Media Themes of Violence Against Women

Patricia I. Easteal, University of Canberra, Faculty of Law, Keziah Judd, University of Canberra, and Kate Holland, University of Canberra, University of Canberra, Faculty of Arts and Design, have published Enduring Themes and Silences in Media Portrayals of Violence Against Women at 48 Women Studies International Forum 103 (2015). Here is the abstract.

This paper looks at different ways of conceptualising the influence of media with respect to its potential to reinforce or transform public opinion about violence against women. We engage the question of whether media portrayals of the issue are essentially conservative and how this conservatism may be communicated behind a mask of factual objectivity and through brief and simplistic narratives. Our sample of the relevant research literature shows that by using several framing techniques, the ‘reality’ of family violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment is constructed via a recurrent theme of mutuality of responsibility for the violence. Such reportage may obstruct the feminist understanding of these harms as gendered and reflective of male dominance, sexism and misogyny. It also may impede and delay feminist aims of better ensuring women’s safety from violence and of improving victims’ access to justice.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.