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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2019 14:51:08 GMT -4
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Janice Rhymer Martinez
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Post by Janice Rhymer Martinez on Jan 16, 2019 1:57:30 GMT -4
I personally have not seen nor will I be watching the surviving R Kelly documentary that was recently aired. I did not necessarily grew up listening to R.kelly's music, but when I was introduced to it, I can honestly say I became an instant fan. He is no doubt musically gifted. With that being said,I do applaud the #metoo and #timesup movement, for giving women of all colors, ethnicities and social backgrounds to stand up to sexual abuse and share a spotlight on what is considered a somewhat forbidden topic.
To me,the African American community is clearly divided on this matter because of who and what R Kelly represents in his community; A black, successful, rich, good looking brother that made it and paved the way for many more black artists and thus uplifted his community in the best way possible. The other side recognizes that, but they also see that he told advantage of with his powerand money and misused and abused the trust, love and respect his community had for him and preyed upon his own people.
I am conflicted because although I am black, I'm not African American and my upbringing and community was different in regards to speaking up. By the age of 4 or 5 my mother was already having conversations with me about my "special areas" and who, what and why - under the right circumstances should they be touched. She told my sisters and I in the simplest manner that if anyone- being my father, brother, uncle, aunts,cousins, extended family or friends touched me for any reason in our special place to report right away to her. She explained that she was not implying that they were going to touch us or had intentions of touching us but that when and if it ever happened, we were to tell her at once. That was her way of protecting us and letting us know that if something or someone wronged you speak up.
I do believe most people are products of their environment, but one of the articles suggests that R.Kelly allowed his sister to continuously rape him for years after his first encounter with her, but never once suggested that his victims allowed it, but it was forced on them against there will, which I fail to believe is entirely true with all of the cases.
That statment showed me that a victim will always be blamed, thus the cycle will continue to repeat itself and the "Rape" topic in the African American community will remain a forbidden topic for many more years to come.
Projection and displacement are two major defense mechanisms that play a big role in most rape cases. Therefore educating, protecting and speaking up for both males and females are critical in breaking these cycles.
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Post by mohammad on Jan 16, 2019 10:22:16 GMT -4
These articles gave me a new perspective to how someone in power of the African American community with the power and stardom and be pardoned for the crimes he has committed. He is seen as this successful music genius and title alone allows people to overlook what he has done. One of the articles stated rico love saying "there is nothing you can do to make me unlike his music". A very insensitive comment and even though he apologized for it. One can still tell he is still and fan and internally has justified listening to R.Kellys music and sticking by him. The other comment made about the family name and how if the word would spread the family name would get ruined. It just goes to show how much people will suppress internally and withhold from the public to keep the fame alive. This protection has led to countless number of people having to stay silent about the issues they have had to encounter.
"Some in the Black community voice the distaste for their friend or relative’s abusive actions, yet do nothing because of their adoration or sympathy for the individual. By carrying on with a “no snitch” and “do you” culture paired with empathy for the root of a predator’s actions, we give passage to an unremorseful and relentless tirade of causing others the same pain they experienced". This statement is a perfect example of the culture and norm in the African American community which shows that they rather stay silent vs come out and blame others for the issues going on. This mindset along with the protection of the family fame keeps victims from being forthcoming and taken seriously. Which such trauma you can see displacement of internal feelings being pushed out onto others.
The lifetime documentary featured dozens of testimonials from survivors, activists, police officers, and legal experts, as well as Kelly’s family members and former employees. Their collective accounts paint a picture of a predator of vast proportion and shine a light on the pervasive, insidious culture of sexual violence within the music industry. With all this coming out and the statement made by Jada smith stating R. Kellys numbers have gone up on Spotify makes no sense. The only way change can come, is from progression towards what is right.In this case doing things that were unacceptable in society and speaking out against the crimes committed.
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Post by Ryan Rode on Jan 16, 2019 10:48:09 GMT -4
There are many ways to approach this controversial topic so I'll focus on one aspect that may not come up quite as frequently. As the news circulated about the infamous R. Kelly sex tape around 2002, it seemed as though the general population decided that the situation was so uncomfortable that the only way to deal with the allegations was through humor. Humor can certainly be a terrific coping mechanism (it is one of the mature defense mechanisms after all) and it can help alleviate discomfort and frustration about a topic or event, however I believe that sometimes we overuse this method and don't fully understand its implications.
