Mainstream Media Perpetuates Rape Culture - Essay Example

Sex Violence and Transgression: Rape myths as perpetuated in mainstream media Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: Question: Rape myths are perpetuated in mainstream media, particularly in high-profile cases such as Jill Meagher’s. Discuss the possible utility of activist/feminist campaigns against rape myths (e.g. SlutWalk, efforts to re-think consent as ‘sex-positive’ and so on). Mainstream Media Perpetuates Rape Culture Mainstream media is blamable for trivializing rape through the use of myths while at the same time blaming the victims rather than the offenders. Rape myths are perpetuated in the mainstream media, specifically in high profile cases such as Jill Meagher’s. This essay discusses the possible of utility of feminism campaigns against rape myths. It also argues that the media has played a key role in perpetuating rape myths. Indeed, a host of pervasive rape myths provide evidence of the ways in which newspapers and a range of other mainstream media portray rape. The media has played a key role in perpetuating rape myths. A host of pervasive rape myths show the ways in which newspapers and a range of other mainstream media portray rape. Feminists refer to the myth as a “perfect victim.’ In any case, it is a myth since the perfect victim does not exist. On the contrary, this kind of myth serves to create a false divide between the survivors and the victim of rape depicted by the media as “innocent” and the survivors and victims of rape who portrays as guilty of causing rape. This happens in a range of ways. In two studies conducted in 1980 and 2013, mainstream media was found to have indeed perpetuated rape myths and the victims as inviting the rape through their dressing or behaviour. In the two studies, the findings indicated that women had invited the sexual assaults through being intoxicated or promiscuous (Burt, M 1980; Jordan 2013). The findings further indicated a significant lack of progress in the mainstream media towards shifting from victim-blaming or sexist culture to a culture that disdains sex-gender roles. The findings promoted the idea that mainstream media indeed uses rape myths to either shame or blame the victims, as well as by removing responsibility from the perpetrators (Burt, M 1980; Jordan, H 2013). Through trivializing crimes of rape, mainstream media facilitates consistency of rape myths or by undermining the severity of rape. A recent study which examined two separate cases that involved gang rape as well as several other cases of a single serial rape, investigator found that mainstream media will most often disregard the victim or incorrectly and unfairly represent sexual violence (Jordan 2013). For instance, in a recent high profile murder case, the Daily Mail reported that a 12-year-old girl had been gang-raped referring to a defence statement that alleged that she was a “Lolita” who had been induced to take alcohol from men responsible for raping her. Apparently, the two girls had lied about their ages (SMH 2013). The two children were portrayed as the “victims” since they were out at night, had dressed provocatively and were drinking alcohol. On the contrary, a review of the comments on the news story generally blamed the perpetrators of the offence as the victims of the two girls, as the girls had tricked and led them on (Kahlor & Morrison 2007). In addition, they had dressed “like sluts.” This is further exacerbated by the fact that the media has increasingly tended to portray young girls in a sexual way. For instance, a cursory examination of the media evidences stereotypical portrayal of girls as sexist and men as powerless sexual victims (Advocates for Human Rights 2009). Typically, the mainstream media reaches a mass audience making it capable of influencing massive wave of emotions. Through representation of rapes cases in a manner that sexualizes the victims and lessens the severity of the violent acts, the media perpetuates apathetic and sexist cultures. Such sexism was evident in a recent CNN report on a rape case involving the Steubenville perpetrators, the new agency portrayed the two young men, who were the perpetrators, as having promising football careers and were very good students who were bound to watch their careers slip (Friedman 2013; Brady, Carter & Pearson 2013). Such kind of commentary by the mainstream media promotes empathy for the two sexual offenders who defiled and murdered a defenseless girl. Further, it influences the public on building opinions about the case. In fact, the mainstream media has significant influence on the opinions of viewers by prompting them to react in certain ways and to adopt particular attitudes (Franiuk, Seefelt & Vandello 2008). Aside from improperly reporting the rape cases, the mainstream media further takes the guilt off the perpetrator and condemns the victim (SMH 2013). Representation of feminism by the mainstream media Portrayal of gendered violence by the mainstream media continues to be a concern for feminists. This has helped hinder the efforts of activists to eradicate such issues. Indeed, some feminist media critics in the United States, UK, Australia and Canada have argued that the mainstream media has consistently misrepresented and discredited the second-wave movement, which refers a feminist movement seeking to challenge universal female identity of victims of their own actions such as pornography and dressing proactively. Slutwalks are examples of such movement. For example, in the Toronto Slutwalk of 2011 attracted a protest of over 3,000 women dressed as sluts in Toronto. The protest was against portrayal of women by the mainstream media and the society as the real cause of crimes against women, and rape as a culture that should subsist. Indeed, Slutwalks have become a predominant feminist action globally such as in Berlin, New York and Seattle. Some social theorists have also pointed out that sexual violence coverage by the media has consistently aimed to promote pathologies and individualized understanding of the victims and survivors (SMH 2013). The mainstream media has also been blamed for depoliticizing its depiction of the root causes of rape. Indeed, the mainstream media continues to be associated with the publication or narratives that blame the victims in stories related to sexual assaults and rape. In Canada for instance, the mainstream media perpetuated the rape myth of ‘perfect victim” by demonstrating a selective silence surrounding the kidnapping, rape and disappearance of low-income non-white women (SMH 2013). The mainstream media has also been specifically silent over the issue of overrepresentation of indigenous women who are the victims of rape in Canada (Gilchrist, 2010). This could be described as the “missing white girl syndrome” where the mainstream media depicts young white and middle class women as extremely worthy