reason.com/2020/05/19/believe-all-women-me-too-feminists-biden-reade/ |website=Reason |date=19 May 2020 |access-date=9 January 2022}} For context, the original Faludi quote reads: "In my online searches, I encountered some feminists who seemed genuinely to subscribe to the phrase. But overwhelmingly, the Twitterati deploying the phrase were conservatives, wielding it as a whip."
=General criticisms=
Using the recast "{{em|all}} women" variant of the slogan, Megan McArdle, a writer self-described as "right-leaning libertarian",{{cite news |last1=McArdle |first1=Megan |title=Silicon Valley Will Pay the Price for Its Lefty Leanings |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-12/silicon-valley-will-pay-the-price-for-its-lefty-leanings |work=Bloomberg.com |date=12 January 2018 |language=en |department=Opinion}} suggested in a 2017 Bloomberg opinion column that the trend led to outcomes for those accused of sexual misconduct of the "economic death penalty" – termination of employment and effective blacklisting from their field – in incidents which McArdle viewed as not clearly established, or as involving less serious behaviors.{{cite news |last1=McArdle |first1=Megan |title=Consider the Consequences of #BelieveAllWomen |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-15/consider-the-consequences-of-believeallwomen |work=Bloomberg.com |date=15 December 2017 |language=en|department=Opinion}}
According to The Atlantic, the adoption of a rule in Britain, according to which police should believe reports of sexual assault and consider complainants to be victims, led to improper police investigation of claims and the overlooking of contradictory evidence, resulting in the collapse of prosecutions.{{cite news |last1=Yoffe |first1=Emily |title=The Problem With #BelieveSurvivors |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/brett-kavanaugh-and-problem-believesurvivors/572083/ |access-date=December 31, 2020 |work=The Atlantic |date=3 October 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Martin |title=Police should refer to complainants and not 'victims' when investigating rape cases, senior legal figures suggest |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/20/police-should-refer-complainants-not-victims-investigating-rape/|work= Telegraph Online |date=20 December 2017 |archive-date=14 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114173105/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/20/police-should-refer-complainants-not-victims-investigating-rape/ }} Citing:
- {{cite news |ref=none |last= Timothy |first=Nick |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=20 December 2017 |author-link=Nick Timothy |quote=They are required to 'believe' the account given by an alleged victim at the point at which they record the crime – so that crime is not under-recorded – but they must then undertake 'a thorough investigation of the facts' before a decision is taken to charge and prosecute.|title=The police can't blame budget cuts for innocent men being charged with rape |page=12 |department=Opinion |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/20/police-cant-blame-budget-cuts-innocent-men-charged-rape/}}
Joe Biden sexual assault allegation
In April 2020, a number of politicians and commentators discussed the Joe Biden sexual assault allegation in relation to the "Believe women" slogan. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized what she regarded as a lack of integrity relating to the issue: "If we again want to have integrity, you can't say, you know — both believe women, support all of this, until it inconveniences you, until it inconveniences us."{{cite news |last1=Watson |first1=Eleanor|last2=Erickson|first2=Bo |title=Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'It's legitimate to talk about' allegations against Joe Biden |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-joe-biden-its-legitimate-to-talk-about-allegations/ |accessdate=29 April 2020 |work=CBS News}} The National Review criticized what it considered to be Biden's hypocrisy in "his demand that Americans must believe women as a matter of unwavering reflex" during the Kavanaugh nomination. The editors said, "we hope that this incident has taught Biden that his previous approach toward accusations of sexual assault was dangerous, illiberal, and ultimately untenable."{{cite news |title=The Hypocrisy on Tara Reade Is a National Disgrace |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/the-hypocrisy-on-tara-reade-is-a-national-disgrace/ |accessdate=30 April 2020 |work=National Review |date=27 April 2020}} On the other hand, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stood by Biden and remarked, "When we say 'believe women', it's for this explicit intention of making sure there's space for all women to come forward to speak their truth, to be heard. And in this allegation, that is what Tara Reade has done."{{cite news |last1=Khalid |first1=Asma |title=New Information Emerges Around Biden Sexual Assault Allegation |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/04/29/847840765/new-information-emerges-around-biden-sexual-assault-allegation |accessdate=30 April 2020 |work=NPR |date=29 April 2020}}
Use in media
On September 28, 2018, the dating app Bumble took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times saying simply, "Believe women".{{cite news |last1=Gstalter |first1=Morgan |title=Dating app Bumble publishes full-page ad in NY Times: 'Believe Women' |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/408946-female-driven-dating-app-bumble-publishes-full-page-ad-in-the |access-date=1 October 2018 |work=The Hill |date=28 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001142437/https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/408946-female-driven-dating-app-bumble-publishes-full-page-ad-in-the |archive-date=2018-10-01 |url-status=live }}
See also
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite magazine |last1=Doyle |first1=Jude |title=Despite What You May Have Heard, 'Believe Women' Has Never Meant 'Ignore Facts' |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a13977980/me-too-movement-false-accusations-believe-women/ |access-date=1 October 2018 |magazine=Elle |date=30 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710042720/https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a13977980/me-too-movement-false-accusations-believe-women/ |archive-date=2018-07-10 |url-status=live }}
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{{Weinstein effect}}