Teenage Girls Stand by Their Man

After a few posts about the altercation between Chris Brown and Rihanna, I thought this follow-up piece by the Times put an interesting spin on the significance of the event. The article highlights many of the psychological reasons for the reactions from their respective fans, and points out that this event is “perhaps the first time their generation has been compelled to think aloud about dating violence.”

I’d never thought about the point made by Morgan, an African-American studies professor at Harvard, that “the girls’ willingness to minimize Mr. Brown’s alleged behavior also reflects a learned social signal.” According to Morgan, “They’ve been taught, ‘what really matters is that we don’t destroy boys.’ Teenage girls think that if they speak out against an abuser, they boy’s future will be shattered.” When all of this news was coming out, I was confused by the overwhelming support for Brown, but this argument seems like a reasonable answer.

Yet one of the most interesting parts of the article that relates directly to our class is the influence that fandom has on each person’s interpretation of the event. Mimi Valdes Ryan, the former editor in chief of Vibe magazine, argues that many young girls defend Brown’s actions because they are adoring fans; these girls don’t like Rihanna to begin with since she is the object of their idol’s affection. So when the abuse occurred, “acknowledging [Brown’s] attack would make them feel vulnerable: How could they have a crush on someone who would do that? It was less terrifying to blame Rihanna,” says the article. In order to protect the uses and gratifications that these fans have from being a Brown fan, they chose to deny the allegations and instead place the responsibility on the woman who was already detracting from the fantasies of their fandom. Even when new details came out about Brown suffering abuse by his mother, these fans interpreted his past through a lens of forgiveness, rather than many who “commented that Mr. Brown, of all people, should have restrained himself.”

Overall, I liked how this article focused on the reasons for fan reactions and events that have taken place since to bring awareness to domestic abuse. Did any of the other media outlets publish this sort of piece, or did all of the stories deal simply with the Rihanna-Brown relationship? What is your opinion on who’s to blame?

Article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/fashion/19brown.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=teens%20online&st=cse