The Contemporary Representations of Sex Crimes in Popular Media - Research Paper Example

Introduction The representation of sexed crime in the media has acquired pertinent attention in the contemporary discussions on sex, violence, and crime and it is important to comprehend the mainstream or popular interpretations of sex crime in relations to the more sophisticated questions sexed crime. As Adrian Howe maintains, the media has often been considered as expressing the facts concerning crime and community concern about crime and crime waves, and the representation of sexed crime in the media has great relevance in the contemporary understanding of sex, violence, and crime. Significantly, changes in the meaning of ‘sex’ as well as challenges to the speaking positions of the dominant groups have led to an ultimate shift from the use of sex crime to sexed crime. One of the most essential concerns of Adrian Howe’s Sexed crime in the News has been to analyse whether the concept of sexed crime has a potential to expand one’s understanding of sexual violence and Howe claims that “calling sex crime ‘sexed crime’ does have interesting, destabilising effects.” (Howe 1998, P. 6). According to Howe, the complacency and self-evidence of sex crime is disturbed by the use of sexed crime instead of sex crime. In an understanding of the other important destabilising effects, it becomes lucid that speaking about sexed rather than sex crime “problematises the ‘sex’ of crimes of violence”, “acknowledges that women are not the only sex – men have a sex too,” and “speaking about sexed crime sexes violence in the sense of asking questions about the fundamental, but often ignored, sexed and sexual aspects of that violence.” (Howe 1998, P. 6). Therefore, it is important to recognise that the scope of ‘sexed crime’ is broader than that of ‘sex crime’ and this paper makes a reflective exploration of the concept of ‘sexed crime’ in order to comprehend the various destabilising effects of ‘calling sex crime sexed crime’. Sex Crime and 'Sexed Crime' In a reflective exploration of the concepts ‘sex crime’ and ‘sexed crime’, it becomes obvious that these are two of the most important terms in an understanding of sex, violence, and crime in the postmodern frame. Various pertinent questions crop up in an attempt to analyse the difference between the concepts ‘sex crime’ and ‘sexed crime’ such as what is ‘sexed’ crime, can sexual assaults be considered as sex crime, is family violence sex crime, etc. According to Howe, there are several destabilising effects of ‘calling sex crime sexed crime’ and the latter is broader in scope than the former. Thus, calling sex crime sexed crime can disturb the self-evidence of sex crime, and sexed crime covers all forms of violence in which the gender of the victim, as well as the perpetrator, is significant to the violent act. “Sexed crime…is violence which can only be fully understood within the context of relationships which are profoundly sexed but which are not often recognised as such, precisely because they are dismissed as having something to do with a vaguely defined, amorphous ‘gender’. The point of questioning the sex of sex crime is to challenge the taken-for-granted ways in which sexed and gendered relations are represented in public discourses such as those of the media.” (Howe 1998, P. 6). Therefore, it is essential to realise that Howe (1998), in her Sexed crime in the News, comes up with a new and somewhat different approach to the issue of sex crime, which is critical of the idea purported by Keith Soothill and Sylvia Walby in Sex Crime in the News (1991). Sex crime is a term which is commonly used in order to refer to the sexual assaults against females across the globe and there have been reference to the age of sex crime in the modern times. Sex and violence in the contemporary world have been closely interconnected in the recent day world and they are considered as the staple component of the American mass media. It is fundamental to realise that “sex, like everything else in a male supremacist culture, is constructed and defined in male supremacist terms, from that precise point of view. Thus, in this culture, modes of oppression are themselves defined and understood ‘sex’. ‘Sex’ then is violence, for ‘sex’ itself is systematically used to subjugate women – in private relations, through harassment, rape, torture, and murder.” (Caputi 1987, P. 11). Therefore, it is essential to realise that the various types of sexual assaults on women such as harassment, rape, torture, and murder which ultimately subjugate them come under the broad definition of sex crime. As an Arab woman who has come across the experiences of various women belonging to different cultures, I strongly believe that the sex