of societal sympathy and compassion while depicting others as lives that could be disposed off in regards to rape cases. For instance, in the case of Jill Meagher, the media was instrumental in paying particular attention to her rape case, resulting to a large following on social media. This further resulted to over 30,000 people marching along Sydney Road in Brunswick where she had disappeared (Akerman 2013; Anderson 2013). Despite the fact that 2044 rape cases and 91 murder cases were reported in 2012, none of these crimes was given particular attention to the extent of generating public outrage. For instance, the media was reluctant to portray the rape, murder and disappearance or a total of 600 native women in Canada in the same year (CBC 2012). Analysis Rape myth, or the myth of the perfect victim as portrayed by the media, implies that much of the media reporting about violence against women can be categorised into two. First, when mainstream media report rape cases, it will most often entail a story about a “stranger rape.” Regardless of whether the “stranger rape” is rare in relation to rape cases by a colleague, friend or partner, it comprised a bulk of most news reported about cases of rape. Typically, the victim or the survivor will be a white middle class female and will most often be attacked during the day or in the early hours of the evening (Kahlor & Morrison 2007). Second, the rape will be depicted as a “cry-rape” case, which refers to when a case has not progressed or the offender has not been found guilty whatsoever. In such a case, the media presupposes that the woman who was allegedly raped lied about the rape (Franiuk, Seefelt & Vandello 2008). This will in most cases happen even when the defendant has not showed an intention to charge the woman for false accusation. In the UK for instance, despite the fact that statistics have shown that the false accusation rate is generally low at averagely 3 to 5 percent even more than 100,000 women are raped each year, the media has perpetuated rape myth by depicting all non-convicted rape cases as “cry-rape.” The mainstream media has also perpetuated rape myth, by racialising victims. Indeed, different forms of victim-blaming are consistent in the media particularly regarding high-profile cases, where violability of the black women has been naturalized, while the culpability of the offenders have been diminished. Canadian, Australian, British and American feminist media critics have consistently used intersectional approaches to express their dissatisfaction with absence of media coverage of sexual violence concerning black women, and for portraying black woman as blamable for being sexually assaulted (SMH 2013). Among high profile cases of this substance include Dominique Strauss-Kahn case. Analysis of the case indicates how pervasive the rape myth is in the mainstream media. In the case, Dominique Strauss is an influential politician who has a history of sexual harassment. He is arrested for sexually assaulting a black woman who cleans his hotel room. However, the mainstream media does not treat is as a normal story. Rather, it is depicted as a “sex scandal.” More facts however arose that the woman had a history of prostitution and victimising the rich and the influential (Kahlor & Morrison 2007). On further critical analysis, sexual assault is in actual fact a crime rather than a “sexual scandal. In the case, Dominique Strass was not caught having an affair and was accused of sexual assault. In which case, if he indeed had committed a crime by assaulting the woman, then the media should not have resorted to depicting ideas about national stereotypes about sex, such as the French are generally relaxed about sexual assault unlike the British and American (BBC 2013). Rather, the focus should have been on violence against women. Third, the myths about poor black immigrant women being often raped as was portrayed by the media do not make a logical case. What is more logical and which the media was reluctant to portray was that there was DNA evidence that showed there had been penetration, and which needed to be investigated. Indeed, following the case, the woman sued New York Times for publishing a story that she claims falsely stated that she had a history of prostitution (BBC 2013). Conclusion The mainstream, media has played a key role in perpetuating rape myths. Indeed, a host of pervasive rape myths provide evidence of the ways in which newspapers and a range of other mainstream media portray rape. It is clear that there is a significant lack of progress in the mainstream media towards shifting from victim-blaming or sexist culture to a culture that disdains sex-gender roles. Further, the media indeed uses rape myths to either shame or blame the victims, as well as by removing responsibility from the perpetrators. These have triggered the rise of feminist media critics arguing that the mainstream media is consistently misrepresenting and discrediting the second-wave movement that protests portrayal of women, such as Slutwalk protests. References Advocates for Human Rights 2009, End the Sexualization of Girls and Young Women in Mainstream Media, viewed 16 Dec 2013, Akerman, P 2013, The legacy of Jill Meagher, The Australian, viewed 16 Dec 2013, Brady, B Carter, C & Pearson, M 2013, “Two teens charged over threats via social media against Steubenville rape victim” CNN Justice, viewed 16 Dec 2013, Burt, M 1980, “Cultural Myths and Supports for Rape,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38:2 (1980): 217. Anderson, P 2013, Accused Jill Meagher killer and rapist Adrian Ernest Bayley will fight charges, Herald Sun News, viewed 16 Dec 2013, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/accused-jill-meagher-killer-and-rapist-adrian-ernest-bayley-will-fight-charges/story-fnat79vb-1226556434118 BBC 2013, Strauss-Kahn rape case dropped by French prosecutors, BBC News Europe, viewed 16 Dec 2013, CBC 2012, RCMP questions claim of 600 missing aboriginal women, CBC News, viewed 16 Dec 2013, Franiuk, R, Seefelt, J & Vandello, J 2008, "Prevalence of Rape Myths in Headlines and Their Effects on Attitudes Toward Rape," Sex roles, viewed 16 Dec 2013, Friedman, A 2013, “How Social Media Can Become Our New Rape Whistle,” New York Magazine, viewed 16 Dec 2013, McNicol, M 2012, “SlutWalk is ‘kind of like feminism’”: A critical reading of Canadian mainstream news coverage of SlutWalk, viewed 16 Dec 2013, http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/1974/7482/1/McNicol_Lauren_M_201209_MA.pdf Jordan, H 2013, Rape Culture Perpetuated through the Media: Titillating Stories vs. the Illumination of Inhumanity, viewed 16 Dec 2013, Kahlor, L & Morrison, D 2007, "Television Viewing and Rape Myth Acceptance among College Women," Sex Roles Vol. 56, pp.729–739 SMH 2013, Cultural messages perpetuate myth violence is sexy, The Sydney Morning Herald, viewed Read More

