Amanda Knox has a new show about how the media shames women for their sexuality, and here’s how to watch
In news we didn’t expect — and didn’t know we even needed — Amanda Knox has a new series from Vice Media available on Facebook Watch, and it’s all about women who’ve been humiliated or demonized for simply being women. It’s called The Scarlet Letter Reports, and Knox serves as host and co-creator.
For those who don’t know, Knox was charged with the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007 while studying abroad in Italy. The media reported Knox was everything from a sociopath to an “evil temptress” interested in “dark sex games” (the moniker “Foxy Knoxy” was even coined at the time). All charges were eventually dropped after an appeal revealed that the initial case had been completely mishandled and that the jury was likely swayed by the media frenzy. Basically, Knox is no stranger to how the media shame and distort women.
In an interview with Time.com, Knox explained why she wanted to make the show, saying, “Our long history of exploiting women’s bodies and suppressing their voices had a direct impact on my case and other women’s lives. This doesn’t just affect famous people — the way we engage with women in the public eye is reflected in the way we treat people in our broader society. The “slut” is given the same treatment on the school ground as the “ho” in the tabloid. We can’t just pretend that this is a thing that affects some people and not other people — that some people matter and others don’t. Everyone deserves context and compassion.”
The first episode of the new series centers on Anita Sarkeesian, a gamer who created a show called Feminist Frequency about the sexist portrayal of women in video games. However, Sarkeesian soon became a target for vicious and misogynistic internet trolls. Male commentators threatened to rape her, others photoshopped her face onto pornographic images, and she even received death threats. The ordeal sparked the movement known as Gamergate, which shed light on the immense misogyny within the gamer community. false
Here’s the first episode of The Scarlet Letter Reports if you’re already intrigued.
Knox will be interviewing four more women for the first season of the series, including Amber Rose and Mischa Barton, and we have a feeling we’ll be watching every single one of them.