So how do we, as women, stand up against victim blaming when it is so pervasive in our culture?
At the outbreak of the Ray Rice case, women broke that silence by taking to social media with the hashtag #WhyIStayed, directly confronting these questions by highlighting the countless reasons that women in abusive relationships often don’t have the choice to leave.
Steve Bisciotti’s press conference today is just another attempt at damage control, but it won’t work. The NFL’s violence against women problem can’t be “handled” or “managed” — it needs to be repaired.
The reasons Black women suffer disproportionately from abuse are complex. Racism and sexism are two of the biggest obstacles that Black women in America face. But because many Black women and men believe racism is a bigger issue than sexism, Black women tend to feel obligated to put racial issues ahead of sex-based issues.
Sometimes celebrities grow up to be exactly who you hope they will be. Case in point: Emma Watson, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. This weekend, the actress/model/Ivy League grad gave a speech to kick off the “HeForShe” campaign. Feminism isn’t a “women’s issue,” she argued; it’s everyone’s issue. She spoke about the myriad ways in which girls and women are discriminated against in the world and how men, too, suffer from gender stereotypes.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s today did nothing to increase confidence in his ability to lead the NFL out of its morass.