How could anyone forget Dave Chappelle's famous jab at R. Kelly via the song "Piss On You"? I can absolutely understand how it may seem harmless for comedians and talk show hosts to create satire such as this because it takes the population's mind off the very uncomfortable nature of the issue, but there is a downside. It perpetuates the culture of dismissing sexual abuse to women by side stepping the actual issue and choosing to brush it off as boys behaving badly. I do believe that this outlook has changed somewhat in the last couple of years with the increased awareness about sexual abuse at the hands of powerful men. Lets hope that as a country, we continue to make strides in this area.
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Stefanny Santana Rivera
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Post by Stefanny Santana Rivera on Jan 16, 2019 11:14:56 GMT -4
Sexual and physical abuse is a very serious matter that even though has ascertained validity throughout the years, it still does not receive the attention it warrants. Women, regardless or race or color are constantly not taken seriously, and are accused of being too emotional, or "why did she put herself in that situation?", or "those little girls are fast" as shown in the documentaries and subsequent articles. However, this R. Kelly documentary and articles have put into perspective how black females are more likely to experience rape in their lifetime , 4 out of every 10 females is a very high number to be ignored. We as a society and as a whole have to begin to acknowledge that this is happening, its happening now, and something must be done in order to decrease this outrageous number of black girls being raped and also staying quiet afterwards. In the specific case of R. Kelly, as mentioned by C.B Fletcher (2019), gaslighting has a big impact in men's actions. He was sexually abused by his sister, he suffered years of silence, and instead of talking about it, he resorted to manipulating females, especially vulnerable young girls to come to his studio and he would make them famous. But instead, he made them doubt themselves, he made it seem as if he were the victim and as if everything he was doing was correct. He tried to correct hi vulnerability by becoming powerful by making young girls feel what he felt for years growing up. I believe that in order to change society's thought about rape, we not only have to provide help to the victims of rape, but also to the abusers. The biggest problem in this case is that the abuser is a black, successful male, and because of that the black community inevitably want to protect him, based on all of the years where black men have suffered injustice in the system. However, what the black community has to remember is that this has been going on since slavery times, and its time that it is addressed starting by teaching young black men to respect women. And by teaching young black women that its not okay to allow men to do whatever they want to their bodies, especially when it is not consensual.
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Post by Davide Fox on Jan 16, 2019 19:04:26 GMT -4
These articles gave me insight into culture beliefs and the effect they have on the victims. Due to the belief it was better to keep quiet than to bring forth the damage that has been caused and seeking help will only lead to mental health needs for the victims and as may be seen from R Kelly’s history lead to more aggressors thus increasing the number of victims. It shows the need to break this cycle of hiding the crimes whether it is of a famous person or a regular person. Hopefully these cases of the famous can lead to more people speaking out against these crimes and less stigma of the victims
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Post by Suhani Dalal on Jan 16, 2019 22:25:09 GMT -4
I was able to see strong association between R.Kelly and displacement as a coping-defense mechanism.
There is another example of displacement that still exists in society. I had vaguely heard of the term casting-couch when I was a teenager, watching celebrity shows and reading articles on show-biz stars. So, what is casting-couch? To my knowledge, it is not uncommon for aspiring-youngsters (actors/models) to grant sexual favors to directors or producers of the films/advertisements in return for a role. These favors are usually rumored to be granted on a couch in the filmmaker's office. Even though the practices are still rampant in today’s world, in most cases, nothing comes of these complaints because the perpetrators, more powerful than their so-called victims, run scot free claiming that it was consensual sex and there was no force involved.
Talking about trauma, especially sexual assault is therapeutic and if done in the right way, can be very healing. But it can be very hard to know who or where to go to talk about it in the right way. Campaigns like #Metoo or #UnMuteUs has been very helpful to victims in terms of the de-stigmatizing the issue and its role in helping people feel safe coming forward. Because of these movements, victims get an opportunity and can see that help in available and they don’t have to suffer alone and in silence. Their stories will be heard or believed no matter how unbelievable it sounds. It’s a positive move!
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Post by Sherise Drost on Jan 18, 2019 22:32:18 GMT -4
In the past few years, there has been an alarming increase in sexual misconduct allegations, which have been centred toward very powerful and successful celebrity figures. The #Metoo and #timesup movement have brought more of these issues to the forefront, and more women are coming forward publically. R. Kelly has been accused numerous times over the past 20 years, however, it is only now starting to affect his career. It is saddening that women do not feel that then can come forward in general, but even more so that women of the black community, who feel that they can’t come forward because it would shed more negative light on their race. Those who have achieved stardom have been tolerated and are protected by others for years due to their success. How many more women must be victimized for their voices to be heard?
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