When It Comes To Discussing Hope Solo, Some Only Hear What They Want To Hear

— -- Who's not talking about Hope Solo?

Let me start by saying I've never considered domestic violence a single-gender issue. When I first wrote about it, I pointed out that Chamique Holdsclaw was arrested on a domestic violence-related charge. More recently, I used Anna Benson as an example of the serious nature of the crime, and I covered the Benson case as it unfolded.

However, in the past week, there's been a talking point about Hope Solo, that she isn't mentioned after her arrest for assaulting two family members over the summer. That's not exactly true. The Seattle Times reported it in June, which makes sense given that it's where her team is located. But there were national stories as well.

This week, stories appeared about Solo in the Washington Post and in The New York Times. In her column, Kate Fagan on espnW says U.S. Soccer needs to take Solo off the field as her case heads to trial. That would be the smart thing, but it hasn't yet been done.

However, there seems to be something underlying this. I've heard from a few men on Twitter insisting that the media only wants to point out male abusers despite evidence to the contrary, and who seem to call for a one-to-one discussion of Rice and Solo. Fagan saw that, too, in response to her initial column. It's become very important to a segment of the sports-watching population that she is given equal condemnation, almost as networks used to have to give equal time to different political viewpoints.

This isn't exclusively a race or gender issue, although mortality in domestic violence is overwhelming female, and recent Bureau of Justice statistics say that four of five victims of intimate partner violence are female. That doesn't mean that men are lesser victims, however. Assault and abuse are wrong regardless, and no one owns a monopoly on the damage.

After I wrote this, I saw a thoughtful piece on this dynamic from Jennifer Doyle. In it she notes that the same people talking about Solo were the ones who initially wanted Janay Rice's role given equal weight, until the video showed that she was not the aggressor. Interesting thought.