Rihanna Catches Heat From Anti-Rape Group for Being ‘An Object To Be Possessed By Men’

Riri is no stranger to controversy when it comes to her music videos. This year alone, her racy ‘S&M’ video was seen as too hot for television and famed photographer Dave LaChapelle sued her (and settled out of court) for allegedly stealing his ideas and ‘Man Down’ was criticized because the video showed a sexually assaulted Rihanna shooting the man who abused her. Now, her latest video for ‘We Found Love’ has offended the Rape Crisis Center who say that she portrayed herself as “an object to be possessed by men.”

The criticism centers around the scenes where her leading man in the video Dudley O’Shaughnessy, spanks her and tattoos ‘Mine’ on her behind. While many are alleging that the video mirrors her relationship with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown before it ended after their 2009 domestic violence incident, Ellen Kelly of the Rape Crisis Center is calling Rihanna’s video a “disgrace” and questioning the message Rihanna is trying to send to fans.

“Rihanna’s new video is a disgrace. It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases.”

The director of the video, Melina Matsoukas, defended the work saying that domestic violence isn’t the topic at hand, it’s more about being in an unhealthy relationship.

“In the end, it’s not really at all about domestic violence. It’s really just about it being toxic… It’s not trying to glorify that type of relationship. The bad parts of it, that’s what you don’t want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life.”

While Melina claims that the video is saying that toxic relationships exist, Ellen argues that the video is promoting them.