Mike Tyson the hero

[TiredOfRain]

According to Portsmouth Guildhall who say 'Throughout his career, Tyson became well known for his ferocious and intimidating boxing style as well as his controversial behavior both inside and outside the ring'. 'Controversial behaviour' including rape. If you feel strongly that he shouldn't be held up in this way, there's a petition you can sign.

Tyson was married to Robin Givens for 3 months. She divorced him for the abuse and took him to the cleaners, and rightly so. He is a dangerous, unpredictable man with obvious mental problems, as well as a convicted rapist. Givens was a high-profile actress, not somebody flying under the public radar. There is enough material to mark him out as an absolute nutcase, and a danger to anyone around him, so I don't know why people have to make unfounded allegations such as 'he beat her up for years' and 'she wasn't a beauty queen'. It doesn't really add to the debate. We know why he is allowed into the UK, as regrettable as it is.

But my point is valid about it being ignored amongst his other crimes.

In boxing circles, there is no doubt his most heinous crime is seen as the ear-biting. In the sleb gossip mags, the focus was on his blowing of 50 million dollars, and his protracted and very costly divorce. In feminist circles, he is first and foremost a rapist. I am not sure that the domestic violence is ignored, but I think different parties have different agendas and it gets downplayed to an extent.

yup, I would have thought DV would have been a biggie though even in fem circles.
I would have thought that level of DV is worse then a traumatic event , but one that happened once.
Being beaten badly constantly for 3 months and probably longer than that tbh I would consider worse tbh especially as the man is a trained boxer. I know some people will disagree.
And the point is valid I do think had desiree not been a beauty queen it probably would have been way laid.

Actually that is quite shocking how a man trained as a boxer severely beating a woman he married for a length of time is seen as a lesser crime than the rape ...

that's very disturbing.

Was it included within the petition? I don't know how crimes such as domestic violence and rape are seen in comparison to each other, to be honest. My gut reaction is that rape is more 'serious', whatever that means.

Mike Tyson is a violent criminal. His violence has taken a number of forms. Much of it has been against women. The thread was started to protest at his being invited to attend an event in the UK.

Lastnerve, if you'd like to start a thread to discuss whether beating a woman repeatedly or raping a woman once is worse, you can. I don't see what you would get out of it, but feel free.

I've had so many rows over Mike Tyson and that rape conviction.

People seem readier to believe a relatively unwordly and starstruck young woman led on a big star then framed him for rape, than to believe a man mired in violence and misogyny brutalised a woman. I sincerely hope she has been able to mostly put it behind her;

Kudos to the (female) judge in Indiana who refused to let the cameras in and did not allow the trial to become a circus. He was (rightly, in my view, and fairly) tried and convicted. Yet it doesn't seem to matter.

Yes the idea that feminists consider rape more serious than DV is just odd.

It's all male violence and it all comes from the same place: male entitlement and a view of women as not mattering quite as much as men.

has anyone seen this?

Fastidia, I would change that last statement to 'Mike Tyson's' entitlement and nobody mattering quite as much as him. He has been indiscriminate over the years with who he abuses. Mike Tyson has agency. He chooses how he acts and who he mistreats. He doesn't do it on behalf of anyone else.

If he has been indulged and courted over the years despite his crimes, it is because of our acceptance of the celebrity circus, buying into the magazines and TV shows that allow people with a bit of fame to go round treating others like shit. The sooner we all wise up and stop sucking up to these people the better.

Oh god why did I read the comments in that link

Internet comments are always so profoundly depressing

I'm glad it has been cancelled. I will avoid reading the comments though!

it hasn't been cancelled though

it's been moved out of the City

But I guess Portsmouth have cancelled it and now the organisers have to find another venue - and if they do there will be another petition, I expect.

It's been moved all the way to Fareham Town Football Club.

A list of sponsors is here www.clubwebsite.co.uk/farehamtownfc/Sponsors

I'm emailing them - starting with the womens' gym and the fostering company

Oh a football club is hosting a rapist.

Imagine my surprise.

Football and rape are not exactly strangers to each other are they.

I'm not sure if football is more or less supportive to rapists than boxing is.

Of course he is a SPORTING HERO. How can anyone deny that?

tyson Givens interviêw

Had a reply from one of them (sponsors), they are 'investigating'.

Who cares if he's a sporting hero. He's an every-other-area-of-life villain

It's interesting that you cand do all that and still be considered "a sporting hero" if not any other type. Which rather begs the question of what sort of values sport has. My feeling is that as an industry and culture, sport is inextricably bound up with masculinist violence, and misogyny, hence the seeming prevalence of rapists and other violent assailants in the professions, but I can't be arsed to start a thread on it.

Exactly SGM, it depends what sporting hero means.

Is Mike Tyson a talented bOxer who worked hard at getting better at it? No doubt. I might, if I wanted to be a good boxer, read a book about h