Pop singer Rihanna has released a new music video called "Man Down" that depicts the singer shooting and killing a young man that had sexually assaulted her. The Parents’ Television Council is outraged.
The Nation’s Melissa Harris-Perry, in her Thursday MSNBC "Soundoff" segment, addresses the question of whether female pop stars have a cultural responsibility to empower young women in this complicated world. Harris-Perry says she can see how the video shows women they shouldn’t stand for domestic violence, but we live in a world where violence against young men is also a significant problem. The video is an opportunity, Harris-Perry explains, to think hard about how and when we should protect our kids from violent, sexual and graphic imagery.
—Kevin Gosztola
