The international pop star Pink's latest video for her song Please Don't Leave Me shows all what is wrong in the way that male victims of domestic violence are portrayed.
In the video which will have been broadcast all around the world, her boyfriend has an accident as he tries to leave her and she then keeps him hostage by carrying out extreme violence on him, including smashing his legs with a golf club. All in the name of popular entertainment.
In some ways it is similar to the infamous MFI advertisement where a man is slapped twice by a woman for leaving the toilet seat up (eventually banned by the Advertising Standards Authority) but in other ways the extreme violence is quite sickening.
If you had been a male victim of this type of violence from a girlfriend or wife, watching this video would be emotionally traumatic.
In addition, the outrage from the Equalities Commission, the Government and the Fawcett Society would be (rightly) deafening if the gender roles were reversed.
The final point of course, is what goes through the sick mind of Pink, her management and the production company in thinking that this culturally acceptable (it is not a horror movie).
They thought it was acceptable to portray a man being attacked by a wife/girlfriend so much so they thought it was OK to produce a pop video about it.
That is the barrier that male victims face, some people don't understand what the problem is. Pink certainly doesn't.
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A good variety of different types of abuse there. Very impressive abuse of men!
Posted by: John Kimble | Thursday, 04 June 2009 at 01:53
what exactly do you mean by that?
Posted by: Rory O'Loughlin | Thursday, 04 June 2009 at 16:10
I agree that it is in poor taste. Though it is very much a copy of a Movie in which a deranged fan inprisons and abuses her favourite novelist. (Cathy Bates).
In her defence Pink's songwriting is refreshingly free of "poor me" lyrics. The song does actually portray the singer as a "nasty" person responsible for the departure of her partner.
Posted by: Nigel | Thursday, 04 June 2009 at 21:15
It's aping of Misery is irrelevant - if this aping reversed the sexes nobody would be defending this creature. Also, just like a pill and the song where she whines about her family life are very much "poor me" songs.
Posted by: Porky | Friday, 05 June 2009 at 10:28
I didn't look at the Videos (couldn't bring myself to) but I've seen her previous offerings, which were (one in particular) just a 4 minute male-bashing fest. I mean that literally beating men up like she was in a kung-fu movie. Imagine a vid where a guy just kicks and punches women.
Posted by: John Bull | Monday, 15 June 2009 at 10:45
Could it not just be that Pink is simply trying to draw attention to the issue of domestic violence by attempting to elicit a reaction from men by portraying their gender as the one that is victimized? (And yes, I thought of the movie "Misery" straight away too).
I know domestic violence is a reality for men in some cases too but it is still more so for women.
Posted by: Kali | Saturday, 20 June 2009 at 16:45
I agree with Nigel here. The amount of violence in this video is of course so excessive that you should see the sarcasm of it. And in the end, Pink is portayed as the bad person, therefor condamning domestic violence.
Wim from Belgium
Posted by: Wim | Tuesday, 20 October 2009 at 13:38
People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health.
Posted by: Retro Jordan | Thursday, 23 September 2010 at 07:55