Synopsis We investigate the power of the media to reinforce or transform public opinion about violence against women. We ask if media portrayals of the issue are essentially conservative messages communicated through a veneer of ‘objectivity’ using simplistic narratives. Our literature review shows that the media frames family violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment using a recurrent theme of mutuality of responsibility for the violence. This contradicts the feminist understanding of these harms as gendered and reflective of male dominance, sexism and misogyny. Such narratives could impede and delay feminist aims of protecting women from violence and improving access to justice. While the internet and social media enable activists and others to challenge myths and stereotypes, they also create new forums for the perpetuation of violence against women. Continuing engagement with the media is necessary to ensure community understanding of violence against women and the harm that media portrayals may cause.

Enduring themes and silences in media portrayals of violence against women

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.

Enduring Themes and Silences in Media Portrayals of Violence Against Women

How the mainstream news media report violence against women is significant if levels of violence are to be reduced and ultimately eliminated. Media reporting is an important indicator through which to measure progress towards shifting social and cultural norms that reinforce or challenge the place of violence against women in our society. The current study, therefore, aimed to establish a baseline picture of the extent and nature of reporting of violence against women by the mainstream Australian news media. Descriptive and content analysis of media reports on violence against women that were collected over four months in three states of Australia. Reports were from newspapers, broadcast (television and radio) and online news sites. Coverage of violence against women in the mainstream news media was extensive. Explicitly situating violent experiences for women within a broader social context was infrequent. Few news reports included information for women on where to seek help. Additionally, news reports rarely elevated the voices of survivors, advocates and other experts, with a disproportionate emphasis on law enforcement, political and criminal justice perspectives. Despite readiness among journalists and readers to engage in news about violence against women, reporting that promotes public understanding of the issue is not always the norm.

/pdf/mediated-representations-of-violence-against-women-in-the-5cdz2uki54.pdf

Mediated representations of violence against women in the mainstream news in Australia

What has been termed the survivor selfie is a recent and growing phenomenon whereby survivors of intimate partner violence or their close supporters upload graphic photos and accounts of their injuries and suffering to social media. In this article, we examine how the like economy of Facebook can lead to the rapid circulation of survivor selfies to large audiences, and in doing so, generate what we term viral justice: the outcome of a victim’s online justice-seeking post ‘going viral’ and quickly being viewed and shared-on by thousands of social media users. Through examining the trajectory and impact of one particular case—Ashlee Savins’s viral survivor selfie—we identify the technological preconditions of viral justice and three of its key dimensions: affective contagion; swarm sociality; and movement power. Through discussing the speed, sociality and contagion of viral justice, we critically consider some of its implications for online justice-seeking, and responding to intimate partner violence.

Viral justice? Online justice-seeking, intimate partner violence and affective contagion:

Consideration of the media's representations of women who kill highlights dominant discourses in the framing of public responses to criminal acts of a particular kind, which in turn shapes legal responses to such acts. Generally, women who commit murder are, in some way, portrayed as an aberration of true womanhood — as either 'bad' or 'mad'. Through an overview of the vast literature that has examined the reportage of these women, we examine how this is done and consider whether the framing or portrayal is affected by the woman's relationship to her victim: a violent partner, a child, or a non-family member. We identify some common themes in the 'mad', 'bad' and 'sad' representations of these women, as well as a tendency to downplay information that might contextualise or explain the women's actions. Details of the women's appearance and sexuality were also emphasised in media reports, with particular attention given to sensationalised images, for example, depictions of debauchery, vampirism and lesbianism. By contrast, underlying social issues and causes are often not included. We therefore conclude that our ability to make sense of such crimes in a manner that may assist in their prevention is diminished.

How are Women Who Kill Portrayed in Newspaper Media? Connections with Social Values and the Legal System

Feminist research and theory show how substance and process of law are substantially affected by its patriarchal context. Accordingly, a number of Australian studies have identified how gendered myths and other factors impact on the assessment of victim credibility in sexual assault hearings. In this article we look at sexual harassment cases in Australia lodged under the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) between 2000 and 2006 and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Discrimination Act from 2001 to 2005 to see if similar variables to those in rape cases play a role in the perception of witness believability. We find that credibility is more likely to correlate with being Anglo, very young, a rational (masculine) demeanor/presentation in giving evidence, corroborative witnesses and legal representation. In addition, respondents' counsel in federal harassment hearings or respondents themselves in correspondence to the ACT Commissioner, just as defence barristers in rape trials, attempt to make the victim appear as an incredible witness through highlighting evidentiary inconsistencies and/or delayed reporting. Also evidence about sexual history or behavior that evokes an image of provocation may be adduced. We identify a varied response to these myths and to measurement of credibility by the individual ‘gatekeepers’ — the Federal Magistrates, judges and the ACT Discrimination Commissioner.

‘She Said, He Said’: Credibility and sexual harassment cases in Australia

We look at trial by media focusing on five high profile sexual harassment cases reported on in 2011: David Jones, Clayton Utz, Rivers, IBM and Patrick Stevedores. We analyse the reporting to see how the media writes about sexual harassment and who is seen as the credible complainant.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=2295348

Media Reportage of Sexual Harassment: The (In)Credible Complainant

Feminist research and theory show how substance and process of law are substantially affected by its patriarchal context. Accordingly, a number of Australian studies have identified how gendered myths and other factors impact on the assessment of victim credibility in sexual assault hearings. In this article we look at sexual harassment cases in Australia lodged under the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) between 2000 and 2006 and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Discrimination Act from 2001 to 2005 to see if similar variables to those in rape cases play a role in the perception of witness believability. We find that credibility is more likely to correlate with being Anglo, very young, a rational (masculine) demeanor/ presentation in giving evidence, corroborative witnesses and legal representation. In addition, respondents' counsel in federal harassment hearings or respondents themselves in correspondence to the ACT Commissioner, just as defence barristers in rape trials, attempt to make the victim appear as an incredible witness through highlighting evidentiary inconsistencies and/or delayed reporting. Also evidence about sexual history or behavior that evokes an image of provocation may be adduced.We identify a varied response to these myths and to measurement of credibility by the individual ‘gatekeepers’ - the Federal Magistrates, judges and the ACT Discrimination Commissioner.

'She Said, He Said' - Credibility and Outcome in Sexual Harassment

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