It has now been just over a year since Canadian boxer Arturo “Thunder” Gatti’s suicide. From the first few strains of the media cacophony, it seemed that there was probably more to the story than what was being told in sports columns and boxing blogs. Amid a steady stream of articles such as “‘Thunder’ is gone but his fights will live forever,” the mainstream media’s love affair with violent masculinity emerged in stark outline. But in the year that followed, so did a parade of tried-and-true woman-blaming tactics designed to stack our interpretation of events in the favour of upholding the myth of Canada's boxing hero.
I had just moved out of Green College, an academic residence that houses 92 grad students on the University of British Columbia campus. The day after Gatti’s death, a post-doctoral student sent out an obituary over the GC list-serve, describing Gatti "dying by way of his girlfriend’s purse strap," along with an invitation to a screening at the College of Gatti’s best fights, as well as a Youtube clip highlighting moments from Gatti’s career, set to a sound track of “Eye of the Tiger.”
I’m re-posting my response, below, to mark a year since his death. This critique received both public backlash and public support from men, as well as private support from many women.
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It's interesting how the reference to the purse strap of Amanda Rodrigues (his wife, by the way) feminizes, and is therefore used to render the alleged act of violence absurd. Imagine how much more sensational the story would be if she had used a pink lace thong, or stabbed Gatti with a high heeled shoe.
Having not so long ago been threatened, harassed, and verbally abused by my ex-boyfriend, who was a former rugby player and a heavy drinker, I have to say that no woman who has escaped the violence of an intimate male partner has the privilege of ignoring the bias of these reports.
Sports writer Julian Turner writes in his tribute that “Gatti was reportedly a heavy drinker and wasn't averse to using his fists against women. He had a drunken argument with his 23-year-old wife before being killed.” (Bangkok Post)
Under the “Post Career” heading in the Wikipedia article on Gatti, the author mentions: “In March 2009, Gatti was charged with assaulting his then girlfriend Amanda Rodrigues, but failed to appear in court. When he appeared April 17, he was released on bail and was ordered to stay 200 meters from Rodrigues.”
Later in the next paragraph it reads: "Gatti's widow has been charged with first degree murder after the strap of her purse, used to strangle Gatti, was found stained with blood. Rodrigues could not explain how she spent more than ten hours in the hotel room without realising [sic] Gatti was dead. Former boxing champion Acelino Freitas, who was a close friend of Gatti, claimed Gatti and Rodrigues were having problems and were about to separate."
Because of the proximity of the last two sentences, it seems to suggest that the murder was linked to the impending separation. Those two facts are in the same section, while the facts about him assaulting her is in another, suggesting that the assault had nothing to do with the alleged murder.
Overwhelmingly, none of the reports focus on the man as an abuser, but rather as a hero. In fact, sympathy was heaped on him for the pressures of his enormous success, as Julian Turner compares Gatti to boxer Alexis Arguello, who recently committed suicide: “Neither man, so brave in such an unforgiving sport, could adapt to a normal life once the crowds walked away and the adrenaline rush of fighting had disappeared for good...I often worried if all that physical punishment would catch up with Gatti one day, if he would be able to function properly as the years rolled by.”
The author speaks in an elegiac way about how Gatti, like Arguello, might not be able to function properly in normal life after being such a hero in the boxing ring, a realm privileged in sports and masculine competition.
When we say we feel sorry for him for being unable to adapt to normal life, what are we saying? That we feel sorry for him for not being able to stop himself from beating up the people around him?
My concern is for the women in the lives of these men, men who have been rewarded only for using their physical strength to exert power and control over the people around them through violence. I wonder if Gatti's wife's physical punishment might catch up to her one day, making it difficult to "function properly as the years roll by."
In my current work, I have encountered reasons that men use to justify their rape and assault of women that resonate with these characterizations: “I was insecure. I wasn't doing as well as I wanted to at work, or with my friends, and I just wanted to put her down, humiliate her and make her not as good as me. I could be better than someone if I did that. In hockey and other sports with men, that was how we solved things. The guy who won the fight was right, you know!”
Another article to add to this contextual mix is an article called “Fighters like Gatti that make boxing great” (tagline, "a fighter who defined valour in the ring") that shows what Gatti meant to a whole brotherhood of men in the international community- sports columnist Mark Kreigel writes:
“I'd never seen a punch like that. Still haven't. Gatti won by knockout in the sixth round. ‘That's when we knew,’ said Merchant. ‘That's when we knew Gatti was for real.’ The promoter Lou DiBella saw Gatti make his way backstage that night.
