Blog Post 7

Olivia Lakes

Professor Santos 

EN199-003

20 March 2015

​​​Today in class, we talked about Rihanna's Russian Roulette, domestic abuse and black womanhood. It was very interesting, but also predictable, to see the reaction of people after the assault of Rihanna by Chris Brown, and the fact that victim blaming is so ridiculously common. The fact that many people, as soon as they heard about it, were asking “what did she do to make him mad?” immediately, without hearing anything else of the story, was ridiculous. The fact that it would be okay for him to hit her, had she enticed him, is absurd and concerning. this victim blaming is harmful and abusive in itself, because it is essentially telling the victim in the situation that they brought this misfortune and abuse upon themselves. With this, they further discourage women to come forward with instances of domestic and sexual violence to the police and others and seek help. 

Along with this, the fact that Rihanna is a black woman is significant, not only because of the hypersexualization of black women, especially in media, but also because of this notion that black women need to always be tough and can handle anything. This is not to say that black women aren't tough and can't handle anything, because they definitely are and have been through more than most can imagine throughout history, but the fact that sympathy is denyed because of this is the problem. With Rihanna, because she puts out this bad girl/hard persona, and because of the presence of BDSM in her music, people thought that it was "okay" that she ended up involved in this abusive relationship because not only was she "asking for it" and "didn't mind the pain," but she's also a black woman so she's strong and she doesn't need a man because she can handle her own. These stereotypes are incredibly destructive because they take away from her as a victim and create erasure. Just because she's strong doesn't mean she should have to or be able to put up with domestic abuse. No matter how tough or weak or hard or fragile someone is, they should not have to go through abuse in any way, especially without support or help, and they definitely should not be blamed for it. 

I thought that the way Rihanna chose to express herself after the abuse was interesting, and although it may have been empowering for her, I can see why some would see it as problematic. Obviously, I think that as long as it helps her through in the long run, who cares what critics, etc think, therefore I would support her decisions no matter what. However, that's not to say that I don't think there could've been a better way to go about it. Using the BDSM definitely did fuel the oppositions fire, due to the nature of the practice, and being right after the abuse it did seem a little out of place. However, just because someone is into BDSM does not make it okay for them to be touched, etc. in ways that they don't agree with. That being said, just because Rihanna enjoys BDSM does not mean that what happened to her she "had coming" or "enjoyed," because abuse and consentual BDSM are two completely separate things.