Ray Rice Costumes Emerge During Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Posted by terraolsen on October 27, 2014 in Around Town, Opinion | 1 Comment

By: TCO

Over the weekend, I saw a couple’s Halloween costume online that outraged me—a husband and wife, in blackface, dressed as Ray and Janay Rice. Racist AND misogynist. Wonderful.

But, for some naive reason, I figured this was the work of one dumbass couple. What I was not prepared for was the flurry of tweets and Instagrams that would emerge of people (including children!) in Ray Rice costumes. (Examples , , , , …..)

Although many have been condemning the costumes for their sexist and racist nature, there are a lot of people (too many people) who think these costumes are hilarious. Comments range from “lmao” to people actually defending the costumes, saying it’s Halloween and that people need to lighten-up, or even generating more abusive commentary-mocking very serious and scary situations (as seen below).

 

I’m sorry, but you seem to have forgotten your basic human decency. Let me remind you that there is actually a victim behind this tragedy, Janay Rice. She tweeted in response to the costumes:

Glorifying her suffering is not funny.

Domestic violence plagues our country and yet we seem to be making little to no progress in the struggle to end it. In fact, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, yet I’ve seen little discussion on social media or elsewhere on the topic. Sure the NFL launched a video declaring ““, but it feels like PR cleanup after the Ray Rice incident (I really hope I’m wrong and that this campaign generates real change). (Personally, I would love to see the NFL switch their partnership from Breast Cancer Awareness to Domestic Violence Awareness-purple everywhere!)

In response to these horrific costumes, I encourage you to spread the word about Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and, if you can, make a donation to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) or your local non-profit working to stop domestic violence. In addition, check out renown anti-violence speaker Dr. Jackson Katz’s “Ten Things Men Can Do to Prevent Gender Violence.” Let’s use this despicable mockery of domestic violence to generate change for the better.