 Family Court Enabled Ex to Take & Turn Kids Against Her
“He said if I divorced him, he’d take full custody of our kids…His words paralyzed me…” Alex Kasser, former Connecticut State Senator Connecticut State Senator Alex Kasser resigned yesterday citing Family Court proceedings and painful memories of her children, who she says the father has estranged from her. Alex says her ex threatened he would take their three children away from her if she left him. She must have understood Family Court would help him to do just that, so she stayed for a while longer, trapped in the marriage, until the children were older. She left a few years ago, and apparently Family Court did enable the father to follow through on his threats to take and estrange the children from her. Kasser helped get Jennifer’s Law passed, which she says will help women trapped in abusive situations like hers. But, unfortunately, it will not because it cannot stop judges from deeming women liars or mentally ill. As long as judges have the power to discredit us, they can take our children and give custody to the father. New DV and child safety laws won’t make a dent in the crisis. And there is no way to hold judges accountable or abolish judicial immunity. The only way women will regain the power to keep and protect our kids is to demand an entirely new system that does not allow for male entitlement. Custody cases must be removed from Family Court and heard in a REAL court. Juries must be the factfinders, not judges, and other due process protections ensured, as provided for in the Child Custody Act: https://www.womenscoalitioninternational.org/enact-child-custody-act.html Many women don’t know that men can still punish and subjugate “their” women through Family Court. You can help raise awareness about the Custody Crisis: Share TWC posts on FB and other social media platforms Share TWC website Share powerpoint linked below Educate women you know about the crisis Support The Women’s Coalition Kasser's statement: Fighting For Freedom Takes Courage My Resignation From the Connecticut State Senate https://alex-41687.medium.com/fighting-for-freedom-takes-courage-a1addc084a77 MSM: CT state Sen. Kasser resigns amid divorce litigation https://www.wfsb.com/news/ct-state-sen-kasser-resigns-amid-divorce-litigation/article_a6870d94-d37e-11eb-bdd5-9374258e211e.html MORE INFO on the crisis: The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It https://fb.watch/55BCBfcElI/ DONATE: If you appreciate the work of TWC, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/
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 Rally Tomorrow for Gracie in Tennessee!
“My father is a monster. He is a rapist; he is a molester; he is a liar; and he is a killer.” Gracie Gracie is a brave girl who has taken to social media to expose childhood-long sexual abuse by her father because Family Court has ignored her reports of abuse and forced her into his custody. There is a rally tomorrow, June 22, 1pm, 135 4th Ave. South, Franklin, Tennessee, in support of Gracie being protected--finally! Please attend if you are in the area. Gracie just wants to live with her safe, loving mother. Her friend's and her videos should be entered into evidence as "Evidentiary Abuse Affidavits" making it harder for the judge to disregard them, especially now that they are public. Judge Deanna Bell Johnson (pictured) is just the latest judge disregarding and covering up the reported physical abuse of Gracie’s mom and brother, along with her sexual abuse. Notably, Judge Johnson and her husband, a state senator are members of the private Christian school that Gracie attends, which she says has not helped protect her or her brother and has also been covering up their abuse. The rally coincides with an afternoon hearing on the father’s defamation lawsuit against 30 of Gracie's supporters who have spoken out in support of Gracie. The defendants have asked for dismissal on the grounds the lawsuit’s aim is to silence them, thus violating their right to free speech. The defamation case is before Judge James Martin and local media has been covering it as a freedom of speech issue, so that should be interesting. The rally is also for getting justice for her brother, Grant, who she claims was murdered by her father to silence him about the sexual abuse. Link to Gracie's video Link to Gracie's friend Anna's video SUMMARY Angelie, a doctor, first lost custody when she reported serious DV by her husband a decade ago: a violent incident involving strangling. Judge Philip Smith accepted the father’s claim that she strangled herself, despite corroboration of the attack by family members and professionals supporting her credibility. He determined Angelie was mentally ill, put her in a mental institution and gave sole custody of Gracie and Grant to the father, who was allowed to keep the kids away from their mother for many years. Gracie’s brother, Grant, was killed last year in a suspicious accident where the father was present, and Gracie believes he murdered him to silence him. Grant had just turned 18 and was planning to go to authorities to try to help protect his sister from his father. Gracie is