Last week Hope Solo received a 30 day suspension from the Women's National Soccer Team. This stemmed from two incidents that quickly spiraled downhill. Solo's first offense is the result of domestic assault charges. The police report states that Solo assaulted two relatives, hitting her nephew and sister and leaving visible injuries. The police report also states that Solo was intoxicated and visibly upset. Secondly, Solo's husband was charged with driving under the influence one early morning while Solo was in the passenger seat. (Hope Solo Suspended, 2015)
Solo is quoted saying, "I accept and respect the Federation's decision, and more importantly, I apologize for disappointing my teammates, coaches and the Federation who have always supported me." A post on Solo's Facebook reads, "I think it's best for me to take a break, decompress from the stress of the last several months, and come back mentally and physically ready to positively contribute to the team." (Hope Solo Suspended, 2015, para 4).
After witnessing the media's coverage on Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson's domestic violence charges, Hope Solo's charges are not receiving much attention nor scrutiny. While the WNT suspended Solo for 30 days, it pales in comparison to the stance the NFL is finally taking against these male athletes.
There is an extreme double standard between the treatment of male athletes and female athletes. Male athletes not only receive more attention in the media, but they are held to higher standards than their female counterparts. Domestic violence is absolutely unacceptable, whether the victim is male or female. Abuse is inexcusable whether the offender is male or female. Regardless of the circumstance, it is never justified to physically injure or cause harm to another person. How does the media portray double standards between male and female athletes? Why is there a discrepancy between the treatment of abusive male and female athletes? Does the media not consider Solo's case as pertinent or violent as Peterson or Rice's cases?
I think the WNT did a fair job with punishing Solo. While they did not address the issue when it initially occurred back in June, they did eventually take the appropriate steps in attempting to prevent Solo from behaving in this way again. Hopefully, this 30 day suspension will help Solo regain her composure and realize her actions are forming a negative reputation not only for her as an individual, but also for female athletes in general. Did the WNT appropriately punish Solo, or should they have acted differently?
By Kali Morgenstern
References:
Ellis, R. (2015, January 22). Hope Solo suspended from U.S. Soccer team for 30 days. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/21/sport/hope-solo-suspended/
I believe there will always be the double standard between males and females especially when it involves a topic such as domestic violence. The media has always portrayed the female as the victim. If a male cries domestic violence the media portrays him as weak and not a man. The discrepancy between the treatment of abusive male and female athletes stems from the cultural norm of this. As our culture learns more and more about domestic violence I think we see more males speaking up about being abused but there can still be a negative connotation with it. If a women commits an act of domestic violence I think it catches society off guard in some ways. People do not expect women to be abusive. I do not think the media considers Solo's case as pertinent or violent as a case like Rice's. I honestly didn't even hear about the situation until we talked about it in class. Rice's case was broadcasted not only on ESPN but every station. I think the WNT appropriately punished Solo. Actually suspending her shows that it is not a joking matter. It is sad that sport leagues are starting to implement specific rules against things like the NFL is doing with domestic violence but I believe this will trickle down and you will see it eventually in all sports leagues so there is a common and fair punishments.
ReplyDeleteCourtney Cox
Kali,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you wrote about this topic. I have been puzzled by the disparate treatment of Hope Solo in comparison to the media outcry against Ray Rice and the NFL. It seems curious to me that there hasn't been more criticism of the Women's National Team to take action against Solo in a more timely manner. I just don't understand why it took so long to at least make a statement. It almost seems like the WNT thought they could fly under the radar since so much attention was focused on Ray Rice and the NFL. In several ways, it seems even more insulting to women's sports that this double-standard exists. First, it conveys the sense that women's sports do not matter as much as men's sports (a sense that is confirmed by how little coverage women's sports receive). It also sends a message - as Kali suggested - that women cannot be perpetrators of violence against men or women.
We definitely need to discuss this more in class.
