Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave.

A student group did a presentation in class about domestic violence that featured Eminem's music video "Love the Way You Lie." Rihanna is also in the music video as she is a singer on the music track. Watching the video triggered lots of people in class - mostly female - and it was very touching hearing their stories. I even hugged a few of the women after class who shared their stories.

One of the things that I noticed most about class that evening was the argument that domestic violence abuse could be something that both parties (i.e. male and female) experience in a relationship. Dr. Everbach quickly pointed out that statistics show that it is women that suffer more at the hands of men when it comes to domestic abuse. While I do believe this to be true, I think it's only fair to point out that it is possible for men to be abused as well.

Thank goodness, I've never been in a abusive relationship, but I've seen violent fights among couples with the most notorious being Rihanna. Years ago when she was dating Chris Brown, I did some part-time work for her hairstylist. This meant that lots of times I had to show up to shoots where I actually got to meet and chat with Rihanna herself (she's really nice and down to earth) as well as hang out with her crew. Sometimes Chris would come around and they would hang out on breaks (those shoots could go on for hours!). They seemed like a really nice couple until one day he came to set and they got into a fight. I'd noticed before he arrived that Rihanna was in a bad mood and I'm not quite sure what they were arguing about, but it got physical fast. The body guards rushed over to break it up and I remember being so freaked out and wondering what the hell was going on. I didn't see the whole thing, but I did see him hit her and she slap him back. No one else on set seemed to be perturbed about the incident because apparently it happened all of the time. Later on I asked her why she stayed and she looked at me and simply said, "Because I love him." I think this is the part about domestic abuse no one can quantify. Love is, and can be, most definitely blind.