fearful her father will harm or kill her and is trying to get a decent investigation conducted into his death. There have been many reports of abuse over the entirety of Gracie’s childhood, but Family Court, CPS, police, the children’s school and the court-appointed GAL have continually disregarded and covered up the evidence. Judge Deanna Bell Johnson took over the cover up a few years back. She will be MIA on Tuesday rally day, which is unsurprising, considering the public attention now on her giving custody to a credibly accused DV perpetrator and rapist. Gracie says she’s been abused by her father for as long as she can remember and Angelie has been trying to protect her children unsuccessfully since the divorce. Judge Johnson recently further disempowered Angelie by ruling she may not file any more motions. This misuse of the “vexatious litigant” policy silence is common in protective mother cases. SHAME on Judge Deanna Bell Johnson! Give Gracie back to her mother!! SHARE! #freedomforgracie #justiceforgrant TWC NOTE: Unfortunately we just found out about the rally so no time to gather our moms to attend, but if you can make it on short notice, plz let TWC know. We will watch for any future rallies, but they may be silenced. Watch this page. FREEDOM FOR GRACIE ON: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Freedom-For-Gracie-110679161194219/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freedomforgracie/ MSM: Franklin rally planned in support of alleged victim of abuse, to coincide with court hearing https://www.williamsonhomepage.com/franklin/franklin-rally-planned-in-support-of-alleged-victim-of-abuse-to-coincide-with-court-hearing/article_c980e964-cded-11eb-b70a-6f3dcca52182.html Williamson County family exchanges litigation over accusations of child abuse, murder https://www.williamsonhomepage.com/news/williamson-county-family-exchanges-litigation-over-accusations-of-child-abuse-murder/article_4e0c95c4-c890-11eb-a417-cf5b79d77d40.html 14yo Gracie Says Her Father Raped Her and Murdered Her Brother Why aren’t we hearing her story? https://medium.com/honestly-yours/a-tennessee-girl-says-her-father-raped-her-and-murdered-her-brother-3b00b93fd54e MORE INFO on the crisis: The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It https://fb.watch/55BCBfcElI/ DONATE: If you appreciate the work of TWC, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/ [PICTURED: left: Gracie; top: Gracie with mom Angelie; middle: Gracie with Grant; bottom: Judge Deanna Bell Johnson]  Video: https://www.facebook.com/ali.kessler/videos/10222073796488827
“I don’t want to see daddy!” Little Greyson in video, crying Little Greyson’s mom, Ali, was doing what the Family Court judge mandated last Father’s Day: making him visit his abusive father and trying to make him feel OK about it. He was murdered by his father on a visit last month. Little Greyson knew he was not safe with his father and begged his mother to not make him go, but Ali did not have the power to protect him. Women must have the power to do what they believe is in their children’s best interest, even if that means keeping them away from their father. Custody cases must be removed from Family Court and a jury be the fact finder, not a judge. The power to keep and protect children is provided for in the Child Custody Act [CCA] through a code in which the child's primary attachment figure, mother or father, has final decision-making power. Also, if the jury finds that the father has been abusive by preponderance of evidence, he would be restricted to supervised visits. If the CCA had been implemented, Little Greyson would probably still be alive today. As soon as we have a more powerful coalition, we will be demanding the CCA be implemented. JOIN The Women's Coalition to Unite for Action: WomensCoalitionInternational.org #ChildCustodyAct #DamonsAct POST with more info about Ali's case: https://www.facebook.com/TheWomensCoalition/photos/a.1464723457135309/2988422904765349/ RIP Little Greyson Condolences to Ali TWC Extends Sympathy and Solidarity to All Mothers Whose Children Are Coerced to Visit with Abusive Fathers this Father's Day MORE INFO on the crisis: The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It https://fb.watch/55BCBfcElI/ If you appreciate the work of TWC, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/  Women Gather to Protest "Sexist Murders"
“He wanted me to suffer, looking for them without rest and for the remainder of my life. That was the reason he left me alive…” Beatriz, Olivia and Anna’s mother Little Olivia and Anna’s father murdered them to spite his ex. He put them in bags and threw them in the ocean off Tenerife Islands, part of Spain, where they lived. Six year-old Olivia’s body was recovered in the bag, while another bag nearby was found empty. The search continued this week for one year-old Anna and the father, both presumed dead. It is great that so many women came out and protested their murders as “gendered violence” and “sexist murders”. However, it’s important for women’s rights organizations to take it one step further and recognize that the greatest harm to our children is not due to lack of