Dr. Spencer
Kali,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say about both the amount of coverage and the severity of the punishment in Hope Solo's case. When you compare what has transpired with Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and even the less covered cases in the NFL, you can easily see the difference. Rice, Peterson, Ray McDonald, and Greg Hardy lost an entire season (Hardy played in one game before being suspended) and, in Rice and McDonald's cases, were cut from their respective teams. The Rice and Peterson cases received much more media attention that Solo's case, and the other two NFL cases received at least the same attention. Solo is suspended for 30 days, with the USWNT considering further actions to punish/treat the player. I think thats a pretty significant difference in policies, so someone has to be "wrong" in this scenario. This situation does seem to imply that women accused of domestic abuse can be held to a lower standard than men in the same situation. I don't believe this to be fair, and the only explanation would be the double standard you mentioned in your entry.
Joey Durant
In my opinion, I think male athletes will receive more pressure from public opinion than female athletes. The media prefers to focus more on male players, because majority of domestic violence cases are male’s fault. To be honest, before Kali posted the blog, I have seen few cases like Solo. I only heard that the tennis player Martina Hingis used to abuse her husband, but it just brought her some negative comments without any punishment from WTA. On the other hand, large numbers of male players like Ray Rice received punishment from league or teams because of domestic violence.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think the media did not consider Solo’s case as violent as Peterson and Rice’s case. In many domestic violence cases, females got more severe injuries than males, not only physically but also mentally. I think it is because the physical structure is quite different between male and female. In most circumstances, men are more powerful than women. In addition, this society is still male chauvinistic. Males are eager to own dominant right in a family, so men are more easily to be annoyed when they cannot get what they want from the family. For example, Allen Iverson used to throw his wife out of the door naked; he also pointed a gun toward his “rival in love”. I think all these behaviors are out of my imagination, it sounds too scary. But in Solo’s case, both sides did not receive severe injury.
From my perspective, I think the WNT appropriately punished Solo, the most important reason is that no matter which gender is the guilty side, domestic violence cannot be tolerated in a family, especially for a public star. Solo’s behavior may cause huge negative influences on the society if she did not receive the punishment.
---Veeco Zheng
Veeco,
ReplyDeleteEach time you bring up cases that I have not heard about before - this time I did not know that Martina Hingis had abused her estranged husband. In fact, I'm not sure I knew that she was married. It is difficult to conceive of her being abusive because of how small she is. I had read about Jennifer Capriati being charged with battery, but I believe those charges were dropped by a former boyfriend.
Thanks for sharing.
Dr. Spencer
I really feel that there is a very large double standard when it came to the punishment of Hope Solo. Not only did she injure her sister but also a child, her nephew. That is inexcusable, especially when it comes to the child that cannot defend themselves. It is true that male sports do receive more media attention so the spotlight is indeed on them the majority of the time, but that does not give an excuse to the Federation in only giving Hope a 30 day suspension. If there is going to be a standard held to professional athletes about domestic violence than there should be an across the board punishment. Women continually want to be held to the same standard as men and if that is the case that Hope should be dismissed from Professional soccer as were the NFL players that comitted domestic violence. There should be no tolerance whatsoever to any type of domestic violence whether it be male or female.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Notley
DeleteI believe the double standard between men and women involving domestic violence will always be evident in our society. Like Courtney pointed out, women are almost always portrayed as victims of domestic violence. However, I think that will be a difficult notion to change because of the amount and attention cases such as Rice’s receive. Obviously it is important that those cases should be covered but I also was not aware of Hope Solo’s case until we discussed it in class. It is important to spread awareness of domestic violence but it should also be understood that anyone, male or female, is capable of committing such acts. The WNT had the opportunity to show their intolerance of such behavior which could have been an example to other sport industries and teams.
ReplyDeleteAllie McDavitt
In my opinion the difference in treatment of abusive male and female athletes is due in part to stereotypes about the physical and mental makeup of men and women.
ReplyDeleteBut also, as you touched on and we all know, male athletes receive far more media coverage than their female counterparts to begin with. As a result, when a male athlete is involved in legal troubles it makes for a larger, more sensational story for the media to run with.
As far as whether or not the media considers Solo’s case less violent, I can only speculate. There are, however, intensely graphic images from Rice’s and Peterson’s incidents that have since been made readily available. To the best of my knowledge, similar images of Solo’s victims have not been made readily available, which, right or wrong, makes it more difficult to convey the violent nature of her actions.
Nate,
ReplyDeleteYou made a great point about the availability of graphic images being a factor in the punishment being meted out to NFL players.
Dr. Spencer