Typically, the mainstream media reaches a mass audience making it capable of influencing massive wave of emotions. Through representation of rapes cases in a manner that sexualizes the victims and lessens the severity of the violent acts, the media perpetuates apathetic and sexist cultures. Such sexism was evident in a recent CNN report on a rape case involving the Steubenville perpetrators, the new agency portrayed the two young men, who were the perpetrators, as having promising football careers and were very good students who were bound to watch their careers slip (Friedman 2013; Brady, Carter & Pearson 2013).

Such kind of commentary by the mainstream media promotes empathy for the two sexual offenders who defiled and murdered a defenseless girl. Further, it influences the public on building opinions about the case. In fact, the mainstream media has significant influence on the opinions of viewers by prompting them to react in certain ways and to adopt particular attitudes (Franiuk, Seefelt & Vandello 2008). Aside from improperly reporting the rape cases, the mainstream media further takes the guilt off the perpetrator and condemns the victim (SMH 2013).

Representation of feminism by the mainstream media Portrayal of gendered violence by the mainstream media continues to be a concern for feminists. This has helped hinder the efforts of activists to eradicate such issues. Indeed, some feminist media critics in the United States, UK, Australia and Canada have argued that the mainstream media has consistently misrepresented and discredited the second-wave movement, which refers a feminist movement seeking to challenge universal female identity of victims of their own actions such as pornography and dressing proactively.

Slutwalks are examples of such movement. For example, in the Toronto Slutwalk of 2011 attracted a protest of over 3,000 women dressed as sluts in Toronto. The protest was against portrayal of women by the mainstream media and the society as the real cause of crimes against women, and rape as a culture that should subsist. Indeed, Slutwalks have become a predominant feminist action globally such as in Berlin, New York and Seattle. Some social theorists have also pointed out that sexual violence coverage by the media has consistently aimed to promote pathologies and individualized understanding of the victims and survivors (SMH 2013).

The mainstream media has also been blamed for depoliticizing its depiction of the root causes of rape. Indeed, the mainstream media continues to be associated with the publication or narratives that blame the victims in stories related to sexual assaults and rape. In Canada for instance, the mainstream media perpetuated the rape myth of ‘perfect victim” by demonstrating a selective silence surrounding the kidnapping, rape and disappearance of low-income non-white women (SMH 2013). The mainstream media has also been specifically silent over the issue of overrepresentation of indigenous women who are the victims of rape in Canada (Gilchrist, 2010).

This could be described as the “missing white girl syndrome” where the mainstream media depicts young white and middle class women as extremely worthy of societal sympathy and compassion while depicting others as lives that could be disposed off in regards to rape cases. For instance, in the case of Jill Meagher, the media was instrumental in paying particular attention to her rape case, resulting to a large following on social media. This further resulted to over 30,000 people marching along Sydney Road in Brunswick where she had disappeared (Akerman 2013; Anderson 2013).

Despite the fact that 2044 rape cases and 91 murder cases were reported in 2012, none of these crimes was given particular attention to the extent of generating public outrage. For instance, the media was reluctant to portray the rape, murder and disappearance or a total of 600 native women in Canada in the same year (CBC 2012). Analysis Rape myth, or the myth of the perfect victim as portrayed by the media, implies that much of the media reporting about violence against women can be categorised into two.

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