rights. It is due to systemic sexism in Family Courts: judges routinely finding women to be liars and granting custody and unsupervised visitation to violent and unfit fathers. It is unclear whether the father in this case was abusive before the murders or if Beatriz had tried to restrict his visitation in Family Court. The important point is that if she had tried to protect them, she would likely have lost custody for interfering with the father’s relationship with his children or some other fabricated finding. Women fear losing custody, so they often agree to whatever visitation the father wants. While it is not uncommon for vengeful men to harm or murder children to spite their ex, it is rare for women. Paradoxically, in Family Court, it is often the mother found to be vengeful when simply trying to protect her children from a vengeful ex. Beatriz is asking for tougher laws to protect children, but new laws won’t help. We need an entirely new system where judges do not have the power to deem us liars and give our children to abusive fathers. When women protest cases in which fathers murder children, the “custody crisis” must be made front and center. Women should carry signs saying that women do not have the power to protect children due to sexism in Family Court. The Women's Coalition will be organizing rallies and protests with this message soon. #ChildCustodyAct #DamonsAct SHARE: Please help raise awareness of the Custody Crisis by sharing! MORE INFO on the crisis: The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It https://fb.watch/55BCBfcElI/ Mother of missing sisters Olivia and Anna Gimeno calls for tougher laws to protect children from violence https://inews.co.uk/news/world/olivia-and-anna-gimeno-zimmermann-mother-beatriz-urges-tougher-laws-to-protect-children-from-violence-1050917 TWC NOTE: Now that covid is getting under control, TWC will be starting up the local coalitions again soon. View on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWomensCoalition/photos/a.1464723457135309/3007913126149660/ If you appreciate the work of TWC, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/ [Pictured: Beatriz; Anna; Olivia; women protesting in Madrid, Spain  Judge Forbids Kids’ Testimony; Excludes Evidence; Seals Record
“All my client is asking for is a fair trial based on facts.” Attorney for Angelina “Judge Ouderkirk denied Ms. Jolie a fair trial, improperly excluding her evidence relevant to the children’s health, safety, and welfare, evidence critical to making her case.” From Angelina’s appeal, filed on Monday Judge John Ouderkirk has removed primary custody from Angelina Jolie after sabotaging her case. The only thing remarkable about this is that it took 5 years for a Family Court judge to give a father what he wanted. CHILDREN'S TESTIMONY Judge Ouderkirk forbade all of Angelina’s six children from testifying, despite California law permitting them to testify. The children apparently wanted to give their reasons directly to the judge for wanting to continue living primarily with their mother. Ouderkirk obviously didn’t want to hear anything that would make it harder to order equal parenting. NEW EVIDENCE OF DV Angelina reportedly filed a declaration in March that included proof of domestic violence not yet before the court. Ouderkirk appears to have disregarded that evidence. APPEAL Angelina filed an appeal on Monday, accused Ouderkirk of wrongly excluding evidence, as well as requesting his removal based on the judge having business interests with opposing counsel. Even if Angelina wins her appeal, her case will likely be remanded back to the same judge, or another one, who will find another way to justify giving the father equal custody, or even sole custody, saying she is interfering with the father’s parenting. EQUAL PARENTING Fathers’ rights activists push for equal parenting laws and policy saying that is what’s fair for fathers. However, societal consensus and legal doctrine support that the best interests of children should prevail, not what parents think is fair for themselves. Research and experience support that it is in children’s best interest is to live primarily with their primary attachment figure after divorce, especially when parents don’t get along and children say that is what they want. COVER UP Of course, Ouderkirk sealed the record so we the public cannot see what kind of DV has been reported and by whom, and hence know how unfair his ruling may be. This sealing of records, along with exclusion of evidence that doesn’t support the father’s position, are common tactics used by Family Court judges to facilitate switching custody. This is tantamount to a cover up. MORAL OF THE STORY The moral of this story is that even a mother as famous and wealthy as Angelina Jolie can be sabotaged in Family Court and, like all women, does not have the power to maintain primary custody or protect her children after divorce. 3 WORDS: Systemic Male Entitlement JOIN The Women’s Coalition where we are fighting for a new system. https://www.WomensCoalitionInternational.org/ ACTIVISM: tell everyone you know why you side with Angelina to help change the narrative about forced equal parenting. And share this post on Facebook and Twitter! MSM: Angelina Jolie Reportedly Feels Failed by the Court After Her Children Didn’t Get to Testify in Ongoing Divorce Case With Brad Pitt https://www.vanityfair.com/.../angelina-jolie-failed-by... Angelina Jolie Loses Bid to Remove Judge Overseeing Her Divorce From Brad Pitt https://www.vanityfair.com/.../angelina-jolie-brad-pitt... MORE INFO: The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It https://fb.watch/55BCBfcElI/ DONATE: If you appreciate the work of TWC, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/  The Custody Crisis Is NOT Gender Neutral; Judges Are NOT Mistaken; The Solution Is NOT Training or New Laws
