Dr. Due Books

Oprah Winfrey’s live show about “dating violence” and Chris Brown’s alleged beating of Rihanna was one of those TV moments when Oprah becomes a nationwide town meeting, in which Winfrey uses her extraordinary outreach and influence on America to try and shed light and counsel on a cultural issue. Dedicating the hour to “all the Rihannas in the world, and all the young men who would think of hitting a woman,” Winfrey didn’t shy away from arguing with young members of the audience who expressed sympathy for the male violence of which Brown is accused.

After a report from Entertainment Tonight correspondent Kevin Frazier that Rihanna and Brown are recording a duet and may write a book together about domestic violence, Winfrey told one teen her take on the Rihanna-Brown situation: “If you go back to a man who hit you, you don’t think you’re worthy of being with a man who won’t.”

At Winfrey’s side was Tyra Banks, who’d given over her own talk show to the same topic earlier in the day, and repeated a sentiment she used there: “There’s no excuse for a man to put his hands on a woman, ever, ever, ever.” She also talked about a relationship she’d been in, in which she felt herself a victim of “emotional abuse.” Banks intruded too often into the interviews Winfrey conducted, it seemed to me, but she did make a valuable point when one teen expressed disappointment that Rihanna apparently hasn’t abandonded Brown and therefore wasn’t a “role model.” Banks reminded the audience that Rihanna is “a girl… an entertainer,” not a role model, and shouldn’t have to bear this added pressure.

Winfrey’s presentation was most interesting when interviewing teens in pre-taped moments and live via remote locations such as Boise, Idaho, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Declaring her show a “huge, teachable moment” for America, Winfrey also interviewed a pregnant young woman, Britney, whose boyfriend, the father of her child, was in jail for attacking her. This interview was at once electrifying and queasy-making.

The hour skipped around a lot, with Winfrey showing a clip from a 1993 show she did about a girl whose boyfriend killed her, and then brought the mother of that girl onstage to talk with Britney and her parents. This seemed a stretch, since this woman, not identified as any sort of professional and speaking as she put it,  based on “what little I know about this situation,” couldn’t offer much in the way of useful advice. As always, Winfrey was sincere, careful with her facts, and offered a lot of websites and phone numbers for viewers in similarly troubled or dangerous situations to contact. She concluded by calling out, “God bless, Rihanna, Chris!”