crimes against women are increasing day by day. According to Keith Soothill and Sylvia Walby, sex crimes such as rape and other sexual assaults have become matters of public debate and most of the newspapers in the recent years publish reports of such crimes. “The focus of the popular newspapers on the sensational story whish they have helped to create during the search is perhaps inevitable, but we need to recognise that there are at least two serious consequences. The massive concentration on a few cases where the person has been sexually assaulted by a total stranger has a cascade effect on all those connected cases and provides for the public a dangerously narrow version of sex crime.” (Soothill and Walby 1991, P. 147). In her attempt to make the differentiation between sex crime and sexed crime, Adrian Howe maintains that calling sex crime ‘sexed crime’ has several destabilising effects, the most important of which is that it disturbs the self-evidence of sex crime. As a result, some types of sexual violence cannot be classified into the category of crimes called ‘sex crimes’. Similarly, as Howe maintains, it complicates the ‘sex’ of crimes of violence and acknowledges that women are not the only sex. According to Howe, sexed crime is broader in scope than sex crime and it is not confined to rape or sex assaults (in contrast to the arguments by Soothill and Walby). Thus, sexed crime, as Howe defines it, incorporates sexual harassment, ‘reckless sex’ which transmits HIV/AIDS, and attacks on sexual minorities. (Howe 1998, P. 6). Here, Howe tries to make an essential contribution to the understanding of the difference between sex crime and sexed crime, and she maintains that “violence has as much to do with sex, and of what is made of sex in Western culture, as it does with ‘gender’. The idea of sexing crime thereby producing ‘sexed crimes’ will have served this purpose if it helps to bring about a more critical understanding of the always already fraught relationship between sex, violence and criminality – a relationship which is rarely problematised in the mainstream media.” (Howe 1998, P. 7). Therefore, sexed crime is broader in scope than sex crime and it problematises the sex of crimes of violence, in addition to maintaining that women are not the only sex. In fact, according to Howe, sexed crime refers to every form of violence in which the gender of the perpetrator or victim is relevant to the violent act. Thus, she suggests that sexed crime incorporates domestic violence as well as sexual assaults on men, women, and sexual minorities. She also maintains the difference between sex crime and sexed crime when she suggests that the “common sense understanding of sex crime might conjure up the image of a molested or mutilated female body, but men also have sexed bodies. Speaking about ‘sexed crime’ helps to sex violence by raising questions about the fundamental though usually ignored sexed and sexual aspects of that violence. It also assists in the seemingly never-ending project of breaking down the arbitrary division separating public from privatised forms of men’s violence against women.” (Howe 2008, P. 7). According to her, sexed violence can be comprehended only in the context of human relationships that are intensely sexed. Whereas the popular media consider cases of sexual assault followed by murder as sex crimes, Howe challenges the self-evidence of the idea of sex crime which is reported in the media. With reference to the philosophy of Foucault, Adrian Howe explores the role of men in violence against women and the concept of sexed crime becomes most fundamental in comprehending this role. As Monica Williams maintains, Howe reveals “how power and knowledge intersect to create truths that contribute to the consistent invisibility of men as perpetrators of violence against women.” (Williams 2009). Therefore, it is evident that Adrian Howe comes up with a fundamental idea of interpreting sexual violence against women when she differentiates between sex crime and sexual crime. Personal Notes on Sexed Violence One of the most pertinent conclusions of a reflective analysis the arguments put forward by the authors of the course readings has been that the sexed violence against women is increasing day by day in the contemporary world. Based on my experience as a female Arab girl, I can strongly affirm that women are always at the receiving end of the sexed violence everywhere in the world. It is important to make out the various forms of sexual assaults against women in order to comprehend the wide range of sexed crime against women. I agree with Adrian Howe in maintaining that sex crime as reported in the news does not tell about the whole story concerning violence against women. Sexed violence has a