Friday, March 20, 2009

Teen dating violence - in the news, and in books.

I was disturbed to read this article yesterday:

Teenage Girls Stand by Their Man
IN the hallway of Hostos-Lincoln Academy in the Bronx this week, two ninth-grade girls discussed the pop singer Chris Brown, 19, who faces two felony charges for allegedly beating his girlfriend, the pop singer Rihanna, 21. At first, neither girl had believed Mr. Brown, an endearing crooner, could have done such a thing. Two fans show their support for Chris Brown outside the courthouse in Los Angeles. Readers' “I thought she was lying, or that the tabloids were making it up,” one girl said. Even after they saw a photo of Rihanna’s bloodied, bruised face, which had raced across the Internet, they still defended Mr. Brown. “She probably made him mad for him to react like that,” the other ninth grader said. “You know, like, bring it on?”

I'm absolutely horrified by the onslaught of support teens are showing for this violent behavior, and how willing they are to blame the victim. The Times article supplies some good links, some of which I'm adding to our Sno-Isle Teens de.licio.us page. But I would like to do a booklist on this sadly timely topic too. What books would you include on a teen dating violence booklist?

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