Beyond Chris Brown and Rhianna

Young ladies speak out...

Females United For Action is a multiracial, multicultural group of young women with a lot of guts. I was first introduced to the group in 2006 when I wrote about the teens' effort to go after a local radio station that had billboards and other ads disparaging women. In this essay, Alex Pates, 15, and Ansheera Ace Hilliard, 17, take on the controversy surrounding singers Chris Brown and Rihanna, and how the media help to shape views on domestic abuse.

A lot of gossip has been surrounding singers Chris Brown and Rihanna. They were said to be dating, but lately rumor has it that they were on shaky ground: Cuddly one minute and confrontational the next. During the weekend of the 51st Grammy Awards, Rihanna checked herself into a hospital with bruises, bite marks, a black eye, and a bloody nose. Whether all the details being gossiped about in the press are fact or fiction, Rihanna did have physical evidence showing that she was abused.

Many articles say that an eyewitness pointed to Rihanna’s boyfriend, Chris Brown, as the abuser. It has been confirmed that Chris Brown did turn himself in to the police, and was soon released on a $50,000 bond. Rihanna's representative said that she is doing well and is thankful for the support that she is getting.

The Los Angeles Times reported that, according to the LAPD, “Chris Brown is under investigation for alleged domestic violence felony battery.” Recently Chris Brown released a statement. “Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired,” wrote Brown. “I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God's help, to emerging a better person.”

BLAMING THE SURVIVORMost people look at the surface of this situation and ask questions like: Did Chris Brown really beat Rihanna? What did she do to make him beat her? The media is supporting this kind of survivor-blaming analysis when they report the story. For example: “The fight was ignited when singer Chris Brown got a text message from another young woman.” And: “Sources allegedly close to Brown say that the fight leading to the domestic violence incident occurred because Rihanna gave Chris Brown herpes.”

But let’s step back and look at it on a broader scale. Does a man ever have the right to beat a woman? Why is it that if a woman is beaten, she is always said to be the one who has provoked it? Why is it that so many abuse cases get overlooked or thrown under the table?
It's important to remember that although women and gender-queer people are the majority of violence survivors, men are survivors, too.

According to the Berkeley Media Studies Group's, “Distracted by Drama: How California Newspapers Portray Intimate Partner Violence,” in many articles studied, the survivor of violence was blamed. The newspapers gave many excuses for why women were abused, shifting the responsibility for violence from perpetrators to survivors of violence. They used the word “victim,” but we would use the word “survivor.”

• The victim may have contributed to the violence by wearing sexy/revealing clothing or engaging in flirtatious behavior.
• The victim may have provoked the problem in another way, perhaps having been married many times, being argumentative, nagging, flaunting success, etc.
• The victim may have contributed to the problem by being unfaithful/dating others.
• The victim may have contributed to the problem by staying with a violent partner/failing to cooperate with police/continuing to see a violent partner.

Can you believe these excuses? Let’s take a closer look at this. If a woman cheats, wears sexy clothing, stays with the violent partner, becomes proud and speaks about her success, speaks her mind, or verbally challenges her partner, she is liable to get abused. Do you see any problems here? We do! What about the man? Can he wear sexy clothing? Can he date other women? Can he boast and talk about his success? Of course he can, because he is a man, right? This shows how the survivors are always blamed as the cause of their own abuse, because we are taught there is no way the man could have done this on his own without being provoked. The issue is so serious, but is so overlooked, and the blame is always on the survivor.

MAKING EXCUSES FOR ABUSERS
Even when media doesn't put all the blame on the survivors, they make excuses for abusers. In that same study by the Berkeley Media Studies Group, they also gathered data about ways that newspapers downplayed the abusers' responsibility: Here were the ways newspapers framed their stories:

• The suspect may have acted violently at least partly due to drinking or drug abuse.
• The suspect may have acted violently at least out of love for a spouse or children, including fear of losing children.
• Violence arose in part from a flawed relationship with blame on both sides, e.g. they fought a lot or engaged in verbal quarrels.
• The suspect may have “snapped”, acting spontaneously and out of character.Love does not mean abuse. There is no good excuse for abusing someone, sober or not.

WHY DOESN'T SHE LEAVE? WHY DOESN'T SHE STAY?
When you see that a woman is in an abusive relationship, one question that usually follows is “well, why doesn’t she leave him?” That is what we saw when we were reading about Rihanna and Chris Brown and their situation. On bossip.com, someone posted that, “She needed to leave him after the 1st punch. If she is still there after that then she deserves the 2nd 3rd and 4th.” We think that that is horrible and untrue.

