Girl Talk - Chris Brown and Rihanna Redux

The very first "Girl Talk" column was on the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation and how he abused her. A month later, I'm going back to the controversial couple because the latest news is that they're back together. This made me wonder about how do people feel about this reunion, especially those who might see Rihanna as a positive influence on girls?

Oddly, or perhaps not, only one of the girls was surprised that she took him back. Shawna, 22, said, "I know that a large majority of women who are in physically abusive relationships go back to their abuser multiple times before they are able to leave him for good. Some women never leave their abusers at all." Alicia, 22, went into it further. She said, "It's for many reasons. Low self-esteem, thinking they deserved the violence, trying to undo what happened."

Seems like the statistics kept the girls from thinking that a pop star would be any different from a regular girl. But there is something that makes Rihanna different from most of the rest of us. She's famous. Ashleigh, 18, said, "I'm disappointed. Rihanna was the type of girl who wasn't a whore and girls my age could look at her and realize there's more to being famous than selling your soul. Now, I don't think of her as a role model to me." Emma, 19, said, "If it's true she's going back to him, then she's lost all of my respect."

And what about the man in the situation? Reportedly, Chris apologized profusely, telling her that he loves her and it will never happen again. Whitney, 16, said, "He probably really is sorry, but you can't ever be sure if it will happen again or not." Heather, 18, disagrees. She said, "I don't think he's sorry and I do think he'll abuse again. It's a dark and vicious cycle."

The truth is, none of us know the whole story, and we never will. What I do know is that I hope these two will never be the subject of my column again!