Violence prevention requires more

Domestic

If only the scourge of domestic violence could be fixed with saying “I’m sorry I punched you unconscious,” as the PG editorial board seems to suggest in the April 24 editorial “Rice’s Repentance Tour: An NFL Star’s Stern Message on Domestic Violence.”

While having “genuine repentance” for abusing someone is one goal in holding perpetrators of domestic violence accountable for their behaviors, remorse is only the first step. Sharing one’s cautionary tale does not qualify someone to be a spokesperson for domestic violence prevention, much less the solution for the NFL’s inability to confront its sordid history of football players’ involvement in sexual assault and domestic violence.

Over one in three women in our country experience violence at the hands of a partner. Research, including studies led by my team, shows that stopping such violence requires challenging our society’s attitudes that condone violence against women and girls (“she must have done something to upset him”), offering a counterpoint to rigid masculinity norms (confronting notions that “boys will be boys” and “locker room talk” is expected), and teaching individuals to speak out when they see peers engaging in disrespectful and harmful behaviors.

In Pittsburgh, athletic coaches in middle schools, high schools and colleges have embraced a prevention program that does just that (see the website southwestpasaysnomore.org). “Coaching Boys Into Men” is an evidence-based program that can reduce domestic violence (coachescorner.org). These coaches, the schools that support them, and their athletes are the ones whom the NFL should be lifting up as spokespersons if they are truly serious about opposing domestic violence. ELIZABETH MILLER,

M.D., Ph.D. Director, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult

Medicine Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Lawrenceville