TMZ has a story up which is making me feel kind of… ugh. Throughout the Kristen Stewart-Rupert Sanders cheating scandal, there has been a constant debate/conversation about feminism, misogyny, “homewrecking” and the role of the media as some kind of morality police. While I definitely think Kristen Stewart has received the brunt of the criticism – unfairly – I do understand WHY that happened, and I always thought it had less to do with misogyny and more to do with fame. Rupert Sanders hasn’t taken as big of a public hit because he simply did not have a public profile before the scandal. Whereas Kristen was and is arguably one of the most famous women in the world. Most people think Rupert is a POS, of course, but Kristen is the one who riles up emotions and she’s the “newsworthy” one. Anyway, TMZ has a story in which sources close to Kristen claim she’s “furious” that she’s “taking all the heat” from the affair:

Kristen Stewart has publicly shown remorse over her affair with her “Snow White and the Huntsman” director, but privately she is FURIOUS she’s taking all the heat … sources directly connected with Kristen tell TMZ.

Our sources tell us … Kristen can’t believe the public isn’t painting Rupert Sanders as the bad guy. She’s grousing that he’s 19 years her senior and was “in a position of power over her” … being a director of a movie she had just shot and presumably someone she was going to work with again.

Kristen is also incensed that she’s being called the big cheater. Although she knows she shouldn’t have done it because she was in a committed relationship with Robert Pattinson, she feels Rupert is in a totally different and far more culpable situation, being married with 2 kids.

We’re told Kristen fears her career may be irreparably damaged — something she believes she doesn’t deserve as a 22-year-old single woman who made a stupid mistake.

[From TMZ]

Yeah. She’s partly right – Rupert is equally culpable in the affair, and he deserves more criticism, more of a career hit, more of public outcry. But this whole argument of “Rupert was in a position of power over her” – really? It reminds me of the People Mag story two weeks ago in which “sources close to Kristen” claimed that “Rupert had been infatuated with [Kristen] since the production [of SWATH], but she always kept it professional because she loved [Robert Pattinson]. She still does. It only became a flirtation recently, and she was lured into a brief situation that she never wanted.” I simply don’t buy Kristen as a victim, preyed upon by an older man who had a position of power over her. SWATH was Rupert Sanders’ first film as a director, and he pretty much only got the make the film because Kristen and Charlize signed on. I think Kristen’s playing the victim in the hopes of garnering some sympathy, and that pisses me off. Was Kristen young and dumb, and did she make a horrible mistake? Yes. Should she have to “pay” for that mistake by eating sh-t for a while? Yep. Will playing the “pity poor me” card too soon end up causing a backlash? Probably. Will she be fine a year from now? Yep.

Photos courtesy of WENN.