As we near the beginning of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, it is worth examining the implications of how the media reports sexual violence, a topic that will be covered in several posts over the next few weeks. According to researchers at the University of Granada, “the media may unknowingly induce some people to justify cases of violence against women which appear in the press.”
“The researchers claimed that the media often looked for the assumed “reasons or causes” that provoked the crime, “which leads people to look for a reason for a fact that should be unjustifiable in any case”.
The researchers said that in the treatment of news related to violence against women, they had found frequently “justifications or reasons” (alcohol, jealousy, arguments, situations of prolonged unemployment, etc) “presented by the media to the audience as possible causes of the described situation”.”
The following is an unfortunate illustration of exactly that point. The Dallas News reports that,
“At SafeHaven Tarrant County, the phone lines are jumping with calls these days. Most are queries about the domestic abuse agency’s services. Others are hysterical calls from battered spouses in fear for their lives.
SafeHaven received 23,080 calls in 2007. That figure jumped to 41,774 in 2008.
The faltering economy, said agency officials, is a big reason for the bump. Increased job losses, bankruptcies and foreclosures all contribute to higher domestic violence.”
So far so good and an important topic that we have covered several times on this blog. But then further down, after interviewing various domestic violence experts, there is this from a local homicide detective,
“Fort Worth homicide detective Mike Carroll said society has yet to express outrage about the escalating violence against women. And, he said, the victims can help, too.
“Women need to recognize who these men are before they become emotionally involved,” he said.”
Does he maybe think abusers come with some special form of identification? The reality is that all too often abusers are the most charming people on the face of the earth until they’ve emotionally hooked their victim. Yes we should all do what we can to avoid dangerous situations, but it simply isn’t always possible to know that something is dangerous in advance, and even when we know it isn’t always possible to avoid it, and never mind all that IT IS NOT EVER ACCEPTABLE TO IMPLY THAT THE VICTIM IS TO BLAME! Yes I’m shouting, and I don’t do that all that often, but when the media offers a comment like that without analysis of why it is problematic, it does harm.
2 Responses to “Does Media Framing Justify Violence Against Women”
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Outstanding article! Thanks so much for calling that detective on his blatant victim-blaming.
I wish his statements were unique, but victim-blaming remains the most insidious societal myth that keeps men’s violence against women in place, IMO. Columns like yours bring the day closer where victims will be believed, not blamed – where violence is confronted, not justified – where our world is safe for all genders.
Ben, No they certainly aren’t unique, in fact they are so common there just aren’t enough hours in the day to call them all out. Thanks for adding your voice!