TW for domestic violenceRobin Givens: “This is what happened to me”The actress and activist speaks o
TW for domestic violenceRobin Givens: “This is what happened to me”The actress and activist speaks out on how social media is shedding light on violenceTyson may not enjoy being reminded of his past, but another person well acquainted with his wrath, Robin Givens, is considerably less concerned about his possible hurt feelings. In an essay for Time inspired by the social media trending topics #WhyIStayed and #WhyILeft, she writes about how when she first heard of the Ray Rice incident earlier this year – and of his initial light two-week suspension — she thought, “Great, here we go again. No one cares, he can do anything.” Because she says she’d lived through it. “When I came to,” she recalls, “a doorman was carrying me over his shoulder, out of my fiancé’s apartment, and into a car.” She says she was “embarrassed,” and that she struggled with “inner turmoil and confusion.” Then, as often happens in abusive relationships, “One minute you’re running from him, the next you’re protecting him. And being a black woman you feel you want to protect your man. You think, the black man in America has it so difficult anyway, so now you’re turning them in. It feels like the ultimate betrayal.” That this still goes on, with the degree of frequency it does, a generation later, seems an almost insurmountable cycle. But Givens believes there’s hope in the fact that now more of these incidents are being documented on camera. Calling this a “watershed moment,” she says, “No matter what people are told, it’s hard for anyone to believe that a man could do this kind of thing unless they actually see it.”That’s why both the images of the Rice video and the words of individuals who’ve been in similar situations are so powerful and so necessary. Abuse thrives in secrecy. It counts on the complicit silence of victims. It presumes that a world that sees a placid façade won’t notice the cracks. But we can’t look away any longer. And maybe now, decades after Givens’ own experience, things can start to get better. Because as she says, now, “This conversation will never be the same. You can’t hide it so much anymore.”Read the full piece and watch the video hereFrom Salon.com, a news and opinion site that I really think is doing a great job of regularly providing feminist voices and coverage of womens’ issues! -- source link
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