7) Deputy Punches Girl on Video.

The headline reads, “Deputy Punches Girl on Video.” This incident was revealed through a released surveillance video, in which a 15-year-old girl is put into a holding cell. As the deputy walks out, she kicks off one of her shoes at him. At this, the male deputy loses control, first slamming her against a wall, then pulling her to the ground by her hair and punching her repeatedly while she’s pinned down.

This was undoubtedly an extreme overreaction and the man really deserves whatever charges are placed against him. Though, I cannot help but wonder if this story was given such media attention (enough to be on AOL’s front page) because it depicted a male suppressing a female. Would this even have been brought to anyone’s attention if the victim were another male? What if a female deputy had done the same to a male or female victim? I think that in such a case, the deputy would be seen as defending herself. It seems that, for some reason, our brains are programmed to react much more strongly to a man harming another woman, than a man harming another man, or a woman harming anyone. Then again, there’s that unwritten rule that men don’t hit women.

This brings a recent event to mind. About three weeks ago, R&B superstar Chris Brown allegedly beat his also famous girlfriend Rihanna, to the point where she had heavy facial bruising, a split lip, bite marks, and swelling. She has rightfully received plenty of sympathy, because no one deserves that. But I wonder if, hypothetically, Rihanna had attacked Chris, who according to the “no hitting girls” golden rule did nothing, would he get any sympathy? Think about it, a woman beats up a man. There is no way he’d get any kind of consolation from the public. He would be endlessly ridiculed and laughed at because it’s “shameful” for a man to be overpowered physically by a women. Then why is no one laughing about Rihanna's situation? Once again, there are double standards and gender stereotypes involved with even something like this.