Latrell Peeks, 23, the boyfriend of Reverend Al Sharpton's daughter, Dominique Sharpton, 23, was charged yesterday in New York with punching her in the face and shoving her out of car.

He was released without bail after his arraignment on assault and harassment charges. He didn't enter a plea.

Prosecutors said the 6ft 7 inch Peeks punched Sharpton repeatedly in the face Tuesday while the two were in a car in Harlem. She was treated at a hospital for a cut on her lip and a swollen jaw, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Daniel Brody.Defense lawyer Jennifer Wu said that the couple had only a verbal dispute, and that Sharpton left the car voluntarily.
The increase of teen dating violence and sex has been the subject of much public discourse lately. Tyra Banks devoted two of her shows to girls having sex early and participating in girl fights.



A story about a gang rape outside of a school dance that lasted for two hours as students watched stunned the nation. And of course Chris Brown and Rihanna brought the issue of dating violence among teens and young adults in to a media tailspin.

But let's not pretend that public domestic violence didn't exist pre-Chris Brown. I'm sure as the pyramids were being built there was some woman walking around with a frying pan of hot grits-just in case. When I was doing research on the state of Mississippi, I read about a law on the books in 1941 that said the only right a black man had was to be able to beat his wife without fear of retribution.

What's even more alarming is that in a time where dating violence is frowned upon and part of the public discourse, it happens-to teens, in public places, with public figures-seemingly without fear of retribution. Chris Brown isn't the poster boy for domestic violence, he's a symptom of a much larger problem-a society that still thrives and depends on the subjugation of women.

He's a symptom of boys not having mentors that will say, "A man that hits a girl is a punk," or girls not having fathers around to intimidate their daughter's partners on the FIRST date. Brown is symptomatic of a society and media that focuses on women "not having a man," instead of focusing on them having a life, a career and following their purpose.

What's worse is women are buying it like hot soup in a blizzard. My head was dizzy with how many comments I read and heard from girls and women defending Chris Brown as something that was "provoked" before AND after the evidence was revealed. I'm sorry, but is there ever a good reason to pummel a woman in the face, bite her, bang her head against a car window AND threaten to kill her?

According to statistics:
Females ages 16–24 are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence than any other age group, which is at a rate almost triple the national average.
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report: Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-99 (Oct.2001, rev. 11/28/01).

In a study of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents, youths involved in same-sex dating are just
as likely to experience dating violence as youths involved in opposite sex dating.
"Prevalence of Partner Violence in Same-Sex Romantic and Sexual Relationships in a National Sample of Adolescents," Halpern CT,
Young ML, Waller MW, Martin SL, Kupper LL. Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol. 35, Issue 2, Pages 124-131, (August 2004).
Between 1993 and 1999, 22 percent of all homicides against females ages 16–19 were committed by
an intimate partner.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Press Release, "Violence Rates Among Intimate Partners Differ Greatly According to Age," (10/29/01).

Is dating violence worse now? It's not as if I wasn't aware of people who were going through it in high school and college-but junior high school? Or was it just happening behind closed doors and we didn't know about it? Are the genders more hostile to one another nowadays? Pray tell.