The ridges around his eyes were bloody, his face already quilted with purple bruises. But he seemed awfully happy with the pair of hotties waiting for him in the dressing room.
‘Yo, Adrians,’ he said.
Another fighter would've gone straight to the hospital. But Gatti took his girls across the street, to a Seventh Avenue bar that had been packed largely in his honor.
Yo, Adrians.
It takes a real tough guy to emerge from a fight — especially a fight like that — with his sense of humor intact.” (Insidefighting.com)
Meanwhile Rodrigues was referred to in a Daily News article as “the sexy wife of slain boxer” -– (she looks like she weighs about 95 pounds) - and it is mentioned that she “is a former stripper.” Just to be sure to discredit her before going on to say that she was charged in his death.
In an article yesterday in the Associated Press called “Wife of slain Gatti wants out of jail”, a staff writer writes “Rodrigues told police she had a fight with Gatti after dinner on Friday and he pushed her to the ground, resulting in minor injuries to her elbow and chin.” (ESPN Sports)
I imagine Arturo “Thunder” Gatti shoving his 95 pound wife to the ground while their 11 month old son sat in the next room to a sound track of “Eye of the Tiger” would be significantly less awe-inspiring.
But this is the note the article ends on, leading us to wish our foiled hero had escaped in time: “Zito said Gatti met his wife at the strip club Scores in New York and that Gatti's friends tried to talk him out of marrying her.”
And in a striking example of the insidious media spin is how a woman police officer’s statement is used to confirm this dubious interpretation of the events:
“Police spokeswoman Milena Saraiva told the AP the death may have even been premeditated and Rodrigues may have encouraged Gatti to drink excessively so she would be able to overpower him later. ‘He was very drunk and that made it easier for her,’ Saraiva said. ‘He was sleeping when she did this. She waited for the moment when he was drunk enough for her to do it.’” (FOX Sports)
The media highlights her gender ("spokeswoman" at the beginning of the sentence) as if to say, "This isn't a women's issue. See? Even a spokeswoman agrees that Rodrigues is guilty."
Gatti will be remembered as “one of the best.” In a follow up obituary, these are the names of women killed by their husbands in Canada at the time of Rodriguez’ arrest in 2009. How will they be remembered? Will they be remembered for their “bravery in the unforgiving sport” of being a wife?
Brenda Blondell, a 59 year old from British Columbia, was killed by her husband on June 22, 09.
Maria Nzokilandevi, a 53 year old mother of 3 children from Ontario, was killed by her husband on June 12, 09.
Michelle Simone, a 45 year old from Ontario, was killed by her husband on June 7, 09.
Kerry Walters, a 25 year old from Ottawa, and her 11 month old baby girl, Starla, were killed by Kerry’s husband on May 16, 09.
Lorna Kate Redhead of Shamattawa, a 42 year old from Manitoba, was killed by her husband on May 16, 09.
Gail Saltel, a 47 year old from Alberta, and her 17 year old daughter, Erika, were killed by Gail's husband on May 4, 09.
Jessica Martel, a 26 year old mother of 3 children from Edmonton, was killed by her husband on April 29, 09.
Tubi Kawaja, a 35 year old mother of 3 a year old boy from Calgary, was killed by her husband on April 4, 09.
Pamela Olara, a 32 year old mother of 4 children from Toronto, was killed by her husband on April 2, 09.
Jinane Ghannoum, a 38 year old mother of 3 children from Montreal, was killed by her husband on March 24, 09.
Kuldeep Kaur Badyal, a 32 year old mother of 2 children from Vancouver, was killed by her husband on March 5, 09.
Sherry Martin, a 52 year old from Ontario, was killed by her husband on February 24, 09.
Deborah Volker, a 44 year old mother of 3 children from Alberta, was killed by her husband on February 23, 09.
Shelley Richards, a 56 year old woman from British Colombia was killed by her husband on February 10, 09.
I hold a running offer to come to campus and screen the documentary from the National Film Board of Canada, “When Women Kill.” Description: “What would make an ordinary woman kill her husband? This powerful documentary is about three battered women who, after years of violence, kill their abusers. These women killed when they felt they had no other options: the police and the courts did not protect them, and society failed to take them seriously. When Women Kill challenges the legal system to confront the systemic and widespread violence that men inflict daily on the home front.”
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This was a response from a Psychology Ph.D: “I tried about 4 times to write this paragraph, but it's just so silly. There will always be men who think the world should be rank-ordered on dominance, and there will be women who agree with them and praise them for being violent and aggressive. You're pulling stories and commentary right out of this world and are somehow shocked that it praises male violence and approaching women from a dominant perspective.”