In a new two-part NBC News series, the Custody Crisis is being portrayed as gender neutral, caused by untrained judges making mistakes and a lack of child safety legislation. This damaging misinformation misleads the public and points to ineffective solutions which will only prolong the crisis. The investigative series discusses how “parents” are unable to protect children from “abusers” in Family Court, implying that judges are not protecting children from both abusive mothers and fathers. The chiron reads: “Judges Accused of Ignoring Abuse in Custody Battles”. However, the ONLY epidemic is WOMEN being unable to maintain custody or protect their children from fathers and it is being caused by systemic discrimination against women and male entitlement. The only reference to a father supposedly unable to protect his children from their mother was in a 5 second video clip where a reporter said the mother had murdered her children. But the mother was previously a loving mother who murdered them because the judge gave custody to their father, who she believed was abusing and sex trafficking them. (This info was in the same report the 5 second video clip came from.) So this was not a case of a judge ignoring abuse by a mother and switching custody to a father as is the theme of the series. It was another case in which the judge ignored the mother’s reports of sexual abuse. The board chair of the National Parents Organization is quoted as saying “people” use allegations of parental alienation strategically and falsely, but “people” also use allegations of abuse strategically and falsely. This bogus gender-neutral stance is intended to muddy the waters. The truth is the only epidemic in family court is judges falsely finding mothers to be falsely reporting abuse and alienating the children from their fathers, and then allowing the father to alienate the children from the mother. The article neglected to disclose that NPO is the premier fathers’ rights organization in the U.S., disguised as a gender-neutral “parent” organization. Judge Ramona Gonzalez, former president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) said in the interview with Kate Snow, "If you have untrained judges that don't understand the dynamics of trauma ... they will make assumptions and those assumptions will lead to decisions based on error." She is lying. She knows judges are deliberately giving kids to abusive fathers. The NCJFCJ has documented the crisis for decades. Some of the mothers interviewed for this story have apparently been misled into thinking the problem is lack of training and/or laws. But it is not. The problem is judges deliberately deeming women liars, alienators, mentally ill and emotionally abusive in order to give custody to abusive, negligent or unfit fathers, so no amount of training or new laws will stop them. That means the only effective solution is to get cases OUT of Family Court and OUT of judges’ hands. What is needed is a new system in a real court with juries deciding whether there is a preponderance of evidence of abuse, not judges. The Child Custody Act provides for a new system: https://www.womenscoalitioninternational.org/enact-child-custody-act.html NBC 2 part video series: May 13th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfb4bBMnGyM May 14th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P1N2VagLXc NBC Article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jacqueline-says-she-did-everything-she-was-supposed-do-so-n1266982 Want to use your voice to make a difference? Contact Kate Snow and let her know she was misled by her interviewees and she should do a new report with the truth. Let her know the problem is systemic oppression and discrimination against women leading them to be unable to maintain custody or protect their children. CONTACT: Kate Snow or comment on her posts about this story: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tvkatesnow Twitter: https://twitter.com/tvkatesnow Voicemail: 866-639-7244 Email: contact.nbcnews@nbcuni.com Want to help end the crisis? Join The Women’s Coalition: https://www.womenscoalitioninternational.org/ For more info on the crisis: The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It https://fb.watch/55BCBfcElI/ If you appreciate the work of TWC, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/  On Wednesday, shockingly, but not surprisingly, a violent father murdered his baby—just hours after a judge dismissed a restraining order.
