.women, violence & Rhianna.

One of the blogs I frequent is called WIT: Women in Theology, and it usually includes an array of posts about gender, feminism, Christianity, theology, etc. And since there are several women bloggers who contribute they tend to be interestingly different in subject matter and form.  I'm a little behind on my reading but this morning one of the recent posts really caught my eye and I thought I'd share it here.  It's a post discussing the contradictory rules for women and violence in the media, particularly looking at Rhianna's newest video, "Man Down,"portraying a girl who shoots her rapist.

To me, Rhianna is a particularly interesting artist because I always seem to keep her music on when I hear it on the radio (because the music is pretty good) but I can't stand how sexualized she allows herself to be (I'm particularly thinking of her performance of "What's My Name" on SNL; I wanted to scream: "stop gyrating already and just sing!).  Even though I know many people - some feminists included - would argue that Rhianna perhaps chooses and is in control of the image she presents to the media and public, I think it can also be argued that she is buying into the over-sexualized female object, becoming a poster-child for the objectified woman.  I let my students argue about this in my ENG 101 classes last fall and it was very interesting how quickly both the guys and gals agreed that it might not have been her choice to become a sex object, although now she's playing her part quite well.

What I found so compelling about the WIT post was that it discussed the implications of the song/video she duoed with Eminem, (don't get me started on him) "Love the Way You Lie," and how there is a contradictory "double-standard" for women and violence in the media (hence the title of the WIT post).  While her rap duet with Eminem was clearly violent it was the man acting out his frustrated, passionate love, which is clearly okay since, as the WIT writer concludes, no one seems to have a problem with it.  On the other hand, "Man Down" has received criticism because of its implications of "premeditated murder."  Here's the double standard - - it's okay for men to be portrayed in a violent manner because they're just showing their obsessive love  and affection, but it's bad for women to commit a violent act toward someone who has raped them (at least as far as this media argument goes).

In the same ENG 101 classes mentioned earlier I had my students watch "Love the Way You Lie,"(a video I'm sure many of them had seen already on VH1 or MTV) asking them to analyze and critically assess the messages portrayed through image and word.  It was amazing to see college freshmen thinking critically about sexualized images of violence that I'm sure they had never considered before (and I'm really hoping they carried these considerations out into the world with them - specifically their dorms).

So for those of you (feminists included) who feel that Rhianna is just taking control of her body and liberating herself from "good girl" roles "gone bad," I have a real problem with Rhianna, but I do agree with the WIT blogger's comments that perhaps this time, at least in regards to her newest video, she might be getting a bad rap.  

*[I didn't discuss the racial implications of the post which discussed the similar messages present in Rhianna's song and Martina McBride's "Independence Day" but that is definitely an interesting topic/problem to consider as well.]