Is there a better choice you can be making here?

“In a Way Back from That Hurt,” Roxanne Gay reflects on NFL player Ray Rice’s contention that he knocked his fiancé Janay Palmer unconscious in self-defense and sports personality Stephen A. Smith’s comments about women needing to avoid provoking men into violence.

She comments on:

· the harm of the belief that it is women’s responsibility to make sure that men do not hurt them

· the unacceptableness of Rice beating his fiancé to unconsciousness

· the necessity of considering a range of options in response to negative situations--the source of the title of this blog: Is there a better choice you could be making here?

· how rigid standards of beauty override women’s accomplishments

For more, read her full essay.