Issuu

“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