The Restraining Order had been in place because of his documented and criminally charged violence against the mother and threats to kill Baby Kobi. Immediately after the hearing on Wednesday in which the RO was dropped, the father put Kobi in a baby carrier and murdered her by jumping off a reservoir wall in South Australia, with the apparent intention of punishing her mother. Baby Kobi's father had been criminally charged last year with assaulting and imprisoning Kobi’s mother and for threatening to kill her. The police considered him so dangerous that they opposed his release on bail. A judge freed him anyway and charges were dropped in March for unstated reasons. As usual, the father’s history of violence, threats to kill the mother and baby, and multiple violations of restraining orders were all dismissed by the judge, obviously to keep the father entitled and empowered over “his” ex and child. The judge, working within a discriminatory system, thereby caused Baby Kobi’s death. Kobi’s case is not the exception, but the rule. Judges routinely disregard children’s safety and best interest to grant violent and unfit fathers custody and control of their children. Women must unite and fight for a new system where juries, not judges, have the power to protect children and decide custody. Join the fight for the Child Custody Act: join@womenscoalitioninternational.org NOTE: There are some reports that Kobi’s mother may have agreed to unsupervised visitation. If that is true, it is likely because she was pressured. Many women are told if they don't agree with the father having contact, they will be accused of alienating or interfering with the father’s "right" to see his children. And if they refuse, they could lose custody—which means the abusive father could get sole custody. That is what happens in custody cases every day in family courts around the world. Regardless, a judge should never give a child to a father who has threatened to kill her, no matter what anyone says. If anyone knows who the judge is who dropped the restraining order please email us at info@womenscoalitioninternational.org If you appreciate the work of The Women's Coalition, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/  Mom Commits Suicide Rather than Face Life without Children
"I might never see my children again if I'm prosecuted under a very aggressive judicial system in the States…They cannot extradite a corpse." Michele, shortly before taking her life in jail while awaiting extradition “Michele knew with certainty in her soul that she would not receive a fair trial, would be housed indefinitely in a private, for-profit prison, and would serve long years for an alleged offence that provided her no proper defence in Georgia.” Matthew Behrens, refugee advocate Michele feared never seeing her children again if extradited from Canada to U.S. on charges of interfering with custody/abducting her children. She was facing a long prison term in Georgia for “abduction”. Michele had just been arrested and was being readied for extradition when she was found dead in her jail cell of an apparent suicide. Michele had made it clear she may commit suicide if extradited, saying, “You can’t extradite a corpse.” But this made no difference to authorities. The Supreme Court, in a hotly contested decision, voted 4 to 3 to approve extradition, with the dissenting jusices calling that decision “kafkaesque”. The Canadian Minister of Justice, Jody Wilson-Raybould could have stopped the extradition but did not. She had agreed to review the case after an intense social media campaign, which The Women’s Coalition took part in, however, she eventually allowed for the extradition. She has recently resigned amidst a scandal. Fortunately the case took a long time to wind its way through all the different courts and appeals and her children are now adults, so they cannot be forced to return to their abusive father in Georgia. So the good news is that she was successful in protecting her children, even though she lost her life doing it. SUMMARY Family Court in Georgia gave sole custody of her three children to their abusive father. The children ran away from his house at ages 9, 10 and 14 and Michele took them to her native Canada. Her case got a lot of attention and support there and a social media campaign followed. Matthew Behrens, a refugee advocate, covered her case. FOLLOWING are excerpts from Matthew’s final report on Michele’s case: The last three weeks of 58-year-old single mother and abuse survivor Michele M's life were spent on the run from a multi-generational history of male violence against women and children. Despite having saved herself and her children nine years ago from an abusive ex-spouse, Michele was treated as a serious criminal by a Canadian state that, despite white ribbons and feminist window dressing, refused to acknowledge and believe the well-established history of abuse she and her children had suffered. While it was reported that Michele took her own life the evening of November 5 at the notorious Leclerc prison, it would be more accurate to conclude that her life had been stolen from her long ago by male abusers, police, judges, social services agents, media, and a system that refuses to believe or understand the reality of male violence against women. While Michele had tried with the greatest of dignity to win back piece after