The obvious elements of abuse culture aside, it’s absolutely racist if we’re being real here. The whole Taylor Swift/Kanye debacle is an explicit reflection of the historical pattern of protecting delicate, vulnerable white women from big, scary non-white men. A clear historical embodiment of this pattern is in the murder of Emmett Till. We also see the pattern in prison sentencing; if a non-white person commits a crime against a white woman, the sentence is harsher than if a white woman/person commits a crime against a non-white person.
Rihanna, as a black woman, is at the intersection of multiple oppressions: she is black AND she’s a woman. Black women are popularly portrayed as overly-animalistic, base, and hyper-sexual. Whether it’s a consequence of this phenomenon or the reason for it (or both), black women are seen as less human than both black men and white women. When we detach a person from their humanity, it is easier to justify violence against them. This is how the objectification of women contributes to abuse culture & part of why so many people thought it was justified to blame Brown’s abuse on Rihanna.
Applying these thoughts to the identity of the victim: Rihanna is black. Swift is white. The black woman had it coming, but the white woman? HOLYSHITHOWDAREU.
tryingtoloveitall: A lot of people don not recognize this. I have had numerous people tell me Rihanna “had it coming” or “it was her fault”. And I find it more disgusting that people are saying that it has been how many years, the public should give Chris Brown another chance…NO! Since when is domestic violence with attempted murder okay? Really? And people still won’t forgive Kanye? I don’t like him either, but we knew where he stood from the beginning as a drunk and narcissistic ”genius”, but he didn’t beat a woman 3/4 to death. And I don’t know how to stress this enough, but Laci said it very well. It has to do with the race of the women, I see it everyday.
Rihanna was left for dead but Kanye is the one who is remembered for interrupting TS. Our society is screwed.
(via lafilleaveclelivre)