broader scope in comparison with the term sex crime, which normally refers to rape of women and children. It is fundamental to comprehend that the term sex crime cannot incorporate the wider perspective than merely refer to rape or sexual violence. As I understand it, Howe has been effective in challenging the self-evidence of the notion of sex crime and she opens up the notion to a wider range of interpretative possibilities which can refer to sexed crimes against men, women, and sexual minorities. Howe has successful in making me rethink about the relationship between sex and violent crime, by her sophisticated theoretical approaches to topics of sex and gender. “Importantly, the movement from sex to sexed crime… is informed not only by shifts in the meaning of ‘sex’, but also by challenges to the speaking positions of dominant or hegemonic white Anglo feminism. Critical contributors to the politics of speech, especially the contributions of minority voices, have enriched critical perspectives on sex/gender issues.” (Howe 2008, P. 6). Therefore, various pertinent issues concerning gender are brought to light by the use of sexed issues instead of sex issues and it is important to emphasise the gender issues relating to sexual minorities. Significantly, the idea of sexed crime which gains new interpretative possibilities can ensure that the gender issues pertaining to men, women, and sexual minorities attain importance. It is my strong conviction as a female Arab girl that the term ‘sexed crime’ can effectively point out various types of sexual violence against sexual minorities, whereas the term ‘sex crime’ mainly deals with the speaking positions of dominant or hegemonic white Anglo feminism. Similarly, the use of the term ‘sexed crime’ also confirms that women are not the only sex and that men also have sex. In a reflective analysis of media representations of racialising violence against women, the importance of the term ‘sexed crime’ becomes obvious. As Howe purports, it is usual for the popular media to present the victims of men’s violence under the universalising signs of women and children, although it has occasionally “addressed the issue of the specific vulnerability of particular groups of women such as non-English-speaking-background (NSEB) women, who are over-represented in women’s refuges… Challenging the universalising ways in which dominant groups, including white feminists, speak about sexual assault and domestic violence, critics have specified the vulnerabilities of minority women to violence by minority men and also to racist representations of that violence.” (Howe 2008, P. 43). Therefore, it is fundamental to realise the gender issues faced by different sects of people such as men, women, sexual minorities etc, and these issues get reflected under the general scope of ‘sexed crime’. In short, the idea of sexed crime has new interpretative possibilities which cover the various issues relating to gender such as the issues of sexual minorities. Conclusion In a reflective exploration of the contemporary representations of sex crimes in popular media, it becomes lucid that the general debates concerning gender issues fail to incorporate vital topics such as the issues of sexual minorities. As a female belonging to Arab race, I can ascertain that females suffer various types of discriminations and sexual assaults all over the world, and popular media, including print media, fail to represent the gender violence in its totality. Significantly, the idea of sexed crime with its new interpretative possibilities can bring to light some of the most complicated types of sexual assaults, which might be ignored under the term of sex crime. Therefore, the self-evidence and complacency of the idea of ‘sex crime’ as reported in the print media should be challenged and, according to me, the concept of ‘sexed crime’ as purported by Howe has great relevance in this respect. Bibliography CAPUTI, Jane. (1987). The age of sex crime. Bowling Green University Popular Press. P. 11. HOWE, Adrian. (1998). “Introduction: Sex, Sex... Sexed Crime in the news.” Sexed crime in the news. Leichhardt, NSW: Federation Press. P. 6. HOWE, Adrian. (1998). “Notes from a ‘War’ Zone: Reporting domestic/family/home/epidemic (Men’s) Violence.” Sexed crime in the news. Leichhardt, NSW: Federation Press. P. 43. HOWE, Adrian. (2008). Sex Violence and Crime in a Postmodern Frame. New York: Taylor & Francis. P. 7. SOOTHILL, Keith., and WALBY, Sylvia. (1991). Sex Crime in the News. New York: Taylor & Francis. P. 147. WILLIAMS, Monica. (2009). [online]. “Book Review: Sex, Violence and Crime: Foucault and the ‘Man’ Question.” Springer. Last Accessed 28 April 2010 at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/7j7515756jl82482/ Read More