When a woman is in an abusive relationship, you never know her situation. She could be scared to leave him, especially if he is beating on her. Look at Rihanna and Chris. He choked her and knocked her out! Also we read that people think that Rihanna needs to get back with Chris and help salvage his career.

We think that this is so untrue. We think that he is getting what he deserves. She shouldn’t have to feel responsible for what is happening to him. He needs to know that hitting a woman is unacceptable. We hear so much of what will happen to Chris Brown’s reputation and career if these allegations are proven to be true.

We hear how all Chris Brown’s sponsors and endorsements will back down, and how his entire career may go down the drain. Now we ask, what is going to happen to Rihanna? We never hear, on a well publicized scale, how this is going to affect her career. We do not even hear how she may be damaged mentally, physically, or emotionally after this incident of abuse. You would think that because she is a survivor of abuse, people would be concerned with her well-being.
As far as Rihanna goes, this is what we do know. Last summer, Rihanna had released a statement saying how she starting building her career from endorsements before she even released her hits. The LA Times recently reported that Rihanna had the reputation of representing “something very positive and in particular a strong female role model, and when she is associated with a situation like this it can have an impact.” They quoted a marketing executive as predicting that companies are likely to shun her in the future.

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT CHRIS & RIHANNA
On September 17, 2008, 78% of identified domestic violence programs in the United States and territories, which totaled 1,553 programs, participated in the 2008 National Census of Domestic Violence Services, conducted by the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Every year, this organization conducts a 24-hour survey of domestic violence programs across the country to capture a day-in-the-life snapshot of domestic violence service provision in the United States. This is the data that was reported:

• Over 20,300 adults and children sought refuge in emergency shelter in a day.
• More than 10,000 adults and children were living in transitional housing.
• Over 30,300 adults and children received non-residential services, such as counseling, legal advocacy, and support groups.
• Over 21,500 domestic violence hotline calls were made.

On top of all of this, an additional 60,799 adults and children were provided additional domestic violence services. All of this data came from a 24-hour time period. 24 HOURS! If these are the numbers of women and children trying to escape violence in one day, imagine what those numbers would be in a week, a month, or horrifically, a year. This information shows how many people are seeking support services for domestic violence. But imagine how many more people never seek help. If you look at police reports of domestic violence, you only get part of the story.
Women and genderqueer people, especially people of color or poor people, are often overlooked in today's society. When is the day going to come where violence against women and gender queer people is going to get the attention that it deserves?

WHAT WE DEMANDEvery time there is a story like this we never hear anything from the survivor’s point of view. We really want to know how this is affecting Rihanna. What is life like for her now? We feel like in situations like this the young woman of color is always left out and forgotten about and more likely than not the blame is put on her. She is put to the side and told to get on with her life. But that is not so simple.

There are scars that will never heal and wounds that will never close. We will probably never even get to sympathize with her. We want there to be something out there that tells the story from the perspective of the survivor.

We think that when the media blames survivors, and questions their decision whether or not to leave, it can scare a survivor away from getting help, because it seems like nobody will sympathize with her or even believe her. Or even worse, she'll be blamed for the abuse.
We want young women and genderqueer youth of color to have our voices in the media so that survivors don’t look bad and they aren’t made to look like trash or like they deserve the violence.

ABOUT FUFA Females United For Action, or FUFA, is a Chicago-based group of young women and genderqueer youth who are interested in doing healing and organizing around the issues that are most important to us. We are led by and made up mostly of young people of color. You might know us from our 25 Pegaditas campaign, where we went after the radio station La Ley for their offensive billboard ads where they promoted the abuse and mistreatment of young women of color.

FUFA is part of a bigger organization, Women & Girls Collective Action Network. We use media justice work and other tactics to challenge violence against girls, women, and genderqueer people. We at Women and Girls CAN believe it is possible to end violence against women, girls, and genderqueer people. We believe in the power and knowledge of survivors and resisters of violence. We believe that communities have the potential and the responsibility to be more accountable to members of their community in ending violence against women, girls, and genderqueers.

Photos: The first is Alex Pates, testifying at an FCC hearing in September 2007. The second is Ansheera Ace Hilliard.

You can learn more about FUFA at:www.womenandgirlscan.orghttp://www.myspace.com/femalesunitedforactionhttp://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2977/portrait_of_the_activists_as_young_women/