Life is full of what we teachers call these "teachable moments"--when something bizarrely relevant to your student population happens which then serves as a launching pad for a discussion about the bigger issues. Since I am on sabbatical this semester, I have no idea how my students are responding to the Rihanna/Chris Brown situation. What I do know is that my classes assigned me the homework of watching "This Christmas," the Chris Brown Xmas film because, "Miss, it's so good. When he starts signing, omg..." and when writing Regents essays in class all they wanted was to listen to the Chris Brown Pandora station. They adored Chris Brown--even the guys in class knew every word to every song of his (and several dance moves).
Therefore, when I read the NYT article, I wasn't surprised. But besides the oh-so-tired-blaming-of-hip-hop argument, I strongly disagreed with one part of the article:
Moreover, teenage girls can’t be expected to support Rihanna just because of her gender, youth culture experts say. They see themselves as sharing equal responsibility with boys. Parity, not sisterhood, is the name of the game.
During a presentation about dating violence to ninth graders at Hostos-Lincoln Academy this week, one girl said, “If they hit you, smack them back. Both my parents say that to me.”
That entire argument regarding gender parity is a load of bologna. It's not gender parity that is encouraging girls to hit boys back, it's something more akin to the Biblical legal suggestion "an eye for an eye" that is the unspoken law of the streets. Now, disclaimer necessary, I personally don't "know" life in urban America, but I have worked with a student population who does for over ten years and I have learned a thing or two. If someone beats you up, you fight back or you're a punk (gender notwithstanding--girls fight girls, girls fight boys, boys fight boys). If someone in your crew gets killed, murder is the payback. If someone steals from you, you steal from them. To put it basically, violence begets violence. Period. End of discussion.
To twist this unspoken street law into a interpretation of gender parity is just wrong. Gender has no role in it. It's about revenge and protecting your pride--plain and simple. There is no sisterhood or brotherhood here, just 'hood.
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