Cover art by Soweto Bosia for Steed Media service
“They can say whateva. I’ma do whateva. No pain is foreva … That Rihanna reign just won’t let up.”
“Hard” Rated R
Hollywood loves a comeback story, don’t they? So do I, and that’s why surprised was not my reaction when Chris Brown took out a can of whoop-ass on Rihanna on the eve of the Grammys on Feb. 7, 2009. Disappointed? Yes. Angry? Most definitely. But shocked? Not hardly, and for four good reasons.
First, Rihanna is likeable. She’s cute. She has sex appeal. And she expresses what I call a “new-cool feminism” that ― when combined with her talent as a performer ― makes the songstress appealing to a global audience. Surely her marketing team is on point, because Little Miss Sunshine has yet to disappoint fans since securing Jay-Z’s endorsement during his term at Def Jam. She’s grown from a little girl living on a small Caribbean island, into a grown woman with grown woman issues about love and heartbreak.
The second reason is based on statistics. As recently as 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified teen dating violence as a public health issue. The problem is so pervasive that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched Start Strong, a national initiative committed to preventing teen dating violence. The goal of the four-year, multimillion-dollar project in 11 cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Bronx, N.Y., is to teach young people strategies for building healthy relationships. Whether it’s fighting, hitting, slapping, name-calling, or obsessive texting, young people ― now more than ever ― lack the tools necessary for resolving conflicts of love. Rihanna and Chris are no exception. They are a concrete and real-world example. An example from which to learn, understand and establish corrective measures for others who may be in similar situations.
I am empathetic toward the two young stars because of the public scrutiny they’ve had to endure in the aftermath of their private meltdown. When it comes to Rihanna, I understand what it’s like to be on the rise, yet on the receiving end of a boyfriend’s blows. As a 20-year-old college student, I was at the top of my academic game. As a 19-year-old football player, he was at the top of his college ball game. We were high school sweethearts. Publicly we looked good together. Privately, I suffered. One Saturday evening he threatened me saying, “I’m gonna do to you what your aunt’s husband did to her.” That young couple ― once in love ― became a double homicide. My uncle shot my aunt, and then shot himself. And there I was in a similar predicament that could turn ugly at any time. Thank God it didn’t.
In that vein, songs like “Rehab” from Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and “Russian Roulette” from her most recent album Rated R (2009) make sense because both express a sense of vulnerability about the risk of falling in love and the visceral need for some sort of therapy when betrayal leads to heartbreak.
Joan Morgan, in When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist, writes about black women’s blind defense of black men, sometimes sacrificing our own needs. So a song like “Umbrella” ― which is really an ode to being a ride or die chick ― can be taken at face value. In other words, what woman doesn’t want to unconditionally stay down with her beau? And at what cost?
Consider Rihanna. Despite her own denial and depression, she actually traveled to Miami to stay down with Brown, who she told Diane Sawyer was her “best friend.” “I wanted it to go away,” she said, and escaping to Diddy’s Miami chateau was her first step. When she sat down with the “20/20” journalist, Rihanna also hinted at falling into a depression. “I was humiliated,” she said. “I was angry,” she added. “I felt really lonely … and sat there all day and just watched TV.”
A host of conflicting emotions led Rihanna to remove herself from the relationship. She opted out of it, and decided to focus on the needs of her corporate sponsors, the needs of her fans, and other young women suffering from physical, emotional and verbal abuse from boyfriends.
Seemingly, Rihanna is back. She’s still a spokeswoman for CoverGirl. Glamour magazine put her on the cover of their December 2009 issue, and conveyed woman of the year honors on her. Her fourth album, Rated R, was released on Nov. 23, 2009. Flavored with rage and revenge, the album’s gothic imagery is framed around the R&B singer’s resilience in the face of heartbreak and her pursuit of self-love.
Rihanna’s new-cool feminism uses a language and action of love that has developed over the course of her last three albums. But where will it lead her? That’s the overarching question. Where will it lead the young women she wants to help? How is she going to help these young women and is it just through song, her racy image, the stroke of a pen on a check? Or is Rihanna poised to get her hands dirty to stand up for the cause of teen dating violence prevention? Will her audience hold her accountable? Is this expression to help young girls just a publicity stunt to sell more albums and increase Brand Rihanna’s cachet? That’s her challenge. –joycelyn wilson, Ph.D.
Dr. Wilson is a scholar of hip-hop studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Don’t Cry for Rihanna
The news of Chris Brown and Rihanna’s vitriolic exchange and her subsequent assault on the night before the Grammys, was like the shot heard around the world. Both performers were understandably absent from the prestigious award show that evening, leaving fans dazed and confused regarding the very noticeable hole in the evening’s program.
The incident also ignited a media feeding frenzy, which continues to ebb and flow with the tide of attention either artist needs to promote their respective projects. Brown’s feeble attempts at showing regret and convincing his dwindling fan base that he is sincerely remorseful is only outshone by Rihanna’s repeated reference to herself as the role model who became a victim. The ordeal left her fractured and vulnerable and more than deserving of the public outcry ― in support of this damsel in distress ― for Brown’s head on a platter.
