Dead Wrong! The NY Post Photoshops Tiger Woods

The New York Post used a similar image on the front page of yesterday’s paper along with the headline, “Tiger Says: I’m A Cheetah.”

The accompanying article suggests that Tiger’s scorned wife attacked him with a golf wedge after finding out about his infidelity. While on the surface this picture seems humorous, a deeper look reveals a very disturbing message.

Domestic violence is never taken as seriously when the typical roles are reversed, and a man is the victim of an attack. This in many ways is quite understandable, as women often pose a lesser threat of physical harm to men. But glorifying and making light of domestic violence in any form is misleading. It teaches people that physical harm is something that we can casually laugh at. However, this has a crippling effect on more serious cases of domestic violence, particularly in terms of violence against women. If we laugh at battery against men, then we are essentially laughing at the entire institution of domestic violence; this undoubtedly has consequences for the women who truly do suffer from this problem, yet cannot garner genuine support for their plight, because our society has come to make light of it.

Can a man change his cheating ways?

There is also a double standard evident in the photoshopped picture of the couple. Had the Post made the same alterations to a photo of Rihanna and Chris Brown, applying false bruises to the former and placing some instrument of violence in Breezy’s hand, there would have been much backlash. Though when the reverse is true, we are simply expected to laugh at the silly woman with the golf club in her hand.

It seems to me that domestic violence is not funny, no matter the victim’s gender. And to the New York Post, you are dead wrong for this picture!

Your thoughts? Is domestic violence funny when men are the victims?

Watch this video of Whoopi walking off the set of the View when the discussion about Tiger’s affair gets heated: