A Day in the Life

Jun. 6, 2012 at 12:18pm with 3,663 notes

[RE: FASSBENDER ABUSE ALLEGATIONS] the thing about michael fassbender…

alasihavetransfiguredmyfeet:

Reblogging for michaelfassbendersteeth’s commentary.

michaelfassbendersteeth:

strawberreli:

caffeineandcarpaltunnel:

mswyrr:

…is that he’s a domestic violence committing, female co-star intimidating asshole. You can read the details of what he did to his female partner at the link. Regarding his treatment of female costars: Kiera Knightly didn’t want him spanking her during one of their scenes in a film & said so while tied up; in reply he said “Keira, you’re tied to a bed. You’re not really in a position to say that.” So when a woman is obviously scared and uncomfortable, his response is to scare her further, really make her feel her powerlessness to control what happens to her body. So that happened. And then some of his fans talked shit about her for not fully appreciating how wonderful it would be to get nonconsensually struck by him.

Basically, I don’t understand the attraction at all. I don’t understand. I want to push him out an airlock every time I have to see his hateful face. I want him and every other man who abuses women off my fucking planet. Kinda now.

But, yanno, I also want to shout “he freaking beat his wife!” whenever I see Sean Penn, so I guess I’m just a ~sensitive bitch~.

I find it interesting that I see their faces on my dash semi-regularly (mostly Fassbender), but apparently Chris Brown’s attractiveness isn’t sufficient to make his domestic violence inconsequential.

And boom goes the dynamite.

Guise. I’m all about hating assholes, but Michael Fassbender was allegedly not even in the country when that shit went down. Also, the woman had a history of lying about her partners and filing for abuse.

I’m not saying she’s a liar, but I’ve only seen the gossip articles, no real facts, and Fassbender hasn’t given any real statement on the matter.

There’s no evidence on either side.

I’ve been personally vilified for being a Fassbender fan several times because of these abuse allegations, so here’s what’s become my essentially automated response:

About Sunawin Andrews specifically:

Sunawin Andrews supposedly has a history of accusing partners of abuse and then taking it back when her evidence repeatedly proves insufficient.

Andrews dismissed her claims and petition for a restraining order against Fassbender before the case ever went to court.

The timing is suspect - the accusations were brought up a considerable amount of time after they had broken up, conveniently coinciding with Fassbender having a strong supporting role in a high profile film (“Inglourious Basterds”).

About the nature of accusation:

Dismissing the outcry of a victim without any reason to do so is shameful. Even more so if they have irrefutable evidence supporting their outcry.

But ripping apart the reputation of someone based on ill-supported accusations is also not right. Someone claiming to be a victim should always be given consideration. But if they’re lying, then the person falsely accused ultimately becomes the victim.

Not a victim of physical assault (I’m not meaning to equate physical assault with libel), but a victim nonetheless.

About his treatment of Keira Knightley:

Fuck off. Context matters.

That statement - “…you’re not really in a position…” - was a fucking joke. You have every right not to find it funny, but that doesn’t change the fact that he wasn’t legitimately trying to intimidate or threaten Keira.

Also, Keira has repeatedly spoken about how much she adores Michael. How fabulous he’s been on set, et cetera.

About fans supposedly “excusing” his alleged bad behavior:

The vast majority of vehement Fassbender fans I speak with - myself included - do not believe these allegations. It’s not about ignoring them, or forgiving an abuser. We simply do not think the allegations are true.

If you do believe they’re true, but are excusing Michael based on his good looks, that’s terrible and harmful.

But I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: when I initially heard of these allegations, I spent a couple days mulling it over. Because domestic violence is not something to be taken lightly. In the end, I came to a decision based on evidence. Not Michael’s impeccable jawline.

If I believed this story to be true, I wouldn’t admire Michael Fassbender.

As it is, I think the story is bullshit.

I am a queer feminist who has put in hundreds of hours of volunteer work with women’s organizations - some of which are specifically designed to advocate for female abuse victims - and I am a fan of Michael Fassbender.

But I suppose when it comes to character assassination, it’s always easier to remove all context before publishing, right?

For people who wanted info about Fassbender?

I’m still not 100% convinced on his innocence, but I guess this is more info for you guys.

I knew nothing about this until I saw a chat post about domestic violence. Of course I researched so I was not misinformed or uninformed. Now, I find those accusations to be less than credibly. And I have seen several interviews with Keira and Michael. Their chemistry is incredible. There is no way they could have that if she felt frightened or intimidated by him.

So thats my two cents.

EDIT: I found the interview where Keira talks about the spanking scenes:

Almost turning down the film because of the spanking scenes: “When I first read the script, I thought, ‘The script was fascinating, and it’s David, and I really want to work with David, but I read those two scenes and just went, ‘I don’t think that I can do that,’ particularly because it’s the age of the Internet; it’s gonna be everywhere; I don’t want that out there’… I phoned him up to really turn it down… I said to him, ‘Look, I love you, I love the script, I love the character, but I really don’t know that I can play those scenes’… He said, ‘Look, if I’m gonna do them, then they’re gonna be clinical; they’re not gonna be sexy, they’re not gonna be voyeuristic in that way.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, well I can understand that. As long as it’s clinical and it’s not some, sort of, weird sexy spanking thing.’”

Executing the spanking scenes: “There was a box which he hit, so he was nowhere near me, thank God! I did actually say to Michael before one of the scenes — I was like, ‘I’ve got a security guard outside. You touch me and he’s gonna break your legs!’ And he was like, ‘Keira, you’re tied to a bed. You’re not really in a position to say that.’ I said, ‘I guess you’re right.’… [I did] a couple of shots of vodka — definitely — beforehand, and then a couple of glasses of champagne as a celebration of never having to do that again!” (X)

Her tone about this is clearly joking. She gives no hints, no body language to show that she felt in danger. Her tone of voice when repeating what Michael said turned softer. It is not until after when Keira is discussing the scenes in general and not Fassbender that her body closes up and she starts to hug herself. This shows that she was more concerned with the image of the scenes being too sexy or getting out into the internet and not used as its intended context.

Obviously, people have not done any sort of research on Michael Fassbender’s domestic violence of character.