On Thursday, actress Rose McGowan was temporarily suspended from Twitter after using the platform to speak out about her alleged sexual abuse by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein is facing multiple allegations of sexual assault, and McGowan is one of his many accusers, she alleges that the producer raped her.
According to The New York Times she previously settled a lawsuit against Weinstein in 1997 after an incident in a hotel room at the Sundance Film Festival, but the settlement was ‘not to be construed as an admission’ on Weinstein's part but intended to ‘avoid litigation and buy peace.’
McGowan also used Twitter to call out Disney CEO Bob Iger, and actor Ben Affleck for knowing about the accusations but doing nothing.
After posting these tweets, Rose was suspended from the site without explanation, forcing her to take to Instagram, urging people to ‘be her voice.’
Twitter responded by posting a series of 280 character tweets explaining why they had suspended her, saying; ‘We have been in touch with Ms. McGowan's team. We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service. The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked. We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future.’
In response to the suspension, some high profile women decided to boycott twitter, using the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter to announce their departure.
Chrissy Teigen, Alyssa Milano and Kathy Griffin are among the women who have been boycotting Twitter in support of McGowan.
And male actors such as Terry Crews, who revealed details of his own sexual abuse earlier this week and Mark Ruffalo also supported the cause, with Ruffalo tweeting ‘Tomorrow I follow the women.’ #WomenBoycottTwitter
However, a sobering tweet from Ava Duvernay spoke to what many women of colour often feel - that white women rally around other white women when there’s been an injustice, but rarely come out in support when women of colour, especially black women. ‘Calling white women allies to recognize conflict of #WomenBoycottTwitter for women of color who haven't received support on similar issues,’ tweeted Ava Duvernay on Friday.
So far the tweet has had over 5 thousand retweets, and Ava has retweeted other users expressing similar views.
One such user is Jasmyn, a cultural editor, who spoke to The Debrief today about her concerns with #WomenBoycottTwitter: 'What happened to Rose McGowan and Twitter was unfortunate despite the reasoning. It was poor timing. However, when things like this happen we have to be critical about the types of women we rally behind and are quick to mobilize behind.
'As a Black woman who uses Twitter every day, I've seen and have personally felt the digital violence that has come our way so many times and have not seen this quick of response or lack of support. Just last week ESPN host Jemele Hill used Twitter to speak out against injustice and was silenced for the second time.
'She continues to be attacked. We shouldn't police how people chose to protest, but it is very important that we always think critically when we do, especially if we are coming from a place of privilege. Ask yourself who am I not protecting? Who is the most vulnerable? Who isn't as visible as Rose McGowan.'
Some of these tweets, and Jasmyn's comment above made reference to the recent case of American journalist Jemele Hill, an ESPN anchor who was suspended from her job at the station for two weeks after commenting that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had created a problem for his players. Jones has previously said that any player who ‘disrespects the flag’ will not play.
‘Jerry Jones also has created a problem for his players, specifically the black ones. If they don't kneel, some will see them as sellouts’ Hill tweeted.
Adding later; ‘If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the players.’
ESPN stated that she had violated their social media guidelines and would be suspended.
The hashtag #IStandWithJemele was widely used on the platform as people learned of Hill’s suspension.
The boycott of Twitter and #WomenBoycottTwitter hashtag isn’t the main issue here, it’s the selective hearing when it comes to social justice.
Hopefully Ava’s tweet will go some way to encouraging women to support each other when one of us is silenced - no matter what the colour of their skin, or social standing.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.