In recent months, actress Amanda Abbington has spoken about her experience on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, stating that working with one of the show's male dancers left her with mild PTSD and that she subsequently received death threats after leaving the show. Since then, stories have continued to plague the actress, branding her a 'troublemaker'.
Following this, two other celebrities stepped up to share similar experiences, and his former pro dance partner claimed that Giovanni Pernice had done "horrendous things" to her.
The truth of this matter is not something the general public will ever know. However, what is extremely concerning is social media's response to this situation.
You see, the vast majority of those weighing in on social media sites or on articles' comment sections are people who have never met any of those involved. And even if they have, they almost certainly were not present when the alleged incidents occurred.
So why is it that so many comments sway towards disbelief that a popular celebrity could, in fact, have done the things they were accused of, particularly if that celebrity happens to be attractive?
Innocent until proven guilty is important - we live in a world where people are tried in the court of public opinion before all of the facts have come to light. But with that said, there is almost always a strong swing towards the woman being villainised.
With that in mind, is it any wonder that so many women don't speak up? Not only are they afraid of not being believed, but strangers are also getting involved in debates about whether or not they are telling the truth. A survey by UN Women UK found that a staggering 96% of women don't report sexual harassment. Similarly, a global study of harassment in the workplace showed that only 59% of women reported incidents that had occurred, a drop from 66% who made reports the year before.
None of this is to say that the men who are called out on their behaviour suffer no consequences at all - they absolutely do, but the fact remains, the more visually appealing the male is, the less online backlash seems to occur.
Weighing in on either side of stories of misconduct with little to no knowledge of the truth can be extremely damaging and that is something I wanted to dig into with the Chaos and Consent series.
What happens when a young girl is photographed half-naked with a popular musician and the picture is splashed all over the internet? What looks innocent at first soon turns into a debate about whether something untoward happened, and whether consent was given... but whose story is believed? The man who has a legion of fans, or the young girl who only wanted a fun night out?
Social media is supposed to be fun, and it can be. But what it shouldn't be is a place to make assumptions about strangers because cruel words can lead to harsh consequences, some of which can never be undone.
You can check out Book 1 of the Chaos Consent Series right here.
