Chris Brown first came on the scene when I was in high school. I remember when “Run It,” one of his most famous songs, would play on the loudspeakers at dances, in our cars, and through our headphones. I even recall some people having it as their ringtones. He was popular, and we ate up whatever music he put out.
But in February of 2009, during my first year of college, the news broke that Brown and Rihanna were involved in a domestic violence dispute. At first, around my campus, I heard many different versions of what happened: “Rihanna hit him first,” “She tried to take the keys from the ignition of the car they were in while he was driving — she could’ve killed the both of them,” and “I heard that she took his cell phone and threw it out of the window.”
The consensus was that Rihanna started the fight. But then I saw the leaked photo of her injuries, I thought to myself that no matter what she did, if she started anything, she didn’t deserve to be beat up like that — no one does. This was the moment when I changed my mind about Brown. I stopped listening to his music and stopped supporting him in any way that I could.
Jump to this year’s Grammys. It’s my last year of college, and my housemates and I were watching the show while somewhat paying attention to our homework. Someone made a comment about how Rihanna and Katy Perry were sitting next to each other — we heard that they were friends. Someone else piped up, “Wait, is Chris Brown performing? And Rihanna is there?”
Yep. Brown performed multiple times that night. I wondered why. It seemed like no matter his actions and behavior in the past, he was being rewarded. I mean, he won a Grammy, and I was a little unsettled by that.
Now, Brown’s Grammys appearance has inspired continued hype. A story from NPR describes how young women feel like Brown is the ideal man and how they wish their boyfriends were more like him. An article from BuzzFeed.com showcases a slew of Twitter comments from young women who proclaim that Brown can beat them any day. Myriad feminist blogs have commented on his actions and his current success. Jezebel has a chronological view of “What Exactly Is Wrong with Chris Brown.”
More recently, there have been a few articles about Rihanna and Brown getting back together — musically, that is. The fact that they both have new songs that feature each other brought about even more reactions from the media, whether it was right or wrong or any of our business.
There has been a whirlwind of media coverage of Brown recently. We are still eating him up like we did when I was in high school. The only difference now is that the effects are worse. We aren’t just enjoying his music anymore. We are seeing the music industry celebrate him and the media reward him with continued attention despite his violent past. It’s hard to see that kind of reward given to someone who makes young women tweet how they would like to be abused by him. But I guess bad press is better than no press, right?
For Chris Brown, yes it is.
This post was written by National Student Advisory Council member Katie Donahoe.
AAUW Dialog 
You wrote: “…reward given to someone who makes young women tweet how they would like to be abused by him [Chris Brown.]”
Puhleeeeese! No person “makes” someone do something such as tweet! You cannot blame Chris Brown for that phenomenon.
Young people like to write and say various things just for “shock value” – they aren’t really serious about a lot of it – and no one really wants to be “beaten.” It’s a young person’s expression about wanting to “be closer” to a celebrity, who is out of their actual reach. They simply want to shadow his personal celebrity……which is shallow, very silly, and immature.
You’re reading a bit too literally here. We also say, “He makes my heart go pitter-pat,” but no one with half a brain thinks that the guy is actually performing CPR.
I hope you’re right that they’re going for shock value, but I’m not as sure as you are that they have the faintest idea of what being beaten would mean, and/or they think he’d beat another women (like Rihanna) but not them. The young are convinced of their specialness, because they haven’t much experience. Yes, they want to follow his personal celebrity. The question is, why are some women attracted to men who have a record of violence against a woman (or many women), and how much of that has to do with a society that at times trivializes this.
I agree with you Sarah. I think the problem is definitely a societal issue that has to be recognized and addressed. Women who are abused by men are marginalized and vulnerable to continued abuse. When these young women make comments like those on twitter, they contribute to that culture. The national conversation about domestic violence should not be one sided. We want to prosecute and hold accountable the abusers, but we also need to recognize the social impact it has on young men and women.
I understand your points because they are all valid. We should be concerned about men in Chris’ situation who do not receive the necessary rehabilitation that is required to decrease their likelihood of re-offending. However, I do not understand the unwillingness to allow him as an individual to move on with his life when 1. he has complied with all facets of his adjudication 2. he clearly has been forgiven by the victim (whether you agree with her decision or not). Is it necessary to permanently revile and outcast an individual who committed a crime, without even allowing them the opportunity to rehabilitate?
My opinion comes in the light of the fact that I am a victim of domestic violence, I lived in a homeless shelter for women who were abused by men far worse (all though no less significant) than Rihanna, and have taught anger management to domestic violence offenders. Particularly my experience dealing with these offenders and learning from their perspective that they accept responsibility for their actions, but have not been afforded the opportunity to regain their integrity because the community will not allow them to. In other words, what is the incentive to change behaviors, when you will not allow the offender to make the necessary changes to better themselves based on this idea that he should pay constant penance for his actions?
Under the Duluth Model of domestic violence treatment, batterers are required to attend mandatory batterer intervention programs that focus on helping them identify abusive behaviors, understand why they do it and then provide them with the necessary tools to change their behavior. If Chris Brown has or is receiving treatment under this highly recognized plan for treatment; what more can we as the public on the outside looking in expect of him?
It’s pretty clear through Chris’s continuously misogynistic lyrics, and tweets (one where he has threatened a woman again), and his attitude about the subject he didn’t learn anything, and probably still needs to deal with his anger. Which shows the community service hours he did obviously didn’t rehabilitate him. Our justice system isn’t usually good at that part…
There are men out there who have been rehabilitated and go on to serve as advocates, after actually being rehabilitated. But he is not one of them. He’s a victim of our racist sexist system, his upbringing (as he witnessed his mother beat by a boyfriend), but he needs to take a proactive stance against domestic violence. That bridge will not come though continually positively prizing him. As a nation, we are only making it worse for abusers and the abused.
As for Rihanna, (as a feminist, AAUW member, and young survivor of dating violence) I am saddened by her choice to reconnect with him. After surviving my episode, (in a developing country with pretty much no support except for my own) I watched a Rihanna interview, where she explained when she finally “woke up.” She decided to stop seeing him, because she realized she was putting at risk the lives of her young female fans.
As a survivor, with a abuser on the loose, I watched this interview to figure out how I would feel next, what to expect, and I found hope by her strength. Fast forward a year later from my incident and Rihanna’s making songs and possibly hooking up with this guy. I don’t want to judge her, but I am terrified for her young female fans who are already in vulnerable situations!.
Great post. Thanks for writing and check out the Dan Treadway Huff Post column on this. He raises some excellent questions. In part, he writes:
My main disappointment — which is likely one that many share — at the prospect of Rihanna getting back together with Chris Brown is the disturbing precedent I feel she is setting as a woman who is involved in the most high-profile case of domestic violence in the past decade. If someone like Rihanna, who is considered universally to be among the most charismatic, powerful and, needless to say, beautiful women in our society can find a way to forgive a man who beat her, perhaps it could have an effect on how other women in violent relationships treat the idea of forgiving their abusers.
But how is it necessarily fair to expect someone to move on when their entire career and fame is directly attached to one extremely traumatic incident. Should we be disappointed in Rihanna for releasing this remix, or should we be disappointed in ourselves for, years later, still elevating Chris Brown to such iconic status that he is relevant enough to win Grammys and appear atop charts years after this incident? The media and society have clearly forgiven Chris Brown by virtue of not giving him the disgrace of being completely forgotten, so is it fair of us to expect Rihanna not to eventually forgive him as well?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-treadway/rihanna-chris-brown_b_1298496.html?ref=new-york&ir=New%20York