The Short List

If she ever tries to leave again/I'ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.

Today, more than ever, women are achieving more in society.

According to data gathered by the Census Bureau and analyzed by Reach Advisors, "unmarried women between the ages of 22 and 30 without kids are making 8 percent more than men in the same demographic."

Women are 1.5 times more likely to earn a college degree. Women have won several high profile primary races (California, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Nevada) and are the CEOs of 15 Fortune 500 companies.

So why is domestic abuse still acceptable in mainstream culture?

The song lyric above, sung by Eminem and featuring Rihanna, is a popular US Top 100 song playing on every mainstream radio station.

It plays, people sing along and I keep waiting for more.

In the beginning, people raised the question of taste, "Should Rihanna be singing a song about domestic abuse when she herself was a victim of domestic violence?"

The response from Rihanna came as an explanation, "He pretty much just broke down the cycle of domestic violence and it's something that a lot of people don't have a lot of insight on."

As far as I'm concerned, what it actually does is romanticize domestic violence. Calling it anything else undermines the issue at hand.

Kim Kardashian, reality star, tweeted, "‘You don't get another chance, life is no nintendo game…'" a line from the song, followed by, "Real men [don't] love a million different women[,] they love [one] woman a million different ways!"

Is that indeed the view point of the song?

For the 4,657,899 largely female followers of Kardashian's Twitter feed, these tweets reinforce the theme of a desirable relationship instead of a repulsive one.

If the song wasn't enough, there is also a highly played music video. The video has two actors, Dominic Monoghan and Megan Fox, portraying the couple described as love-hate.

What that description fails to address is where the love allows for abuse.

I was intrigued by how the scenes of violence were intermixed with the scenes of passionate intimacy.

With each blow, each hit, the sex became hotter.

I have no doubt that it is indeed portraying a man describing a relationship with one woman.

I would, however, classify that relationship more as an obsession than love.

As girls, we've been taught from an early age that we must be on a quest for someone else to love us.

But this song takes this myth one step further by equating the negativity of abuse with desire and passion.

I just had a friend explain away the song as, "We've all been there."

No, we haven't, and I can't stand by and act like this message is alright.

It's not.

When your boyfriend punches the drywall, it is just a sign to leave.

It is not an expression of love, and you shouldn't just be thankful it wasn't you.