The Daily Campus

Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Commentary

I have become increasingly tired of the ignorance shown by the Daily Campus. On April 20, 2009, I was reading an article by Kevin Duffy titled "Chris Brown's New (Old) Girlfriend." It was about how Chris Brown, now notorious for his beating of ex-girlfriend Rihanna, is now dating another of his exes. I was appalled to see some of the remarks Duffy made about Brown's new dating situation, stating that he would "like to applaud Brown for this remarkable accomplishment" and questioned new girlfriend Erica Jackson's logic in dating Brown, when she could be dating someone like Usher who has "...rock-hard abs and a reputation for treating women with average to above-average respect."

First of all, Duffy is a sports writer. He has no place in determining what is best for women, especially ones he does not know. And to say that Jackson deserves "average to above-average respect" is perhaps a sign that he thinks all women should be treated this way. I wonder if he would like to be treated averagely by his partner and feel any sense of being content. Duffy has somehow become the main writer about the ordeal surrounding Brown and Rihanna, and never once has he mentioned the mental and emotional battles abused women and men go through in these situations. He does, however, talk about his adoration for Rihanna and her beauty, demonstrating his keen ability to judge people from the surface.

Even more disheartening are the comments posted about it online, that include "Rihanna is a cunt," "leave Chris Brown alone," and "If Chris Brown let Rihanna beat him up he'd be a sissy." Rihanna was a victim of assault by someone she loved. That is something that will hurt and strain her for an endless amount of time. To call her a derogatory and misogynist term for being abused is simply unacceptable and I cannot understand how the post could be written by a woman, who I would assume has some respect for herself and for other women as well.

The fact that people are defending Chris Brown for fighting back against Rihanna seems to indicate that those people believe it is acceptable for a man to assault a woman if she becomes physical. Brown is clearly stronger than Rihanna, and there is no way he could not simply hold her back or use his words instead of resorting to physical violence. The fact that people would call him a sissy for doing such exhibits our fear of breaking traditional gender roles in this country.

Continued...

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