Armour: Ronda Rousey shouldn't be getting a pass on domestic violence

Domestic abuse is a vicious and violent crime that can never be tolerated, no matter the circumstances or the person committing it.

That includes Ronda Rousey.

The MMA star has largely gotten a pass for a violent encounter with an ex-boyfriend that she recounted in her autobiography published earlier this year. The incident occurred after Rousey confronted the ex-boyfriend, who she identifies only as “Snappers McCreepy,” about nude photos he’d taken of her, photos she worried would be leaked to the public just as her career was taking off.

“I slapped him across the face so hard my hand hurt,” Rousey wrote.

The ex-boyfriend doesn’t respond physically, but he blocks the door and refuses to move when Rousey tries to leave.

“I punched him in the face with a straight right, then a left hook. He staggered back and fell against the door,” Rousey wrote. “… I slapped him with my right hand. He still wouldn’t move. Then I grabbed him by the neck of his hoodie, kneed him in the face and tossed him aside on the kitchen floor.”

Rousey goes on to write that the ex-boyfriend jumped in her car and, when he wouldn’t get out, she hauled him out by the neck of his sweatshirt and left him writhing on the sidewalk.

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Granted, Rousey’s ex-boyfriend sounds like a bottom-feeder of the lowest order. But if a male athlete — heck, any man — had described an incident like this, had reacted with a rage this extreme, the outrage would have been swift and severe. And rightly so.

So why not the same for Rousey?

Until Eric Adelson of Yahoo! Sports raised the question earlier this week, ahead of Rousey’s title fight Saturday with Holly Holm, the incident with the ex-boyfriend didn’t even raise eyebrows, let alone an outcry.

Is it because she’s a fighter, and it’s assumed that violence in the ring is bound to spill over into everyday life? Imagine the uproar if Floyd Mayweather’s lengthy record of domestic abuse was excused that way. (Irony of ironies, Rousey ridiculed Mayweather and his abusive history at the ESPYs in July, two months after her autobiography was released.)

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Is it because she’s attractive and has become a marketing gold mine? Ask any domestic violence expert, and they’ll tell you looks and economic status are irrelevant in abuse cases. Abusers come in every shape, size, color and socioeconomic status.

Or is it because she’s a woman?

If the NFL’s domestic abuse crisis has done anything, it’s shown how woefully outdated society’s views are. It’s not a “family matter” best to be dealt with behind closed doors, or an argument that simply got out of hand.

It’s a crime, and it’s not only committed by men.

According to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control, one in seven men have experienced “severe physical violence by an intimate partner.” Most of those perpetrators were female.

The only way to make real progress with domestic violence is to treat it like the crime that it is, without any excuses or exceptions. By dismissing any instance of abuse, Rousey’s included, we diminish them all.