CNN Anchor: Rihanna must deal with “stigma” of being abuse victim

[ccharles000]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/20/162819/678/821/699894

by Barbara Morrill aka BarbinMD
Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 07:00:05 PM PST
If you follow entertainment news in even the most cursory way, you heard about pop singer Rihanna's beating at the hands of R & B artist Chris Brown, just hours before they were scheduled to perform at the Grammy Awards earlier this month. And yesterday, after a police photograph showing Rihanna with cuts and bruises on her face was leaked to the media, the story was back in the news.

Listen to CNN's Kiran Chetry's take, and her guest's casual agreement, on what effect a criminal trial for Brown might have on Rihanna's future:

CHETRY: Also the questions for her moving forward. I mean does she want, you know, the stigma moving forward as a one-time victim of abuse, if this indeed turns out to be proven?

GUEST: Yeah, that's right. And it, you know, it sort of marks her career that she'll just be remembered for this rather than her own talents.
Why would being the victim of domestic violence prompt Chetry to discuss the "stigma" attached, except to imply that the victim was somehow to blame? Do we use such terminology about victims in a robbery? When a man beats up another man?

When did it become okay to suggest that victims of this kind of violence somehow "asked for it"?

[virgogal]

1. Since I never even heard of Rhianna I'll stay out of this one.

[Bluebear]

2. 1. She was abused. 2. Media anchor says she is now "stigmatized". All you need to know!

[marshall]

36. The only stigma is not getting out of the relationship with her abuser

She is wealthy, talented, and has many supporters. She has a much different situation than the woman with several children, no job, no education, no family support, and stay with the lout because the only other choice is the street.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. The whole situation has been an embarassment...

...including the no-talent punk-assed motherfucker who worked her over.

Time and time again, the situation has been referred to as "unfortunate"...

...a fellow DUer hit the nail on the head recently, in reply to one of my posts on the subject, when they asked "if Brown has anger issues, why doesn't he walk up to the biggest GUY he can find and pick a fight?

The answer?

Because he's a worthless punk-assed coward piece of shit motherfucker...that's why.

:grr:

[gratuitous]

4. Contradiction

Is Brown a "worthless" punk-assed . . . motherfucker or a "no-talent" punk-assed motherfucker? I'm confused.

But yeah, when did the Way Back Machine fire up and take us back to those glorious days of yore when a battered woman was responsible for getting her face in the way of some punk-assed motherfucker's fists? What in hell is happening at CNN anymore, that this kind of drivel fills their air time?

[roguevalley]

34. I agree, Amerigo. The only thing that little girl has to 'bear' is the

distinct embarrassment of her personal business being everyone's morality tale. Poor baby. That picture was awesomely awful. She's such a cute little thing.

[Kahuna]

5. Alex Twit said the same thing on MSNBC this morning.

:crazy:

[stillcool]

6. that's news for you...

telling us what we really need to know. I feel so informed now.

[Captain Hilts]

7. WTF?

[Maru Kitteh]

8. Words. CNN needs to string a whole bunch of them together in an endless stream of streamage

The result is often astonishingly stupid.

[Usrename]

28. lol

nice take on CNN

[Cerridwen]

9. With all due respect to Ms. Morrill, the "stigma" comes from people

writing things such as "Rihanna's beating".

Excuse me, but WTF?! "Rihanna's beating"???!!!! Why is it hers? Why does it belong to her? How about Chris Brown's brutality? How about Chris Brown's violence?

If you want to help remove the "stigma" of violence, how about let's let the violent piece of shit who does it, OWN it. Quit making it the property of, and therefore the fault of the target. Put it on the perpetrator!

[sam sarrha]

10. this is why all Corporate Rethuglican Media Theater, formerly known as the 'NEWS', is V-chipped

on my TV.. i can't stomach it anymore.. it's pathetic

[liberalmuse]

11. Blaming the victim.

That's nice. It looks like all those victims of domestic violence will just have to grin and bear the "stigma" they will be forced to live with since they allowed a man to beat the shit out of them. And if you happen to be a prominent personality, you are screwn. Rhianna should have never allowed herself to get hit. I mean, she has her career to think about. Oh, and I feel that I must include this: :sarcasm:

Holy fuck, it's really hard to believe that a news station would allow this bullshit to be spewed on their channel, but there you go. Even worse, it is coming from a woman. It takes all my strength these days not to bang my head against the wall whenever I hear something this stupid, which is all the fucking time lately. CNN, you are a fucking atrocity.

[EFerrari]

12. Blaming the victim is what serial killers do to justify their behavior.

"She asked for it."

[roody]

13. Glad my tv is broken.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. If I got a nickel for each time I heard this as a medic from cops

doctors and others "in the system"

Look folks, she is not stigmatized, we are

An abusive relationship is hard to deal with, and leave, whether you are in the spot light, or the woman many years ago who's house was burned by the asshole who tried to kill her. She was very poor, dirt poor, and only me, and the social worker gave a fuck

At least Rhianna has a family that cares, but a system that still despises her.

And I say this not as a fan, but an observer of society at large

[Triana]

23. Average attempts to leave an abusive relationship is SEVEN times...

...before the victim can finally get free of the abuser and get out permenantly. AND the most dangerous situation for the victim is WHEN (s)he attempts to leave. It's the most dangerous then because abusers don't LIKE losing power and control over their victims. When that happens, they RAGE, stalk, beat, steal, vandalize and MURDER. A victim of abuse literally takes her/his life into their own hands (and their pets and children's) when they try to leave. That is NOT an overstatement.

I can't BELIEVE how goddamned IGNORANT people are about abuse. I just can't. There is NO EXCUSE for it.

