In a nutshell:I had no idea this woman had a thread!! I have so much catching up to do! Could someone please provide me with a tldr of some important things I should know to help me catch up? There's 30 pages to get through.
I first heard of her (I think?) last year when her study was discussed on Mumsnet. I searched for her on twitter and was immediately put off by what I saw. Unbearably arrogant, unprofessional, hugely ideological. "What nonsense" I thought, clicked off and forgot all about her until now.
5. She says that personality disorders don't exist, and that autism is heavily over-diagnosed in women as it is a convenient label to excuse away women's trauma. These claims are at odds with most professionals working in autism, and Jess cannot offer any credible evidence to support it. She has also repeatedly promoted anti-psychiatry and anti-medication views despite having no expertise whatsoever in these fields.In a nutshell:
1. She is not qualified in any kind of therapy, but she deliberately gives the impression that she is clinically trained and has provided direct therapeutic care to survivors of sexual violence. She plays on the fact that the general public doesn't understand the difference between a psychology PhD (intensive research in a specific narrow niche, e.g. the impact of advertising on body image) and a doctorate in clinical psychology (NHS-based training with a heavy taught component that includes six-month rotations across different mental health and learning disability services). As a result, her opinions on autism, bipolar disorder, and trauma therapy are no more informed than those of the average person on the street, but she sets herself up as an expert in the knowledge that most people will hear 'psychologist' and assume she actually has a background in these things.
2. Her books were published without peer review and contain a lot of unevidenced and factually incorrect ranting, but she uses her PhD to suggest that it's all research-driven. If an academic criticises her, they're elitists who can't bear to see a working-class mum being successful. If someone outside academia criticises her, they don't have the expertise to know what they're talking about.
3. She used some survivors' stories in her books without proper informed consent and then lied about it repeatedly, changing her story multiple times when the survivors provided screenshots of the evidence. She sent the police round to one woman's home to try and intimidate her into silence. Meanwhile her wife Jaimi decided to send the survivor in question a manipulative guilt-tripping message (because nothing says professionalism quite like doing that).
4. A few former employees have disclosed in confidence that her company feels like a cult and they were expected to be on hand 24/7 to argue with anyone who dares to criticise her on social media. They also report that the company functions like a pyramid scheme.
In other words, she's a grifter.
I agree.I am very worried about SA.
As an academic myself I can guarantee you that SA is telling the truth! The way she is trying so hard to have her voice heard is not coming from a person who lies. SA has already experienced abuse I don’t think she would put herself back into that position. The way SA is fighting is literally screaming “PLEASE HELP ME” and she needs our help and support! I spoke with SA and she mentioned how afraid she is because of her huge following and clearly JT has more money for legal teams etc. The police was sent to SA and that made me sick to my stomach. I really hope we can support SA in any possible way and Rachel is doing a great job supporting her! But what worries me is SA safety, I’m afraid about her mental health and safety in general!
See this is what people say here but if you go on her social media the majority of commentators are still applauding her. On Twitter as on here it’s a small group of people calling her out.She's in such a blurry position. She wants to be applauded for her public statements on women's rights and feminism, when in private she doesn't care or help women at all, quite the opposite.
Jameela Jamil isn't perfect but she tries use her platform to be present with women who are struggling with body image, which I respect.
I think feminists see through her. She's the one claiming ad nauseum to be a campaigner, best selling author and powerful voice, it's not really women stepping up saying she helped the,. Unfortunately, many people with first hand experience appear to have shared feeling scared of her and manipulated.
Women, and particularly abuse survivors, can spot something off.
I felt following her was just adopting a new authority figure to replace past narcs who wanted to use me for supply.
I just had a look at the institutional library database to see which universities and scholarly organisations, if any, are carrying Jess's books. The answer is virtually none. Only the British Library, Trinity College Dublin, and the National Library of Wales are listed as having them - and these are legal deposit libraries, which means that every UK and Irish publisher is required to lodge a copy of every book they publish with them. What this tells us is that no one in any university department has chosen to use her books for teaching or even got their library to buy them. She has social media fans, yes, because she's very good at grandstanding and persuading people who know nothing about clinical or academic psychology that she's an expert. But actually in the field? Assuming people have even heard of her work, it's not well-regarded or taken seriously. Why Women are Blamed for Everything reads exactly like an unrevised PhD dissertation, because that's what it is. I recognised it as such right away, and I would have known even if I hadn't seen the actual thesis - there are so many giveaways. Sexy but Psycho isn't research/evidence-based at all. It's one woman's rantathon, and if that's what you want to read, you might as well just browse social media. When I was getting anxious or perfectionistic about my own research my supervisors told me that my PhD should be my weakest work - it's the starting point, not the finish line, and you're meant to move on from there. Jess has gone backwards in every respect. She might brag to her fans that she's some sort of field-changing expert, but the field is paying her little to no attention. She might kid herself that it's because she's just too amazingly radical and original for us poor moribund academics to cope with, but the simple reality is that thousands of psychology PhDs are written every year and most are not special enough to stand out.See this is what people say here but if you go on her social media the majority of commentators are still applauding her. On Twitter as on here it’s a small group of people calling her out.
It gives me strong cult-leader vibes as her behaviour towards SA is there for all to see - if people can defend this you wonder if there is anything she could do that they wouldn't defend.
no way????I should also add that Jessica is non contact with her own Mother after her Mother publicly said that Jessica was never in abusive relationships or raped, and that the entire public social media background was vile lies.
Yep. I'd already got my suspicions, her Mum just very publicly confirmed it. Why do you think her parents weren't at the wedding?no way????
Is there any proof of this? I would hesitate just to take Jess's mum's word for it even if she did say that, because unfortunately the family members of abuse victims do sometimes deny the abuse (perhaps because they can't bear the thought of that happening to their child, perhaps because they feel guilty about not noticing/stopping it). I've carried out research with abused teenagers and sadly some of their families were in very deep denial. For this reason I'm going to take Jess's backstory as true unless there is incontrovertible proof against it. She has lied about Sally Ann, been deceitful about her jobs and qualifications, etc. but that doesn't mean she lies about everything.I should also add that Jessica is non contact with her own Mother after her Mother publicly said that Jessica was never in abusive relationships or raped, and that the entire public social media background was vile lies.
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