Rihanna shocked the world last spring when she made the controversial decision to go back to Chris Brown after he punched her repeatedly after the Grammys, according to police reports. She has only recently opened up about her thoughts on her ordeal in an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America.”

Domestic violence is an ugly issue that has always been a problem, not only on a national level, but even on college campuses.

Studies show that at least one in five college students has experienced domestic violence, but only recently has the topic been introduced into conversation. Unfortunately for Rihanna, she can take much of the credit for inspiring talk about the issue.

The public attacked her for making the decision to go back to Brown, but what people failed to understand is that women in her situation often do go back to their abusers.

In her interview with Sawyer, Rihanna said that on average, women will go back eight or nine times. Now she understands that by being in the public eye, she was sending the wrong message to teenage girls.

“When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result into some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part,” Rihanna told Sawyer. “I couldn’t be held responsible for telling them to go back. I just didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives.”

Rihanna’s advice to girls in domestic violence situations: “Don’t react out of love. F love. Come out of the situation and look at it third-person for what it really is and then make your decision. Because love is so blind.”

A student at Binghamton University who wished to remain anonymous and asked to be called “Jackie,” has had a similar experience with domestic violence.

“It’s really easy to get into a situation like that; you think you’re in love, and that this person would never hurt you, but then they do,” she said. “Afterward you convince yourself that people change, and think that they have realized the consequences of their actions and that they’re sorry, so you decide to give it another shot.”

Beth Riley, the Binghamton University Sexual Assault Prevention Programs coordinator with the University Counseling Center, said that domestic violence stems from control issues.

“Unacceptable dating violence/domestic violence has to do with power and control, when one person exerts power over another and the victim perceives a threat, which is unacceptable,” Riley said.

Furthermore, the issue does not only affect women, Riley said.

“One concern I have that we do not talk about enough, is that domestic violence is also perpetrated against men,” Riley said. “Men in our society are even less likely to report domestic violence than women. The other population I am concerned about are LBGTQ individuals. As minorities, they are already discriminated against and being victim of a domestic violence relationship is even more of a stigma.”

Many people, such as actress Gabrielle Union, are working to spread awareness of this global issue. Union was raped when she was 19 years old.

Because rape, like domestic violence, is not a “dinner table” topic, a large majority of it goes unreported.

According to the United States Department of Justice, as of 2000, fewer than 5 percent of completed and attempted rapes were reported to the police.

According to the Counseling Center Sexual Assault Fact Sheet, in many cases this is because the victim fears reprisal by the assailant, not being believed or being treated with hostility by the police. Also, many victims do not want to their family to know or don’t believe that the incident was harmful or important enough to bring to the authorities’ attention.

In relation to college campuses, over 60 percent of rapes that occurred on campus happened in the victim’s residence and over 10 percent of completed rapes took place in fraternity houses.

In an effort to reduce the amount of domestic violence and dating violence on campus, a new law was enacted on April 7, 2009. The new law requires college campuses to provide information to incoming students about domestic violence in order to increase awareness of the issue.

Important things to remember about domestic/dating violence and sexual assault are that consent is not effective if it results from the use of physical force, threats, intimidation or coercion, and consent for one act of sex is not consent for another act of sex.

If you or anyone you know is in a domestic violence situation, there are many outlets you can take to stop it. Options on campus include Binghamton’s New York State University Police and the Counseling Center, located inside the Glenn G. Bartle Library.