We don’t want to be as angry at Rihanna as we are, but we can’t help it.
Like, what right do we have to pry into or care about the personal lives of celebrities?
Does it affect us in any way? Does it change anything in our lives? No. We just can’t help but feel weirdly disappointed about the entire situation. Ladies can do anything they want to with their lives. Absolutely. But the reconnection between Rihanna and Chris Brown is unsettling.
“People — singers and otherwise — can date whomever they like,” Susan Milligan wrote in U.S. News. “They can forgive, despite all evidence of an ongoing threat of violence. And if a woman indeed becomes a victim of domestic violence, it is the fault of the attacker, not the woman.”
“I hate the idea of celebrities — particularly those in the arts or sports — being expected to serve as an example or role model for others,” Milligan continued. “And yet it makes me cringe to think of young women looking at Rihanna and Brown and deciding there’s something very hip about sticking by the man who beats the hell out of you.”
She put it very well. People don’t want to be labeled role models if they don’t consider themselves to be them, but sometimes millions of people look up to you and scrutinize your every move. At that point, maybe take into consideration what sort of image you’re portraying.
“The larger risk now is that because millions of young girls and boys love the music of Chris Brown and think Charlie Sheen is hilarious, our media is giving celebrity men a free pass to abuse women,” Jennifer Siebel Newsom, CEO of MissRepresentation.org, said, according to the Washington Post.
“While we can’t change court decisions and whether or not these women take these men back into their lives, we do have a responsibility to use our voice to counter the media narratives which say abusing women is an acceptable norm,” Newsom said.
So, that’s what we’re doing now. We’d like to formally voice our concern. What we don’t know is where our concern should be placed. Is it with a society that teaches young boys to grow into abusers? Is it with a Hollywood elite who is thrust into the spotlight unwillingly, and then makes poor decisions? No.
It is with both of those areas. It is with the media in general for wanting to focus on the bright side of domestic abuse. The night of the Grammys, the “camera zeroed in on megastar Rihanna, smiling, intertwined with and resting her head on Chris Brown’s shoulder,” according to the Washington Post. “The snuggle fest began trending on Twitter with comments about how ‘in love’ and ‘phenomenal’ the couple looked together.”
“Demand that celebs play by the rules. Revoke the get out of jail free card. Don’t forget,” psychologist Tashion Macon wrote in an article for the Huffington Post that listed, in more detail, the ways society can better itself.
If we can get this new way of thinking off the ground — the idea that it’s not OK to humor celebrities who do bad things — then, maybe the next generations won’t be so confused.
