Real Politikin': Someone Stop the Music

“He then placed her in a head lock…causing her to be unable to breathe.” Police report detailing Chris Brown’s assault on Rihanna.

“The best punch he ever threw was against me…he punched me in the head and I bounced from one wall to the other.” Robin Givens, referencing Mike Tyson.

“He’s going to beat the shit out of me.” 911 call from Nicole Brown Simpson (we all know the “he” to whom she’s referring).

I love Rihanna. I’m firmly convinced that if she and I were to ever meet, we’d become instant BFFs. But as much as I adore that cute Caribbean pixie, I won’t use this column to join the chorus of well-meaning public figures imploring her to leave her abuser and then further demanding that Chris Brown be brought to justice. These efforts, while commendable, are all just part of the all-too-repetitive song and dance where, every few years, a famous woman makes headlines not for her musical or cinematic hits but for the physical hits visited upon her face and body by an intimate partner.

The public is then deluged with a series of past victims of abuse, each one telling her story on TV, illuminating the similarities between their lives and that of the celebrity abusee du jour. Nancy Grace, or some other journalistic luminary, then begins a self-righteous rant about enforcing the rights of the victim. Oprah points out that if he hit you once, sister girl, he’ll hit you again. And finally, an appeal is made for greater intervention by the police and other public authorities. Once this is complete, the story goes away until the next Rihanna or

Our focus on violence against women seems to wax and wane according to when that violence intersects the lives of the rich and sensational. But the numbers suggest that the average and mundane deal with this violence on a daily basis. A study by the Centers for Disease Control states that 5.3 million women are abused every year. An American Bar Association survey estimates that one-in-four women have been raped or assaulted by a current or former sexual partner. And the American Medical Association lists domestic abuse as the leading cause of injury for women. To put it bluntly, this isn’t a trend, it’s an American way of life (see our story on femicide from last year). Unless we broaden our attention to the larger question of how we devalue women in our society, it is a cultural reality that will not go away.

A strong way forward in fighting violence against women must include policies that look beyond what law enforcement and public health programs can do. We must also work to eliminate the political structures that make it okay to devalue and ultimately dehumanize women in the first place. Congress recently passed the Fair Pay Act, making it easier for women to obtain equal pay for equal work. An even stronger development would be the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, constitutionally prohibiting discrimination based on sex. And because violence against women is also gender-based violence, Congress should pass an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would prohibit discrimination in the workplace based on both sexual orientation and gender-identity.

As much as I applaud Barack Obama for recently creating a White House Council on Women and Girls—an effort designed to ensure that federal agencies pay attention to the way their policies impact women—only seven women were appointed to the 22 cabinet-level positions in the Obama administration. As fierce as I think Hillary Clinton is, an even fiercer statement would be to have a cabinet that actually reflects the fact that women make up more than half of our population.

We should also ratify the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a global treaty that has been instrumental in expanding political and property rights for women, developing methods of curbing domestic violence, and improving education for girls. CEDAW has been approved by all but eight members of the 192 members of the UN. Along with the United States, those eight nations include such human rights superstars as Iran, Sudan and Somalia.

I’m under no illusion that such moves alone will solve the problems of the 5.3 million American women abused each year, but they say write what you know, and what I know is politics. I also know that political leadership can have a direct impact on our culture and that without such leadership we may never stop the haunting tune that gender-based violence keeps playing over and over again within our society.