And this was a response from Political Science professor: “Thanks for that reply. You're quite right to note that Gatti was a thug, was likely on his way to being a recognized as a criminal, and was a model of violence against women. All of these things make him a bad person.”
Needless to say, whether or not he was a "good" or a "bad" person is a red herring, and calling him a “thug” de-genders, and de-politicizes the issue, as, I would argue, does calling men who sexually harass women “douchebags.” What kind of system would allow them to be so?
I updated the response in a letter in November 2009:
Since July, thirteen confirmed deaths have been added to the list of women killed by their intimate partners in Canada. And a street in Atlantic City has been named “Arturo Gatti Thunder Place,” in a ceremony that kicked off an entire day celebrating Gatti’s life, and then an entire night, the “Night of Thunder.”
In the last release of information from the investigation the bloody purse strap as murder weapon has become a “bag strap” which Gatti used to hang himself from a stairway railing, beside him a toppled stool. I guess the pressures of all that masculine competition finally caught up to him.
In the media, Rodriguez can no longer be painted as a murderer so they are now painting her as a "gold digger," focusing on her fight to hold onto the estate her husband had left to her in his will. One article ends on the note that the Gatti family is unsatisfied with the conclusion of the investigation and has had the body exhumed for another examination, strategically leaving some doubt of Rodriguez’ innocence in all of our minds.
On average, 50 women a year die in Canada at the hands of their husbands. How about every time a woman is killed by her husband, we name a street after her? Too many dead women? How about a highway of heroes?
Until then, the list continues.
Selamawit Negasi, a 46 year old mother of three children from Edmonton, killed by her husband on July 5, 09.
Kristel Duval, a 25 year old from Montreal, was killed by her husband on July 6, 09.
Joan Paget, her daughter, Jolene, and her nine year old granddaughter, Misty, were killed by Joan’s husband in Alberta on July 26, 09.
A 66 year old woman from Quebec was killed by her husband on August 18, 09
Theresa Thomas, a 58 year old from Vancouver, was killed by her husband on August 4, 09.
A 37 year old mother of two girls from Montreal, was killed by her husband on August 26, 09
Yan Lin, a 36 year old from Richmond, was killed by her husband on August 28, 09.
Heidi Ferguson, a 39 year old mother of two children from Ontario, was killed by her husband on Saturday, September 12, 09.
A 38 year old mother of five children from Burnaby, was killed by her ex-husband on September 21, 09.
A woman from Quebec was killed by her husband on Friday October 23, 09
Michelle Vandale, a 41 year old mother of two children from Abbotsford, was killed by her husband on Wednesday, November 11, 09.
A 69 year old woman from Surrey, was killed by her husband on Tuesday, November 24, 2009.
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Commentaires
Masogyny underscores media coverage
Great piece Krissy, thanks for sharing. I wish I could be surprised at the masogyny underscoring the media coverage of the case you illustrate, but sadly, this is the status quo. I would love to have a street named for every woman who is killed by her intimate partner - better yet, I'd like men to stop killing their intimate partners.
Arturo Gatti a women beater?
Arturo Gatti a women beater? It's funny how when someone such as yourself can read stories about someone they don't know. Arturo Gatti was never a women beater and if he was then why on earth would his Wife would want their wife beater husband to come to her home land of Brazil when she knows that there is a restraining order against him? See You can read all you want about what people say but the truth is that this case isn't; about an abuse Wife taking revenge of their husband who beats them, because if that were the case then why didn't; she divorce him? or why did she invite him to Brazil when he was going to divorce her? don't you think details like this about Gatti should be added to the case? The difference between Gatti and everyone else in the world is that Gatti never took anything that didn't belong to him, but Amanda did she took his life, think about it why on earth would i come out of jail with a big smile on my face when my husband just died? hmmmmmmmmm geeesh i don't know because maybe she planed out this murder but not for an escape but for Money. She is not a hero nor someone you would pity she is a crimeal who should be lock up with all of the other people who feel its is okay to take someone else's life.by the way Theres places that has been name after famous women who made a difference in this world, there a place for Gatti becuase he made a difference in the world but since you are too dumb to know what that is let me tell you so you can at least gain some back round about PEOPLE who MAKE differnces in the WORLD. Arturo Gatti is a hero because he took the hard way to make a living, He would join clubs that help young kids get off the streets but im sure you did'nt know that, Next get a Back round check about the person you want to talk bad about, because when youwrite about someone you know nothing about you just look well foolish.