Recently domestic violence hit the headlines, again, with Ray Rice’s assault of his fiancée attracting substantial media attention. And yet again we see that society at large has no idea how to respond appropriately.
The insultingly weak initial two-game suspension that Rice received (when other players had had longer suspensions for illegal tattoos and eating protein bars that were not on the approved list) was reminiscent of the type of down-playing that domestic violence received in the 1950s. Thankfully following wide-spread criticism, the NFL revised their ideas and issued an indefinite suspension.
Rice’s wife , Janay, is one of many current or former partners to an NFL player who has experienced domestic abuse, and given the high stats globally for females ever having experienced domestic violence, her situation is sadly far from unusual - a World Health Organisation review found that 30% of women around the world are affected by domestic or sexual violence by a partner. In Canada specifically, one in four women has experienced domestic violence during her lifetime.
Read the full blog here: http://cmajblogs.com/responding-to-domestic-violence-victims-workplace-and-friends-family/