Comments on: From Ralph Kramden to Chris Brown: How Much Progress?

By: David Lott, '65

David Lott, '65 — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:38:16 +0000

Domestic violence was not being portrayed in the Honeymooners. "To the moon, Alice" was a joke. Part of the Joke was that Ralph Cramden was a blusterer who never, ever lived up to his talk. Alice, who was tougher and smarter than Ralph, would not have put up with an iota violence from her husband.

1950's television was not accepting of domestic violence in comedic form. People were, however, more tolerant of parody and far less sensitive to politically incorect words than we are in the current time.

One thing has not changed though. The comedic theme that men are fools still sells.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:46:28 +0000

Just because Rihanna is rich and in the public spotlight doesn't mean that she is somehow magically able to do what countless women are unable to do in private every day. She's 19 year old, and she's probably overwhelmed, frightened, confused and deeply hurting. Abusive relationships don't just happen overnight- if everything in a relationship was perfect and then suddenly one partner beat the other to a pulp, things would be easy to recognize and walk away from. Relationships take time to get to that point. They start subtly and quietly, with ever-escalating emotional manipulation/abuse and a slow buildup of physical harm. Often by the time things are easy to recognize as "serious" by outsiders, the victim is so beaten down, tired, and manipulated that their perceptions of love and right/wrong are too skewed for outsiders to understand. Yes, of course I wish Rihanna could have been able to leave and find a healthy relationship. Yes, of course I wish that she could have used this as an opportunity to show girls around the country a strong example of the way to act. But she's a hurting 19 year old girl. Just because she's a celebrity doesn't mean she's stronger or smarter than anyone else.

By: casey c.

casey c. — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:46:40 +0000

Rihanna's behavior is right in line with that of other women who have been a victim of intimate partner violence. There's data that it takes, on average, 8 times for an abused partner to leave. It's not just as easy as walking way, even if you do have money.

By: Fault?

Fault? — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:22:29 +0000

It always takes two to tango. We can acknowledge everyone should be keeping their hands off everyone else without going so far as to talk about "fault." Men and women constantly involve themselves in abusive relationships. Both men and women return to physically, emotionally, and verbally abusive significant others only to be abused again. It's easy to say no man should hit a woman and Rihanna is not at "fault" for getting pulverized. But isn't returning to an abusive lover like walking into traffic when you've already been hit by a car? Let's not forget Rihanna, unlike a lot of other abused women, is financially independent and doesn't need to be stepping back into the tiger's cage. Her decision to do so is exactly the type of crap motivating teenagers to think it's OK when their boyfriend or girlfriend beats them up.