A public orgy of misogyny
Gender, power, media, and legal spectacle in Depp v Heard
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7154381 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Camilla Nelson (0000-0001-6281-8607, The University of Notre Dame Australia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 233-249 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Media Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14680777.2024.2304225 |
| OpenAlex | W4391223056 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 14 |
Possibly no other media event has given rise to the widespread ridiculing of domestic violence as the livestreaming of Johnny Depp’s defamation action against his former wife Amber Heard. This article analyses the social media commentary surrounding a Tik Tok released by the Milani cosmetic company, which used the attacks on Heard as an advertising opportunity. The paper contextualises Milani’s intervention in the case within the wider social media commentary targeting Heard’s makeup and appearance and maps its aftermath in the emergence of a cross-platform hashtag #BruiseKit that generated a series of viral posts and videos featuring young women painting fake bruises on their faces. It concludes that the largescale diffusion of reactionary gender ideologies evidenced in the media data was partly shaped by commercial interests and platform incentives, but not—for the most part—driven by formal political actors. Rather, misogyny was commodified. It was produced and consumed as a form of entertainment
Media studies · Physics · Political science · Sociology · Spectacle · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Psychology · Sex work and related issues
Small Stories Research
Small Data, Thick Data
Introducing Social Semiotics
Speaking Out
Tainted Witness
Coercive Control
Four Phases of Mediatization
Three phases of courts’ publicity
The many shades of digital vigilantism. A typology of online self-justice
The ‘most maligned’ witness in the Christopher Dawson case
What is News
Mediatization of Politics
Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 7 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |