*********NOTE: I am so proud of my completed research essay, I decided to share it with you. :3
Sexual
Assault Constructed in the Media: Backlash against Instigators of Victim
Blaming
SNARK
Statement about the
topic:
This
paper examines sexual assault as constructed in the media and how increased
backlash against instigators of victim blaming has come about in relation to
different media forms and methods.
Purpose/Aim:
The
purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how constructions of sexual assault in
the media leads to a moral panic concerning victim blaming, which increases a
backlash against those identified as instigators. Researchers have noted that
due to the distortion of how crimes are presented in the media the dominant
narrative is shown in a sensationalized manner, (Callanan, 2004, p.61; Franiuk,
Seefelt, Cepress, & Vandello, 2008) sometimes in an attempt to educate and
inform. Rape myths and victim blaming presented in sexual assault articles are
encouraged by episodic reporting in the media, which stimulates discourse
involving such ideas as “cyberfeminism” (Powell, 2010) and rape culture. This moral
panic changes social constructs towards resulting in a counter narrative, which
encourages punitive measures (Salter, 2013) against instigators of victim
blaming.
The
aim of this paper is to explore examples of victim blaming and the resulting
backlash as presented in samples worldwide, from print reports in sexual
assault media coverage from 2007 to 2013.
Keywords:
sexual assault, victim blaming, moral panics, rape myths, punitive measures,
counter narratives
Literature Review:
A thorough understanding of how crime is reported in the
media notes that distortion through episodic coverage (individual stories and
events with no historical or social context) of a certain topic can sometimes
stimulate a moral panic, a perceived threat to the social order, (Lumby &
Funnell, 2011) or “the perception that particular types of crimes are
increasing in number, when in reality, they are not.” This holds true especially in consideration of
the three dominant crime themes which emerged in the 1990’s, these themes being
criminal predators, sexual victims, and police-citizen encounters. (Callanan,
2004) There have been acknowledged benefits to this type of coverage, such as
crime prevention and awareness. Some studies argue that media exposure brings
to light underestimated or overlooked social problems, and promotes heightened
social awareness and strategic interventions, especially for women and
children. (Carli, 2008; Lumby & Funnell, 2011)
In concern with sexual victims, it has been found that
while a large number of sexual crimes have not been reported, there are three
main reasons behind why a small percentage of women do approach police. These
reasons being that they need sexual assault recognized as a crime, desire to
raise awareness of sexual assault, and desire to protect others from
experiencing the same circumstances. These circumstances are sometimes expressed
as ostracism, disbelief, and hostility and rejection from the community and
their own families. (Taylor & Norma, 2012)
Along
with disbelief of sexual assault claims, comes rape myth acceptance, which
distorts the definition of sexual assault and may lead law enforcement to doubt
the legitimacy of a woman’s claim which could directly influence lawmakers from
enacting appropriate legislation. Common rape myths include indirect tactics
such as making positive comments about the accused as a “good” person, or the defendant
asked for it, took extraordinary risks by dressing or behaving a certain way. (Franiuk,
Seefelt, Cepress, & Vandello, 2008; McCormick, 2010) Sometimes, the
violence the victim has experienced has not been interpreted or offered in
context, which can also be directly noted as describing the victim in a
negative light, or reporting substance abuse. (McCormick, 2010) Generally, sex
crime victims in the media are portrayed as either a promiscuous woman who
provoked the suspect, or an innocent woman who was overwhelmed. As sexual
violence has increased on television, so has depictions of sexual victims as promiscuous
women provoking sexual assault. It has also been noted that there is a
confusion between sexual assault and rape. (Custers, Van den Bulck, 2012)
With
the emergence of cyberfeminism, which is the radical potential of the internet
to network, communicate, and mobilize on local and global scales on behalf of
women, online responses begin to mimic trials by media. Accusations and
evidence or wrongdoing are aired, and the presentation of offenders draws a
strong parallel to the functions of the justice system. Online counter-publics
may offer victims and survivors support and validation not seen in off-line
context and offset imbalances. (Salter, 2013) This has been projected to produce
“an increase in a punitive response toward offenders”. (Callanan, 2004)
Discussion:
Callanan (2004) points out that sexual victims have been
a dominant crime theme since the 1990’s (p.68) and this has been reflected in
the media in many different ways, chiefly among them are distortion, (p. 61)
and episodic coverage. (p. 65) Although the media prides itself on
contributions to crime prevention and awareness, (Carli, 2008) it has also
introduced a mounting concern regarding rape myths and victim blaming. Media has
instigated rape myths and victim blaming (McCormick, 2010; Franiuk, Seefelt,
Cepress, & Vandello, 2008) but may have also encouraged reporting sexual assaults,
(Taylor & Norma, 2011) as well as more punitive measures. (Salter, 2013) This
paper analyzed various articles involving ongoing sexual assault cases and
discourse in the media across a wide area including the United Kingdom, the
United States, Canada, and India from 2005 to 2013. Five media articles
concerning sexual assault were reports on the conclusion of the trial period, five
were articles for ongoing cases at the time, and four media articles were
responses in reaction to sexual assault cases. This paper limited the analysis
to three online news reports, two tabloid online news articles, and one online
magazine article.
The
analysis found several key themes emerged. These included sensationalism, distortion,
rape culture, labelling, and victim blaming.
Article 1: “All Charges Dropped in Duke Case”: North Carolina’s attorney general declared three former Duke University lacrosse players accused of sexually
assaulting a stripper innocent of all charges on Wednesday, ending a
prosecution that provoked bitter debate over race, class and the tactics of the
Durham County district attorney. (Wilson, & Barstow, 2007)
The prior article shows examples of labelling using criminal
and deviant terms as “stripper” to describe the woman, meant to provoke moral
outrage, and support for the defendants who were declared innocent. This small
clip inscribes heternormativity, shows the ‘stripper’ in a transgressive light,
and creates a newsworthy narrative.
Article
2: “’Rape victim’ weeps as she tells of moment doorman attacked her in celebrity
nightclub”: A young woman who claims
she was raped by a doorman at a celebrity club broke down in tears today as she
told a court of the 'horrific' attack. (McDermott,
2009)
This tabloid article gives a strong
sense of sensationalism by using words such as ‘celebrity nightclub’ and “’horrific’
attack”. In reading the article further, a clear tone of victim blaming is
presented by direct and indirect methods. (McCormick, 2010) Directly using
negative language to describe the ‘rape victim’ and reporting on substance
abuse, and indirectly by noting the accused has worked the exclusive club for
the past six years, and claims the sexual act was consensual.
Article 3: “Six footballers jailed over gang rape of 12-year-old
girls in midnight park orgy”: Six footballers
who had a midnight sex orgy in a park with two 12-year-old girls, have been
jailed. (Daily Mail Reporter, 2011)
The tabloid noted above
holds a strong sense of distortion especially in the facts of the case
presented. The headline implies the suspects are at fault with a deviant term
such as ‘gang rape’ but in using a descriptor such as ‘orgy, which is a
consensual activity, implies that the convicted are not entirely to blame. (Custers
& Van den Bulck, 2012) This is continued in vein throughout the article
with words such as ‘Lolitas’, and noting that the schoolgirls ‘encouraged’ the convicted.
Article 4: “Rape Case Unfolds on Web
and Splits City’: HOURS AFTER SUNSET, the cars pulled
up, one after another, bringing dozens of teenagers from several nearby high
schools to an end-of-summer party in August in a neighborhood here just off the
main drag. (Macure & Schweber, 2012)
The very prominent Steubenville Rape
case has had a strong sense of sensationalism throughout the media, even
attracting notice overseas especially via the internet. This is apparent in the
article title itself, almost a tongue in cheek note made on the topics’
popularity. The article is presented during the ongoing trial, and is contextualized,
establishing the history and involvement of Alexandria Goddard, a prime example
of a cyberfeminist. (Powell, 2010) Here also we see strong movement for
punitive measures.
Article 5: “Trial by Twitter: After high-school
football stars were accused of rape, online vigilantes demanded that justice be
served. Was it?”
This article, which was completed after the accused were
convicted in the Steubenville Rape case, mentions rape culture prominently
throughout in reference to other media such as New York Times’ columnist
Nicholas Kristof as well as by some of the interviewed people, and by the author,
to clear up misconceptions about the term. (Levy, 2013) This article fixates on
whether or not punitive measures have been exacted to everyone’s’ satisfaction.
Article 6: “U.S. judge apologizes
for comments on teen rape victim: Protesters seek his resignation for saying
victim was 'older than her chronological age'”
In this article we are shown that victim blaming was caught by the
media from the judges’ remarks about the age of the victim, and a backlash began,
resulting in the judge apologizing for his remarks. The mother of the rape
victim directly accused the judge of victim blaming. There is also mention in
the article of an online petition calling for the judges’ resignation.
Conclusion:
It is noted that in the articles included, sensationalism and
distortion contributed heavily to begin the perceived moral panic of rape culture.
With such methods as victim blaming and labelling, the prior methods are
strengthened in a continuing feedback loop. This feedback loop resulted in
awareness of the moral panic of sexual assault and rape culture, and will
likely be a sensationalized topic for quite some time.
Reference List:
Books, Book chapters
Callanan, Valerie J.
(2004). Feeding the Fear of Crime:
Crime-Related Media and Support for Three Strikes. New York, NY, USA: LFB
Scholarly Publishing LLC.
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/id/10115170?ppg=61
McCormick, Chris.
(2010). Constructing Danger: Emotions and
the Mis/Representation of Crime in the News. Canada: Fernwood Publishing
Journal Articles
Carli, Vivien. (2008). The
Media, Crime Prevention and Urban Safety: A Brief Discussion on Media Influence
and Areas for Further Exploration. International
Centre for the Prevention of Crime.
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/id/10350758?ppg=1
Powell, Anastasia.
(2010). Configuring Consent: Emerging
Technologies, Unauthorized Sexual Images and Sexual Assault. Australian
& New Zealand Journal of Criminology 2010 43: 76. DOI:
10.1375/acri.43.1.76
Salter, Michael.
(2013). Justice and revenge in online
counter-publics: Emerging responses to sexual violence in the age of social
media. Crime, Media, Culture, published
online 11 July 2013, DOI: 10.1177/1741659013493918
Custers, Kathleen & Van den Bulck, Jan. (2013) The Cultivation of
Fear of Sexual Violence in Women: Processes and Moderators of the Relationship
Between Television and Fear. Communication Research 2013
40: 96. DOI: 10.1177/0093650212440444
Lumby, Catharine &
Funnell, Nina. (2011). Between heat and
light: The opportunity in moral panics. Crime, Media, Culture 2011
7: 277. DOI: 10.1177/1741659011417606
Taylor, S. Caroline
& Norma, Caroline. (2012). The
''Symbolic Protest'' Behind Women's Reporting of Sexual Assault Crime to Police.
Feminist Criminology 2012 7: 24. DOI: 10.1177/1557085111420416
Franiuk, Renae.
Seefelt, Jennifer L., Cepress, Sandy L,, & Vandello, Joseph A. (2008). Prevalence and Effects of Rape Myths in Print
Journalism: The Kobe Bryant Case. Violence Against Women 2008 14:
287. DOI: 10.1177/1077801207313971
Newspaper Articles
The Associated Press,
(2013) “U.S. judge apologizes for comments on teen rape victm”, CBC News, 29
August 2013, available at
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-judge-apologizes-for-comments-on-teen-rape-victim-1.1411707
Daily Mail Reporter
(2011) “Six footballers jailed over gang rape of 12-year-old girls in midnight
park orgy”, Daily Mail UK, 17 March 2011, available at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367377/Six-footballers-jailed-gang-rape-12-year-old-girls-midnight-park-orgy.html
Levy, A. (2013) “Trial
by Twitter”, The New Yorker, 5 August 2013, available at
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_levy?currentPage=all
McDermott, N. (2009) ‘”Rape
Victim” weeps as she tells of moment doorman attacked her in celebrity
nightclub’, Daily Mail UK, 10 November 2009, available at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226514/Girl-thrown-street-celebrity-club-rape-toilets.html
Macur, J. and Schweber,
N. (2012) “Rape Case Unfolds on Web and Splits City”, The New York Times, 16
December 2012, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/sports/high-school-football-rape-case-unfolds-online-and-divides-steubenville-ohio.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Wilson, D. and Barstow,
D. (2007) ‘All Charges Dropped in Duke Case’. The New York Times, 12 April
2007, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12duke.html?pagewanted=all.
