“Gendered violence is both an age-old and continuing social problem” (Lombard, 2018, p.1) that feminists are still trying to tackle socially, politically and economically. Gangoli, Bates and Heste (2019, p.2) defined gender – based violence as “violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately”. Within this critical analysis the focus will be on how gender – based violence is represented and discussed in the article by The Sun. This article focuses on a case of a young woman who had been raped by a man on a night out. Within the analysis, there will be a discussion on key themes that are prevalent around the gender – based violence discourse such as framing and gender stereotypes, focusing on the ideal victim and blaming victims for incidents.
Gender – based violence is represented in this article through framing. Easteal, Holland and Judd (2014, p.2) stated “framing involves selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient so as to invite audiences to see issues, actions and events in one particular way and not others”. In simple terms, this means when we discover articles that are covering sensitive issues such as rape. We often don’t see the whole truth and instead see it through the lens of the media. So, our understanding of gender – based violence is distorted and can influence policies and laws surrounding the issue. The frame that is being used in this article is gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes can mean that men and women are different and are expected to follow different norms and values according to their gender. For example, in the article, the victim stated she, “dropped out of college” (The Sun, 2021). The media has purposely framed this information, so the audience know that the victim is e.g., ‘working class’ and the victim has a ‘low paid job’. It is a gender stereotype that creates a narrative for the audience to follow. Another example within the article is when the victim describes what she was doing in the night club. The victim states, “at the club, the drinks were flowing, and we were dancing non-stop. I was having the best time” (The Sun, 2021). This information tells us the audience that the victim was drunk and probably not paying attention to her surroundings which makes the audience believe she did not take “personal responsibility” (Easteal, Holland and Judd, 2014, p.3). Instead, media articles shift away from the idea that the female victim had been raped because the male perpetrator couldn’t control his desires and had forced her. They disproportionately place various gender stereotypes on the female victim which makes her seem as she was looking for trouble in the first place. Gender – based violence is represented in this article by blaming women for provoking the sexual attack to happen.
An equally important point is that the media article tends to ostracize male perpetrators which has an impact on the way males are perceived in society. Most statistics reveal that most perpetrators are male, only a small proportion are females. According to ONS (2021), “In the years ending March 2017 and March 2020 combined, the majority of victims who had experienced rape or assault by penetration since they were 16 years old reported that the perpetrator(s) were male (98%). Almost two-thirds (65%) reported that the perpetrator was a male aged between 20 and 39 years”. However, it can be argued that not all males are out there to become perpetrators. It is the same principle as women sexually assault someone else, they are not all labelled and seen to be perpetrators in the same way. For instance, in the article the perpetrator is called several names such as “sick Ratcliffe raped Sian after spotting her outside of a nightclub” or “dangerous bar prowler” (The Sun, 2021). The language that is being used here is a key concept called ‘othering’. Othering is used to alienate male perpetrators from society. By strongly labelling the perpetrator, the media reinforces gender stereotypes and creates a panic which instinctively makes society want to protect yourself from all men. It also makes men become wary of becoming that ‘rapist’. To raise awareness about gender
based violence there have been sexual prevention campaigns. A key campaign mentioned by Carline, Gunby and Taylor (2017, p.1) is the “Liverpool City Council Campaign, which targeted young men (aged 18–24) in a bid to reduce rates of alcohol-related rape”. These types of campaigns have often caused more damage than harm. This is because it has affected men to the point, they often choose to ignore the messages it relays to society because it is deemed sexist. For example, “one participant remarked: ‘people don’t tend to think of themselves as bad people...or as a rapist’ and stressed that the campaign needed to ‘make him look less of a villain’ as ‘then it’s easier to say I could be in that position” (Carline, Gunby and Taylor, 2017, p.15). Other participants also mentioned that the “poster was accusing”, “a bit harsh” and “for making them feel very uncomfortable” (Carline, Gunby and Taylor, 2017, p.15). The campaign impacts them by sending out a message out that all men will encounter sexual assault problems at some point in their life. Perhaps, sexual prevention campaigns should have the aim to counter and move away from gender stereotypes. So, they should work towards educating and utilising men by sending out important key messages which could change the discourse feminists have been aiming to change for decades. Hence, the way gender – based
violence is portrayed in this article needs to also respectfully understand the way it portrays men can have an impact on ordinary men’s lives.
Another aspect of the article has been the focus on the ‘ideal victim’. An ideal victim is a person who the media will always sympathise for. An example of the ideal victim is a “young, female, white, middle – class, respectable and physically attractive” (Lee and Wong, 2019, p.4). Within the article, the victim is also white, young, physically attractive. Often media sources choose to report cases with ‘ideal victims’ because it is newsworthy. Newsworthiness is when “journalists use a series of news structures and values to determine what is likely to attract attention from the audience and generate interest” (Lee and Wong, 2019, p.3). This is particularly seen in the case of reporting violence because it is “particularly shocking and captures the audience’s attention” (Lee and Wong, 2019, p.4). Within the article, The Sun uses language such as “brave bartender” or “terrified, I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the alleyway “(The Sun, 2021). The article uses the word ‘brave’ because they want to exaggerate the experience of how the victim will cope going back to her job as a bartender as it is in a similar environment. Another point is also that they describe the victim’s feelings of how she felt during the incident. Describing the emotions of the victim using this type of dramatic language relates back to that patriarchal view of society that women and children “need protecting” (Lee and Wong, 2019, p.4). It reveals the patriarchal system is still in place, males are dominant in society and women are the weaker sex. So, women can’t really protect themselves against men. The media article shows that gender – based violence only happens to white young women who are ‘vulnerable and weak’ and reinforces that these women need to be protected from men.
