By Eva Wolchover
Boston Herald
March 13, 2009

Hip-hop star Chris Brown’s arrest for allegedly beating singer Rihanna has sparked outrage in the media for weeks, but a survey conducted by the Boston Public Health Commission found almost half of Hub teens think she is to blame for the assault.

“Somehow young people have gotten the message that this is just part of a relationship,” said anti-violence advocate Deborah Collins-Gousby.

Of the 200 Boston youths (ages 12 to 19) surveyed last month, 51 percent said Chris Brown was responsible for the incident, 46 percent said Rihanna was responsible and 52 percent said both were to blame; 52 percent said the media was treating Brown unfairly; 44 percent said fighting was a normal part of a relationship; and a “significant” number said “Rihanna was destroying Chris Brown’s career.” Women blamed Rihanna as much as men did.

Prosecutors said Brown, 19, punched Rihanna, 21, repeatedly in the face, choked her and threatened to kill her Feb. 8.

“The story of Chris Brown and Rihanna may have happened 3,000 miles away, but it is very much a Boston story,” said Casey Corcoran, director of the commission’s Start Strong initiative, which conducted the survey. “We do know that teen dating violence or intimate partner violence cuts across all cultures, classes, genders.”

Corcoran said one in 10 Bay State youths has experienced some form of dating violence.

“The case provides all of us with an opportunity to have this conversation with the young people in our lives,” he said.

Experts say teens may be inclined to be sympathetic to Brown because of his popularity and the “normalization of violence” in pop culture.

“(Chris Brown) is or had been promoted as the kid next door, he was familiar and likeable,” said Collins-Gousby, who works for Casa Myrna-Vazquez, a Boston-based anti-violence organization that operates a 24-hour teen violence hotline and a citywide outreach program. “Among teens, I think their first reaction was, well, what did she do to deserve a beating that significant?”

But local teens interviewed by the Herald yesterday said they were shocked by the commission’s findings.

“How can they hold her responsible? That’s crazy,” said Michelle Oliverio, 19, of Boston. “It’s his fault. No matter what the fight was about, he still put his hands on a girl. He should be blamed for this.”

Read the full story at the Boston Herald