[dustbunnie]

15. From that snippet, I'm not getting the suggestion that she asked for it at all.

Not sure why people tune in for the endless drivel that gets spewed by teevee's version of village fishwives but anyhoo...

Sounds like they were saying she'd be stigmatized, in that for a long time whenever someone talks about her, they'll say, "you know, that singer chicalina who got beat by that singer guy." When she gets written up, there will always be that qualifier, "Rihanna, who was brutally beaten by Chris Brown" no matter how irrelevant. That doesn't mean she's blamed for what happened. It's a salacious detail (to the media) and it'll be flogged to death. I don't know. Tina Turner was beaten relentlessly for years. Did anyone blame her? Everyone hated Ike. Just like now... everyone hates Chris Brown.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/02/21/243163.aspx

[mrbarber]

20. Sweet monkey Jesus....

That article made me happy.

Chris Brown needs to get a first class ass beating in the worse way.

[Quantess]

16. I can understand that it may be embarrassing to be in the tabloids as "the battered woman"

Rihanna wants to have a glamorous, beautiful, hip and cool image, and her beaten-up photo does not work toward that image. But, it doesn't ruin her image, either. People may feel bad for her, but they also see her as a survivor, and as someone who didn't deserve to get beaten up. Obviously, most people are going to side with Rihanna and against her attacker.

[rocktivity]

17. The stigmatizing is coming from THEM!!!

In addition to the victim-blaming, they're denying Rhianna justice. Where is their media's outrage that the photo was leaked--doesn't that amount to destroying evidence or obstructing justice or something? After screwing up OJ's first trial so spectacularly, you'd think LAPD would be running a tighter ship. The police may have to drop the case now. But I suppose that's Rhianna's fault, too.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[mudesi]

18. Kiran Chetry Was A Fox News Babe

Really good looking (REALLY good looking), but not a whole hell of a lot of brains.

[McCamy Taylor]

19. So, how does Chetry, CNN anchor deal with the stigma of being a dumb ass?

[lonestarnot]

22. Just like any other fucking stupid toad.

:shrug:

[Quantess]

24. That would be a great postcard to send to CNN

Or you could email them, too.

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.am.html

[Triana]

21. Blame the victim, the abusive a$$hole goes off scot-free

...as usual.

http://www.escapeabuse.com/?p=100">Blame the victim - a Global Human Rights Issue

Except that women aren't considered human - so when THEY are beaten, raped, bludgeoned, maimed, and murdered - it's just "too bad - she must have asked for it".

:grr:
:mad:

[madrchsod]

25. you mean "pogo stick" kiran?

kiran is a dumb fuck

[Berry Cool]

26. Oh, come on, let's face it folks--Rihanna is finished!

I mean, it's not as if Tina Turner ever made another dime after everyone found out Ike was abusing her. The "stigma" of abuse was just too much for her to overcome. :sarcasm:

[Triana]

27. I love Tina Turner. She is one of my sheroes...and I hope Rhianna does as well...

....as Ms. Turner did with her future - and that King Shithead - her abuser - lives shrivelling and freezing in the shadow of his own anger for the rest of his miserable friggin existence.

[Stevenmarc]

29. Once she gets a Grammy from the song about the experience the stigma will be gone

[Feron]

30. She's an idiot.

When she was at Fox News, there was a story about a dog stuck on a patch of ice in a lake. There was a vet on the phone and Kiran asked the vet if dogs got frostbite. *facepalm*

But yeah, I really do hate the part of our society that considers violence against women acceptable because a woman is not sufficiently submissive or servile towards men. If someone annoys you, you leave. You don't hit unless it's in self defense. Even then, you only use enough force to get yourself out of the situation.

I don't care how annoying someone is, that's not an excuse to beat on that person. And yes, I consider women slapping men to be wrong as well.

Doing or saying something out of anger rarely ends well.

I do hope that Rihanna gets help breaking the cycle if she needs it. And Chris Brown needs help too along with a decent punishment.

[Canuckistanian]

31. It's not as bad as the stigma of being a CNN anchor

I mean, they're nice people and all, but I wouldn't want one living in my neighborhood.

[undergroundpanther]

32. It's called the"just world" theory in action.

Another sort of cowardice that blames victims.
A cowards fantasy is what it is.And it's sickening and everywhere and it is bad.

"The need to see victims as the recipients of their just deserts can be explained by what psychologists call the Just World Hypothesis. According to the hypothesis, people have a strong desire or need to believe that the world is an orderly, predictable, and just place, where people get what they deserve. Such a belief plays an important function in our lives since in order to plan our lives or achieve our goals we need to assume that our actions will have predictable consequences. Moreover, when we encounter evidence suggesting that the world is not just, we quickly act to restore justice by helping the victim or we persuade ourselves that no injustice has occurred. We either lend assistance or we decide that the rape victim must have asked for it, the homeless person is simply lazy, the fallen star must be an adulterer. These attitudes are continually reinforced in the ubiquitous fairy tales, fables, comic books, cop shows and other morality tales of our culture, in which good is always rewarded and evil punished."

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n2/justworld.html

[Vinca]

33. The stigma attaches to the assaulter, not the assaultee.

If there's any fairness in the world, what's-his-name will end up in jail and will be sued for all he's got.

[politicasista]

35. Sadly

Yep. Chris Brown's squeeky-clean image is tainted for good. He is now seen as a girl beater rather than a ladies man.

[KamaAina]

37. What about the stigma of Chris Brown being a lowlife abusive scuzzball?

Huh? :grr: :banghead:

[Sultana]

38. The victim blaming has come largely Chris Brown stans (overzealous fans)

who happen to be young girls.

Also, Rapper TI, actor Terrance Howard (wife beater), Project Runway winner Christian Sirano (sp?) and Kenan from SNL comments on the matter are freaking outrages.