However, an issue with ‘ideal victims’ and gender – based violence it is not wholly representative of all victims that endure sexual assault. Victims that are not regularly covered in media are black, ethnic and minority victims. These victims are not seen as ‘newsworthy’ because they are “undeserving, non-ideal victims who do not fit the “ideal media profile” inspire less public sympathy or interest because they are perceived as likely to have contributed to their expected fates” (Lloyd and Ramon, 2017, p.13). Non – ideal victims are seen to have an expected fate because society is racist towards them. For example, “some first-generation immigrant women also felt that they had expressed discrimination at the point of seeking employment, and this necessarily reduced their options in terms of seeking justice for gender-based violence” (Gangol, Bates and Heste, 2019, p.12). In the same way, Kimberlé Crenshaw speaks about a concept called intersectionality where “women of color are differently situated in the economic, social, and political worlds” (Crenshaw, 2006, p.10). This disadvantages them more compared to white female victims because white women receive much more help and resources to support them. Women of colour find it hard to fight gender – based violence because of all the other barriers against them. To improve this issue, traditional feminism needs a move towards featuring women of colour within their gender – based violence rhetoric. So, gender-based violence is not only an issue that disproportionately affects white female victims it does also affect BAME victims too.
Victim – blaming is another key component seen in media articles when cases of gender – based violence are discussed. Victim – blaming happens when the victim is blamed for the crime, they did not commit and usually media articles pick on certain aspects of the victim which is seen as provoking the crime to happen. This can mostly be seen with “direct and indirect victim-blaming language” (Lloyd & Ramon, 2017, p.9). An example of victim – blaming language can be seen in the article. For example, “Sian Sutherland had been at a nightclub with her friends after she opened the door for her rapist” (The Sun, 2021). The article lets the audience know where and what time the incident happened, as it is in a nightclub it is easy to gather information that the victim was out after dark. The Sun goes into further depth, letting the audience know that the victim “opened the door for her rapist” (The Sun, 2021) which presumes that the victim was being rather friendly and attentive towards the perpetrator. This represents gender – based violence as an issue woman are responsible for because they use subtle actions to provoke men. So, by not displaying the appropriate behaviour women tend to get themselves into danger. By blaming the victim, it takes away the known fact that men take advantage of women. Hence, gender – based violence is represented by blaming victims for their actions which leads men to attack them.
While this is the case that the media does tend to blame victims, it can be argued that that police officers doubt how truthful victims are when they report being sexually assaulted. For example, “women routinely lie about sexual assault for personal gain, revenge, or an account of having
“regretted” sex (Hindes & Fileborn, 2019, p.13). Many statements such as this are made in society because rape is a very complex concept that “is socially constructed within criminal justice systems as a particular type of crime, requiring distinctive evidentiary practices” (Lombard, 2018, p.99). Police officers heavily rely on victims and evidentiary practices that occur during a rape case are also quite invasive and uncomfortable for victims that are already traumatised. Despite these claims, police officers have an attitude of ‘solving the crime’ which means they will always have room for doubt. For example, “police officers categorized false allegations into ‘types’ which included allegations made out of malice, those made after a ‘regretful’ sexual encounter, those where aspects of the victim’s story did not ‘add up’, where mental health issues were present, where complainants withdrew cooperation with parts or all of the criminal justice process, and lastly, where complainants could not remember what happened or where third parties had reported the allegation” (Lombard, 2018, p.101). These examples reveal the impact female victims have when reporting sexual assault. Most victims feel uneasy about the police handling rape because “justice’ continues to be elusive for victims of sexual assault and rape” (Lombard, 2018, p.97). It is elusive because the police do not have much social context and understanding of rape. This can impact victims because they do not have trust in the criminal justice system to seek help. The distrust between victims and police officers and the doubtfulness of police officers both play a role in why gender – based violence is hidden and under –reported and often hard to tackle.
Overall, the critical analysis of the article has represented some features of gender – based violence. The issues discussed that were found within the article was framing the victim using gender stereotypes, only representing ‘ideal victims’ and blaming the victim. Although, these are common features of gender – based violence. There were some limitations in how far we could agree that gender – based violence is truly in favour of targeting women. For example, there should be a focus on the impact the way the media perceives males. Or there should be awareness about black and minority ethnic female victims. Lastly, the discourse on how some female victims may lie about sexual assault has opened a consideration on how under-reporting and policing can play a role in tackling gender
based violence cases. Hence, the critical analysis has only revealed some key points of how gender – based violence is represented.
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