Thread by @KateWilliamsme

.@thetimes review headlined #MaryQueenofScots as a #MeToo monarch. When she was r*ped by Bothwell, she said it, men around her agreed & Bothwell said he did it. BUT since historians claimed she made it up. So not he said /she said. She said /he agreed - but still not believed! 1

And why was #MaryQueenofScots not believed? Because when Bothwell came to her while she was travelling and said she must accompany him to his castle because rioting ahead, she did. But 1) he had many more men than she did 2) he had protected her before-she believed him 2)

Her contemporaries at the time believed #MaryQueenofScots was assaulted but historians since have said she must have known that Bothwell's intentions were bad and why didn't she scream? They say, why did she believe him that she was safer with him? #MeToo

And even though Bothwell said he had 'the Queen whether she wished it or no' - even he said he did it - #MaryQueenofScots was not believed that she had been assaulted by historians because she stayed with him, threw her lot in with him, thinking she was pregnant 4)

Women at the time were often married to their r*pist - it was even a way for men to get heiresses as wives if they'd been refused already. Mary was responding to the prevailing ideology of the time that a woman had to - and she thought she was pregnant #MaryQueenofScots #MeToo 5

And as I write in the book, we are all engaging with our understanding of assault and consent now - just because a woman does not scream or fight, keeps up relations with the man, stays married to him or marries him - does not mean she wasn't assaulted #MaryQueenofScots 6

Bothwell did it to force Mary to marry him and thus be 'King' through her. He succeeded. He admitted he assaulted her. And yet historians have said she must have wanted it, planned by them so she could have sex with him - because she went with him, thinking she could trust him 7)

Almost as soon as #MaryQueenofScots arrived on the Scots throne, aged 18,men around her planned to abduct her.,attack her to gain power. Although she was a Queen (and also taller than most at 5'11), she was still to them just a woman - & could be treated as they did all women 7)

And then Bothwell finally succeeded in abducting and attacking her - and although everyone agreed he did so at the time, historians since have not believed her because she went with him to his castle, thinking that she could trust him 8)

Most women are assaulted by someone they know, often trust. But, like #MaryQueenofScots they are not believed & justice system focus on violent 'stranger r*pe'. #MeToo has done so much to fight assumptions - women 'freeze', don't fight as fear murder, try continue friendship 8)

We are told that low conviction for r*pe, is b/c cases are he said/she said. But #MaryQueenofScots said it, he agreed, was accepted at the time. But Mary then was not believed by historians. So even when the man ADMITS he did it, society STILL does not believe the woman #MeToo