piece of her life through the years, she tragically ran out of hope three weeks after the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear her appeal for a second time. A former U.S. resident, Michele had been sought since 2010 for extradition from Canada to the state of Georgia to face trial for the alleged crime of interstate interference with custody. … Rather than report for custody last month, she went on the run from a forced return to the state of Georgia where, like every other U.S. jurisdiction, "domestic violence survivors have been criminalized, prosecuted, and imprisoned for acts carried out by their abusive partners. Often, these were actions that they either knew nothing about or were powerless to stop. But at trial, their experiences of abuse are often downplayed or outright dismissed." In the end, the RCMP tracked her down and arrested her in Quebec after Michele spent two weeks resisting surrender to prison. Her life ended four days later. … "Why, why, why why, why do they keep doing this to me?" she would plead with me. "Why isn't he in jail?" she asked, referencing the abusive ex-spouse who had repeatedly told the children that his goal was to see Michele either jailed for life or six feet under. Much as she feared more jail and more courts, she ultimately feared seeing him again. … I last spoke with Michele the day before she was discovered without vital signs in her jail cell. She had been arrested the previous Friday after a frantic two-week journey. She had refused to report to prison, and an arrest warrant went out for her. FROM: An act of institutional femicide: remembering the life of Michele M https://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/11/act-institutional-femicide-remembering-life-michele-m PREVIOUS POSTS: Supreme Court Orders Extradition to U.S. on "Kidnapping" Charges: Faces 15 Years Behind Bars Dissenting Female Justices Call Ruling "Kafkaesque" https://www.facebook.com/TheWomensCoalition/photos/a.1464723457135309/1674032459537740/ Christmas Victory for Hunger Striking Mom in Canadian Prison! https://facebook.com/TheWomensCoalition/photos/a.1464723457135309/1678325989108387  Amazingly, an article in the New York Times pinpoints the crucial issue underpinning the new docu-series “Allen v. Farrow. That is that women who challenge male authority in any way, but especially when reporting abuse, and even more especially when reporting sexual abuse, a long-existing cultural narrative positions them as “conniving and untrustworthy” i.e. devious liars.
Kudos to journalist Alexis Soloski [pictured] for getting it right. FOLLOWING are excerpts from the article (linked below), but it should be read in its entirety. There are two stories. In one, a father molests his 7-year-old daughter. In the other, a mother coaches that daughter to falsely accuse the father. These stories, one proposed by Mia Farrow and her advocates, one by Woody Allen and his, clearly contradict each other. No sane person can accept both. Crucially, only one lets you feel mostly OK about watching “Annie Hall” again. …In January 1992, Farrow discovered explicit Polaroids that Allen had taken of another of her daughters, her eldest, Soon-Yi Previn, then 21. That August, Dylan Farrow has said, she was abused when Allen was alone with her for perhaps 20 minutes during his visit to Mia Farrow’s home in Connecticut. Concerned by reports from babysitters and by statements that Dylan allegedly made, Farrow took the child to a pediatrician. The pediatrician reported the suspected abuse to law enforcement. Allen sued for custody. A criminal investigation began. The news media chronicled it all with the kind of fervid enthusiasm you mostly see in circus parades. (Allen has consistently denied the accusations.) …The documentary shows evidence supporting Allen, chiefly a report from the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital, which concluded that Dylan was either fantasizing or had been coached by her mother. On the other side is the testimony, in court and for the camera, of babysitters, family friends and Dylan herself. The judge in the custody trial ultimately labeled Allen’s behavior “grossly inappropriate.” …But at the arrhythmic heart of the matter were these two stories. Until very recently, the public preferred the one that allowed Allen to keep making movies, movies in which comparatively powerless young women willingly enter into relationships with older, more powerful men. …These stories run a big-haired gamut in terms of individual culpability, but in every case, popular culture found a way to blame the woman, often to excuse a more blameworthy man. …I asked Sarah Marshall, a journalist and a host of “You’re Wrong About,” why popular culture likes to portray women as complicit and deserving of contempt. “It justifies subjugating them,” she said. “If women are randomly taken down for possessing what we see as an alarming degree of power, even if it isn’t, then maybe they’ll be more fearful about how they wield it.” …“I don’t think we were equipped to deal with stories of abuse at that moment,” she said. Now she sees “a larger shift in our apparatus of language to understand and condemn when it comes to abuse,” [Anne Helen Peterson] said. …The “Allen v. Farrow” series, in part because it sides so unequivocally and uncritically with Mia Farrow, will convince some but not all. Still, no