If you keep up with celebrity gossip to the extent that I do, then by now you pretty much know the whole story about the domestic abuse case involving Rihanna and Chris Brown. If, on the other hand, you’re a little less inclined to track Hollywood happenings, then allow me to inform you that Chris Brown was indicted for punching, biting and choking Rihanna while the couple was in his car. The dispute allegedly began when Rihanna read a text message from another woman on Brown’s cell phone. Brown is currently awaiting his arraignment, but Rihanna has since reconciled with Brown and is no longer cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.
As if the beating alone was not enough to whip the public into a fury, this latest development has incited a dramatic public outcry. Blame is getting tossed around on all sides. How could Brown put his hands on a woman the way he did to Rihanna? How could Rihanna go back to her alleged abuser? (Especially given her status as a role model, the subtext of the argument goes.) One of the most surprising ways that blame has been assigned comes from the analysis delivered by teen girls, according to an article in The New York Times. Many of these young girls, especially those who harbor a soft spot for Brown, blame Rihanna for provoking the abuse. They agree that she should not press charges against Brown, concluding that she must have realized her role in bringing Brown’s behavior upon herself.
It seems crazy, doesn’t it? We’ve all been socialized to understand that you never blame the victim. It’s the attacker’s fault, of course; it’s a choice the abuser should not have made, regardless of how the victim was behaving. Abuse shouldn’t be considered something that the victim ‘provokes,’ if we are to constructively address it. So, what is going on with these teenage girls? Many explanations have been offered. In the article, Latina Magainze Editor-in-Chief Mimi Valdés Ryan explains that many of these girls have little sympathy for Rihanna because of their romantic interest in Brown; they cannot view her from a more neutral perspective because they see her as a rival. Additionally, Valdés Ryan offers the explanation that the blame may function as a defense mechanism in the sense that “acknowledging his attack would make [the teen girls] feel vulnerable: How could they have a crush on someone who could do that? It was less terrifying to blame Rihanna.”
As for the abuse itself, an equally impressive number of explanations have been offered. Many blame the domestic abuse that both Rihanna and Brown suffered during their childhood. Abuse is a cycle, they say, evolving into a learned behavior that children often repeat in their own adult lives. Others assert that the patriarchal structure of black society is especially vulnerable to domestic abuse, and that hip-hop culture serves to further glorify it. I’m not sure that I agree wholly with this assertion — as I personally have observed a more matriarchal character within black society — but I will admit that some hip-hop music tends to highlight violent or mysoginistic elements of society.
Additionally, columnists and psychologists offer many reasons for Rihanna’s decision to return to Brown. Many of these writers speak of low self-esteem or of an addiction to the abuser, but these act as blanket explanations that do not provide a great deal of insight. In his Psychology Today blog, Steven Stosny, Ph.D., suggests that for many victims there are often social or financial pressures to stay. More fundamentally, though, he explains that victims of abuse “leave and return because, unlike the parties of non-abusive relationships, they leave while they are still attached.”
In sum, the Rihanna-Chris Brown case acts as a lens through which to view a wider segment of society. The theme that runs through all these explanations is the attempt to get at the ‘why’ of it all, rather than to lay blame on someone and put the issue away. This therapeutic approach is a highly beneficial way of promoting a public discourse, despite the pitfalls that might belie any one particular analysis. I believe that initiating a sustained public dialogue is the most effective way of bringing domestic abuse outside of the homes in which it occurs and putting it squarely into the public domain. By giving domestic abuse a public face, we may actually have the opportunity to improve the situation, rather than relying on the old lectures that have so far proved ineffective.
Andrenne is a fourth-year College student. She can be reached at a.alsum@cavalierdaily.com.
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