Boston Public Health Commission surveys teens on Rihanna
By adamg - 3/12/09 - 3:17 pm
Nearly half blame her for getting herself beaten up.
In addition, a significant number of males and females in the survey said Rihanna was destroying Chris Brown's career, and females were no less likely than males to come to Rihanna's defense.
The commission says it did the survey as part of a new initiative to combat teen dating violence in the city, under a four-year, $1-million grant it received last year.
Comments
Well, that was a waste of
Well, that was a waste of money. Look at comments on any article about this online and there are a ton of people (unfairly!) blaming Rihanna.
Less money on surveying, more on pounding the idea into peoples' heads that hitting a woman is completely unacceptable.
Do these two people have some local connection to Boston?
If not, I don't understand why a local government entity would be conducting a survey about them, or why local people would have any particular opinions about them.
No, they're not local
But they're pop performers who are in the news and BPHC did the survey to, I suppose, support its contention that women who are abused in a relationship really get the short end of the stick in a number of ways - including getting blamed and shamed. Since it's treating date violence as a public-health issue, it makes sense, I guess.
Public Health Issues
Relationship violence is a serious public health issue, particularly among young people. Some of the patterns that lead to lifelong strife are established early in life.
This is an extremely prominent case that has been very well followed. Additionally, these particular performers are very popular among youth. This means that a lurid tabloid spectacle is also a golden opportunity for health workers to assess attitudes toward intimate partner violence in young men and women, and gauge reactions to the various features of this situation (including the part where the alleged batterer will be facing criminal charges). Once they get an idea of how young people react to this non-abstract situation, they can design more effective interventions to combat misconceptions about such violent attacks.
Scary
It's so scary to think that that many young people think it's the victim's fault. Maybe the media attention will prompt some education & help teach these kids that abuse is never OK.
teens blame Rihanna
I work in a Boston high school and we have been discussing this situation in my "social issues" class since it happened. I could NOT believe the blaming of Rihanna and the support from Chris Brown from MOST of the students, especially the girls.
THIS is a real wake-up call to how far we have NOT come! It is scary and the educators in our City need help from you to combat this confusion on the part of our young people.
Thanks!!!! for addressing this.