It is all over the media, athlete Ray Rice knocked his fiancé out in an elevator and all he got as a consequence of his actions was a two game suspension. Regardless of whether or not the NFL saw the video before they handed down the two game suspension, they had to have known that Mr. Rice dragged his unconscious fiancé from the elevator which was also caught on camera. This is a symptom of a larger societal problem where the institutions, sports leagues, the media, politicians and even society as a whole does not take domestic violence and gendered violence seriously. The problem is almost without fail portrayed as just a few isolated incidents. When people speak out we are seen as "hysterical" and they will say we are "overreacting".
Another thing the media will do is if a survivor returns to the abuser they use that as a means of attacking the validity of the accusations. This happened when Rihanna was seen with Chris Brown after he had beaten her.
I know because of personal experience how difficult it is to get out of an abusive relationship. When I left my abusive ex and escaped abuse, I had help because a wonderful feminist came and helped me get away. She gave me a place to stay.
I am very blessed that she helped me because I wouldn't have been able to get away without her help. If it wasn't for her help in getting away, I'd likely still be with him to this day. However, there are many other womyn who don't have such support and feel as alone and trapped as I did at one point. If you are one of those womyn and you are reading this please know that you are not alone.
When I had a way out and realized that I deserve better than abuse, I left that motherfucker. Nobody deserves to be abused.
The problem is society doesn't take domestic and gendered violence seriously. The system is rigged to silence survivors. Much like with sexual abuse the police are usually don't take domestic violence very seriously and the injustice system rarely does anything about abusers.
I, personally, feel that a network of underground community oriented justice as well as education is the most logical way to combat this problem. As womyn, we must stop tearing each other down and follow the example of The Gulabi Gang in India.
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