Why we shouldn't be watching the Ray Rice video - [View all]

[TBF]

Don't watch the Ray Rice video. Don't ask why Janay Palmer married him. Ask why anyone would blame a victim
That we feel entitled to images of a woman being abused speaks volumes not only about the man who battered her, but about us

Hannah Giorgis
theguardian.com, Monday 8 September 2014 16.20 EDT

Early Monday morning, TMZ released a “cleaned up” video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice beating Janay Palmer, his then-fiancée and current wife, in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. The footage shows Rice, the 206lb (95kg) NFL star, delivering a blow to Palmer that slams her against the elevator railing – that knocks her unconscious. He then drags her body, limp and unresponsive, out of the elevator with a shocking lack of apparent concern.

After investigating the accusations against Rice – to which the Baltimore Ravens running back pleaded not guilty and entered an intervention program for first-time offenders to avoid a trial – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed him a paltry two-game suspension in July. Thousands of people, far and wide, called into question the NFL’s judgment for such a featherweight punishment of an act so violent.

Now, within a matter of hours following the release of the tape, as those questions ratcheted up, the Ravens have terminated Rice’s contract. Strangely but not surprisingly, scrutiny has also increased around the woman’s behavior – the woman who, by the looks of that very tape, was brutalized.

That we feel entitled (and excited) to access gut-wrenching images of a woman being abused – to be entranced by the looks of domestic violence – speaks volumes not only about the man who battered her, but also about we who gaze in parasitic rapture. We click and consume, comment and carry on. What are we saying about ourselves when we place (black) women’s pain under a microscope only to better consume the full kaleidoscope of their suffering?

Much more here -- http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/08/ray-rice-domestic-violence-video-janay-palmer-victim-blaming