Warning: Graphic Content
I'm re-posting this today to join the conversation started by The Women's Fund of Birmingham and NBC13 about domestic violence. You can join the conversation here.
There was a lot of talk on the web about Keira Knightley's domestic violence ad. (It is posted above, and it is quite graphic,so please watch at your own discretion.) What fascinates me most aboutthe discussion though is how many people are saying that the ad is toographic and goes too far.
We live in a culture where women are regularly depicted as the objects of violence -- watch any episode of Law & Order, CSI or Criminal Minds, check out a Lifetime movie, or even watch one of the many true crime specials from TruTv to A&E to Datelineif you're not convinced of this. We regularly see women as victims whoare brutalized at the hands of others. Just last night, I watched anepisode of Medium in which a woman is killed by her brother andthen another woman is convinced by this same brother to undergo severalpainful surgeries so that he can get back into her mother's will.Regardless of how you feel about these shows or what the message behindthem is, it is impossible to deny how often we see images of womenbeing physically harmed in the media.
Yet, an ad that addresses a painful reality for 25% of Americanwomen is too much. I have a suggestion for those who think this ad goestoo far: If you're that upset by violence against women, work harder tostop it from happening. Let's give women the resources to get away fromabusive men. Let's put more rapists and abusers in prison. And, perhapsmost importantly, let's get real about the fact that domestic violenceis happening all around us.
In the past year, we have also seen coverage of the Jennifer Hudson tragedy and Chris Brown's attack on Rihanna.We've seen that no one is immune to domestic violence. But, I fearthat what we've also seen is a reinforcement of the idea that domesticviolence is a "private matter." Days after being arrested, Chris Brownwas photographed jet skiing, and the one person who said somethingabout how inappropriate it was to be having fun after choking the womanone supposedly loves, Usher, was also pressured to apologize for thesesame comments days later.
Chris Brown, I don't care how "remorseful" you are. You don't get to have fun on a jet ski before Rihanna'sbruised have healed. In fact, you can't have fun until you've answeredfor your transgressions in a court of law. If it was up to me, youwouldn't be allowed to smile until you had been punished for the brutalbeating you gave.
I'm also posting another domestic violence ad from the NationalCoalition Against Domestic Violence. While not quite as graphic as thevideo above, I think it is quite powerful.
Domestic violence isn't a "private" or "family" matter. It's aquestion of life and death. And it needs to be treated as such.Domestic violence is graphic. And maybe our collective denial about thereality of domestic violence is hurting rather than helping thesituation.
What do you think? Does the ad go too far? Does it go far enough?