matter what did or didn’t happen in that Connecticut crawl space in 1992, and even though we know, or we should know, that child sexual abuse is frighteningly common and that false reports of abuse are rare, there was one story that our culture believed. Here’s how a now adult Dylan Farrow put it in a CBS interview from 2018: “What I don’t understand is how is this crazy story of me being brainwashed and coached more believable than what I’m saying about being sexually assaulted by my father?” How? Because that story reinforces norms of power and control. Because it supports an idea of women as conniving and untrustworthy. Because making women wrong — for their knees, for their autonomy — is what our culture loves to do. And if a woman like Mia Farrow — pretty, successful, comparatively wealthy — could be exposed as a villain, it becomes that much easier to delegitimize the rest of us, particularly women of color, who are more likely to experience sexual violence and less likely to report it. If you believe Allen, his story is a happy one, at least until #MeToo came along and complicated it. He marries [Mia’s adopted daughter] Previn. He makes movie after movie. He even wins another Oscar. If you believe Dylan Farrow, you recognize she grew up knowing that her abuser went unpunished, that his career flourished. That’s a terrible ending. What attitudes would our culture have to sacrifice to imagine a better one? TWC NOTE: The 3rd episode in the series will talk about Family Court involvement in the case. Watch this space for a critique of that. Will they get it right? Or not? Excerpts from: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow and What Popular Culture Wants to Believe The new HBO documentary revisits a 1990s scandal. What viewers take away from it may depend on the stories they trust about women and why. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/arts/television/woody-allen-mia-farrow-documentary.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage Pictured: Alexis Soloski, author of article  I was only with my daughter’s father for 8 months; however, it took me 7 years to finally get away from him. He had originally not been interested in my pregnancy, however after I finally left, he was able to use the court system as another form of control and abuse. We were in and out of the family court for seven years, with the final court case lasting three years. My ex had a well-documented criminal history of drug abuse and domestic violence, which the judge deemed irrelevant. There were also many documented incidences of violent behaviour towards other women, but these were also dismissed. Communication kept breaking down due to his violent outbursts, so I asked for contact to be returned to a contact centre to protect myself. Social services had said if I continued to let him hit me in front of my daughter, they would remove her from my care and possibly give her to him. I was absolutely dumbfounded. He retaliated by taking filing for overnight access, something he had never had. He was entitled to legal aid as he supposedly didn’t work. I did work so could not get legal aid, but also couldn’t afford an attorney. It was a vertical learning curve. I asked for a psychological assessment, which the judge was extremely reluctant to allow. Two years later, after all other means had failed, including a warrant for me to serve 10 days in prison, it was finally granted. The psychological assessment exposed him for exactly what he was. It proved I had not been lying and that he posed a serious risk to both me and my daughter. That was 15 years ago. It saddens me that nothing has changed. FROM: "Faces of the Crisis" a Women's Coalition Exhibit
http://bit.ly/FacesOfTheCrisis SHARE, comment and react in support of Emma! MORE Posts of Faces & Stories: http://bit.ly/FacesOfTheCrisisEvent Why are women losing custody in epidemic numbers? "The Custody Crisis: Why It's Happening & How We Can End It" https://youtu.be/Wgo4Rpvy7bc "FACES OF THE CRISIS" is an exhibit created by The Women's Coalition to raise awareness about the international epidemic of judges switching custody to self-serving and abusive men: https://www.womenscoalitioninternational.org Participate in the exhibit by sending your photo to: WomensCoalitionIntl@gmail.comWomensCoalitionIntl@gmail.com. You may include a brief account of how you lost custody or were unable to protect your child(ren) if you want. [NOTE: your submission may be edited for clarity, brevity or anonymity.] COLLECTION of stories from submissions: https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aof0RIpSsZZCgoZuINAXgcSlRUraxA Join The Women's Coalition to help raise awareness and fight for a new system: join@WomensCoalitionInternational.org DONATE If you appreciate the work of The Women's Coalition, please consider donating! Paypal: http://bit.ly/DonateWomensCoalition Facebook Donate button Facebook Fundraiser Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/ |
AuthorCindy Dumas, M.A. has been researching, writing, and raising awareness about the Custody Crisis since 2003, when she was unable to protect her children from their abusive father. She fled into hiding when Family Court failed her and was tricked into returning home, when her children were given to their abusive father. Archives
June 2021
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