If you believe in coincidence, the songstress “coincidentally” appeared on ABC’s “20/20” news show with Diane Sawyer in a tell-all interview regarding the shocking events that transpired on the evening of the abuse. Oh, in yet another coincidence, her new album dropped days later.
While the candid two-part interview was relatively revealing, Rihanna has remained dubious about her relationship with Brown since the assault. Ironically, Oprah Winfrey, following the assault Rihanna suffered at the hands of Brown, dedicated an entire show to domestic abuse. In a show of support and sensitivity, Winfrey encouraged both pop icons to get counseling and offered sage advice to Rihanna. “Love doesn’t hurt. And if a man hits you once, he will hit you again,” she told the young singer in an on-air plea to extricate herself from the volatile relationship.
No such public offers of assistance or comfort were forthcoming from Diane Sawyer or the network that aired the exclusive interview. A number of media pundits and fans in general have been critical of Rihanna’s decision to snub Winfrey and break her silence in a less sympathetic news forum.
The Barbados-born beauty was recently featured on the cover of Glamour magazine, and was honored with the “Back-on-Top Superstar” award presented at the magazine’s Women of the Year Awards ceremony in New York. While Rihanna’s career comeback appears to be in full swing, she has yet to definitively disclose her present relationship with Brown. Her ambiguity regarding whether or not to sever all ties with her abuser is a disturbing reminder of the psychological aspects of intimate partner abuse. So while Brown donates ― with much fanfare ― sales and tour proceeds to organizations battling domestic abuse, Rihanna needs to come to terms with her victimization to emerge as survivor. –christian johnson
Rihanna’s Not the Only Victim
The remains of 11 women were found in and around the home of convicted sex offender Anthony Sowell, in Cleveland in November of this year. Forensic evidence indicates that the women were the victims of heinous criminal acts including kidnapping, aggravated assault, rape and murder.
These 11 women suffered and died in obscurity, as Sowell was able to stave off apprehension because local police officials didn’t deem these cases as high priorities. They were in a word ― invisible.
Pop star Rihanna suffered a brutal beating in February of this year at the hands of her boyfriend, Chris Brown, another high-profile entertainer and teen heartthrob. That case spread across newswires with the ferocity of a California forest fire. And while nothing justifies the abuse the starlet suffered, a comparison of the two cases spotlights the disparities in the response to violence against women from varying economic and social stratas. The public is acutely aware of the Brown-Rihanna saga. But the 11 victims of the Cleveland serial rapist and killer are again disappearing from view.
Rihanna is back in the spotlight promoting a new album, while millions of other abuse victims remain obscured, neglected and ignored.
In November 2009, the singer appeared in an exclusive two-part interview on the ABC news magazine “20/20” to relay the details of the night that shot spousal abuse back into the realm of the stars. Skeptics questioned Rihanna’s intentions, speculating that her appearance was more a publicity ploy than a sincere attempt to help young women in similar circumstances. However, the indisputable facts are that celebrity-on-celebrity abuse inevitably garners more attention than the thousands of domestic and partner abuse crimes that occur nationwide.
Women are beaten, raped and murdered daily. Mothers, daughters, sisters and girlfriends go missing and there is no sense of urgency surrounding their rescue or national outcry for action. The missing and abused, as well as the public in general, would be better served if the media and those in it, redirected the spotlight and demanded justice for all victims of crime ― like those 11 women murdered in Cleveland. –iesha daniels
Chris Brown, Rihanna and the Mistreatment of Black Women
Chris Brown’s violent assault on pop icon Rihanna in February of this year sent up red flags for African American girls and their understandably concerned moms. Along with the horrific photos depicting the severity of the beating the young woman suffered at the hands of one-time heartthrob Brown, a dangerous combination of mixed messages and finger-pointing may have fueled the contentious debate and controversy regarding domestic abuse nationwide and in the African American community in particular.
That dirty little secret ― spousal or intimate partner abuse ― has emerged on the public stage again. The message about how prominent and deadly these types of attacks are remains shrouded in self-recriminations and shame on the part of the victims, who are sometimes ambiguous about the circumstances of the attack and their responses in the aftermath of the violence.
Rather than leave it to a popular, albeit confused, young singer to share information about the problem of domestic abuse, here are some cold, hard facts that will help your teenage daughter discern how important it is to safeguard against intimate partner violence and physical abuse.
Fact 1: Black women suffer from the highest rates of domestic violence. Black females experience domestic violence at a rate 35 percent higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics
Fact 2: Physical violence is estimated to occur in four to six million intimate relationships each year in the United States. Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Fact 3: Nearly one in every three adult women experiences at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood. Approximately four million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during a 12-month period. Source: American Psychological Association. Facts About Family Violence. American Psychological Association Web site.
Fact 4: It is estimated that two to four million American women are assaulted by a domestic partner every year. Twelve million women ― 25 percent of the female population ― will be abused in their lifetime, which accounts for 35 percent of emergency room visits. for American women. Source: Massey, J. Domestic Violence in Neurologic Practice. Archives in Neurology
And these are just some of the facts regarding the likelihood and the frequency of these criminal attacks. Violence against women in any form is a crime, so impress upon your daughters that physical, mental and emotional transgressions from an intimate partner is neither love or passion .. it might just be a preview of what’s to come. –roz edward
