In light of the Ray Rice case, another domestic violence incident has surfaced about the same time the news of Ray Rice allegations. Hope Solo, an Olympic Women's Soccer player, has been charged with domestic violence. Earlier this year, she was accused of attacking her sister and her nephew in Solo's sister's home in Kirkland, Washington. When police arrived to the home, they noted Solo's nephew's shirt was torn up and the nephew was bleeding. Solo is pleading "not guilty" to two counts of domestic violence.
Although the Hope Solo story has been sent to the back burner while the Ray Rice case takes center stage, this article relays ideas that the reader may have not thought twice about.
As a popular USA Women's Olympic Soccer goalie, Hope Solo was and still is sponsored by popular companies such as McDonald's, Nike, and Anheuser-Busch. After the incident, McDonald's, Nike, and Anheuser-Busch are taking the incident seriously and Nike says they are "closely monitoring" the situation. They have not dropped Hope Solo from their ad campaigns quite yet and Solo is allowed to participate in the upcoming matches. Is Hope Solo still in the the league because she's a woman and domestic violence suspects are mostly men and a woman is rarely seen as one?
Do you think think that U.S. Women's Soccer is taking this situation too lightly when compared to the Ray Rice case? Ray Rice, although it took several months for the story surface, has been suspended and fired from the Baltimore Raven's. Compared to Hope Solo, she has not been "punished" for her actions as she is pleading "not guilty." I feel that her actions closely resembles Ray Rice's however, the only difference to this story is that the abuse was not recorded and seen nationwide in all forms of social media.
We are not setting a great example to the younger societies equality for all because of the charges that have not been placed on Hope Solo yet. In our society, women are always portrayed as the "victim" while men are the "suspects". Here in this story we can see that the obvious abuser is a woman and also an Olympic athlete. Solo is seen as a hero to many young female and male fans across the nation. How is Solo setting a great example of a 'hero' if she portrays a negative attitude in her own personal life?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2014/09/22/hope-solo-us-soccer-domestic-violence-charge/16072499/
Annie - I agree with you that our society has seemed to have created a 'double standard' regarding domestic violence. For me, regardless of gender, if one is violent against another, they need to be prepared to suffer the legal and societal consequences.
ReplyDeleteAnnie,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with all the points you've made here. I too spoke of the Ray Rice case in my post, which tells you just how popular the case was made by media. On the contrary, I haven't heard of the Hope Solo case before it was brought to my attention through your post. I think society, in all cases, tends to hold the male events higher. Looking at the NBA vs the WNBA; most people can probably easily name 5 NBA teams, now ask them to name 5 WNBA teams. They probably can't do it. For some reason in our society men's sports are much more popular, and for that reason, are much more prevalent in the media world.
Is it right that men's event are held higher? No. Is it fair? No. However, one thing I can positively say about how the society is handling both of these situations...they're consistent. Positive or negative, the male sports always seem to have more coverage.
I think its ridiculous that Hope Solo hasn't received any punishment. I agree with Dr. Suanne that regardless of gender, or any other factors, violence towards another individual must face consequences. Legal and societal. The example that is being set by Solo and the U.S. Women's Soccer association is something they should truly be ashamed of. Such an awful example being set for young female soccer athletes looking to be in Solo's position some day.
One last point I'd like to mention. I talked about the relationship between concussion and violence in my recent post and I think it relates very closely. In high schools, soccer comes second to football when it comes to coverage priority. This is because soccer has the second highest rate of concussions, behind football. I'm not sure about how prevalent concussions are in professional soccer when compared to professional football but they might mimic the relationship seen in high schools. With athletes that show such aggression and violence, that maybe never showed such emotions before, concussion histories should be viewed and evaluated. I think concussions are playing a larger role in the daily lives of athletes than they're being given credit for. The symptoms last much longer than just the two weeks the athlete is kept out of play.
So many interesting ideas to talk about, we could go on for days!