Another celebrity scandal going viral on the internet, this time it’s cheating allegations involving Jordyn Woods and Tristan Thompson, Khloe Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend.

It was reported that the Kardashians had severed ties with Woods as a result of her alleged affair. They, along with their fans, have also publicly dragged Woods all over social media slut shaming the reality star. Yet I haven’t seen the same treatment towards Thompson. Shouldn’t he be the one taking the bulk of the heat since he is the one who had a child with the famous Kardashian sister?

Why is it that whenever an affair occurs, whether it’s between celebrities or not, the girl involved is blamed more than the man? We see it all the time, girls getting into fights with the girl that their partner cheated with and making excuses for their partner.

In an interview with Jada Pinkett Smith on her show “The Red Table Talk,” Woods recounted the events that took place on the night of the alleged affair. Based on her side of the story, I believe  she did nothing wrong because Thompson was the one who kissed her.

Woods also said that her first mistake was going to the party in the first place, and quite frankly, this bothers me because this is a narrative we hear all the time whenever an affair is exposed. We cannot expect women to not participate in events simply out of fear that a situation might occur and they will be portrayed in a negative light.

According to an article from Teen Vogue, “The model has been labelled “the other woman,” a role that society considers threatening, shameful, and worthy of mockery. Time and again, we’ve seen celebrity cheating “scandals” gain a life of their own in the headlines, with media fueling the fire by sensationalizing the “other” woman’s sexuality while rarely mentioning the committed man involved and his actions, thus seemingly pardoning him through silence.”

Blame is very seldomly placed on the man involved in the center of an affair, and this is due to the patriarchal system that fuels our society’s way of thinking.

This notion of needing to keep your man from other women because she might steal him from you is a direct reflection of society’s perceived gender roles. Women are seen in society as seductive, sexual objects and that feeds into the way women are treated in the midst of a scandal like this. They are often slut shamed for where they go, what they wear, who they talk to, how much they drink, etc. No one stops to think maybe the man should have just kept his hands to himself.

The article goes on to say, “We need to let go of the idea that the “other woman” is the only one responsible for cheating. While betrayal can feel horrible to those involved, it also doesn’t strip anyone of their humanity; Jordyn is still a person, as is Tristan. We need to take a step back and remember that cheating — in any capacity — is rarely simple or easily defined with a headline or a tweet. It’s complex. It’s messy.” A cheating scandal is messy, and just because it involves celebrities doesn’t mean that they deserve to be the subject of ridicule, humiliation or death threats. Whether you believe Woods or not, no one deserves to be publically dragged the way she has been on social media. She is still a person and we should respect the complex and messiness of her situation and let her work things out in her own way.

We need to change the way we view women in the center of cheating scandals and start placing blame on the man involved as well. Honestly, women need to stop fighting women over a man and start harnessing that same energy in calling out their own significant other for cheating on them. In the cases where “the other woman” doesn’t even know the man is in a relationship when an affair occurs why blame them for it? Are we expecting them to be mind readers? The media needs to do better in reporting these stories also. We all know that as humans, we love a juicy headline, but maybe we should start transitioning to respecting the privacy of celebrities involved in scandals like these so that they don’t have to go through the ordeal of extreme backlash like what Woods is currently going through.