Reporting Abuse — Does It Help?
As I listened to stories this morning on ESPN radio about domestic violence and child abuse in the NFL, I tried to convince myself that this discussion will lead somewhere good. That this new attention toward the pain and violence would provide some security for the victims, some restraining force on the perpetrators. Now it might actually succeed at this; however, i think the cost for victims if so will be that representatives of the media and public institutions will become less interested in their concerns.
I think the sports media is reporting specific details of violence in a more or less accurate way. My impression is that the focus of reporters/commentators is almost exclusively on crimes committed by players and the reaction of league officials and team officials to their knowledge of these crimes.
The voices of the victims is almost completely absent from this picture.
If this pattern continues, I predict more news stories about players abusing their families as well as more strict punishments imposed on them by the NFL. But that doesn’t mean the players will think it’s fair. It doesn’t necessarily mean they will stop hurting people; a common way for people to resist authority is by simply making greater efforts at hiding what they are doing. In this case the NFL teams have a strong interest in hiding those crimes as well (because they don’t want to take people off the field who they are paying to play.) And the NFL only cares about domestic violence because it makes them look bad.
In light of all this, it’s hard for me to gauge whether this attention is good for the victims or not. I don’t think it is. This is because of my own assumptions about what people need. I think people need security and protection, but moreso they need to have a voice, to be heard, to stand up and be counted.
And I do not see the people who are in a position to publicly provide that ear listening.
So, while it does give victims new hope that they can approach teams or the league to sort things out behind the scenes, it also makes it that much harder for them to deal with these issues publicly.
Not sure what else to say but I am curious to hear thoughts.
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