So far this Labor Day Weekend, I haven't done much except read and hang out in various restaurants and outside. While sitting in the sunshine, I read a recent copy of the Star
which I couldn't resist since it had the "best and worst beach bodies," but that's something that I won't bore you with at this time. I couldn't help but notice another story about soul diva Amy Winehouse with a picture of her bleeding husband that I recognized from this post at Jezebel.com about women who enjoy beating up men. The accompanying gossip in the Star was that Winehouse is living a wild life that is spiraling out of control with drugs, rehab and rowdy fights between the couple being the norm. The picture you see here is Winehouse's husband Blake after Winehouse apparently cut him in a hotel room. The two were photographed while coming out of a London hotel dripping with blood after a "tumultuous predawn brawl."I thought this couple was an interesting example of the type of reciprocal violence that was discussed in this post on the dangers of both partners getting involved in fights. Often the man is the one who is injured more severely in these cases but you would never know it when you hear about domestic violence. Even the women themselves say that they initiate violence with their mates but apparently no one is listening. Wikipedia (take this for what it's worth, its Wikipedia afterall) reports that Winehouse admits that she is often the instigator of violence with her husband:
In a series of texts between the singer and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, the singer said "I was cutting myself after he found me in our room about to do drugs with a call girl and rightly said I wasn't good enough for him. I lost it and he saved my life."[44] [The Star adds here that Winehouse says, "He saved my life again and again and got cut badly for his troubles"]. In a June 2007 interview with World Entertainment News Network she was quoted as saying "I'll beat up Blake when I'm drunk. I don't think I have ever bruised him, but I do have my way. If he says one thing I don't like then I'll chin him."[45]
Okay, so neither of these two is a paragon of decency but my point here is that reciprocal violence can end in injury to both parties. I certainly think people should be able to fight like this if that is the sick (or fun) type of relationship they are looking for. However, once the law is given the authority to intervene, the police and other law enforcement should not be prejudiced enough to think that only women are victims and men the perpetrators because clearly, this is not always the case.