Sexual Violence In The Media

Sexual assault and violence is increasing due to advertisements misinforming people into believing that such behavior is acceptable. “In the 1960’s Kilbourne found that she received more recognition for her looks rather than her intelligence” (Grean and Lidinisky, 490). Perhaps this is why Kilbourne wrote her book, Deadly Persuasion, analyzing this problem. Kilbourne found herself in the environment bubble the media is creating where the objective analysis of people is acceptable. Kilbourne’s book is an attempt to bring awareness towards how much harm the media’s portrayal of people is generating. Kilbourne’s book is mainly targeted towards women, and is trying to spur them towards action in an attempt to change the world and, more

After reviewing our book and focusing on Dr. Kristen Zgoba’s lecture, some sex crime does not receive the level of attention, because they are not reported to the law enforcement either being a nine-year-old girl or a nineteen-year-old girl, some people and their families don’t want to report this, either because they know the person (family member) or because they are ashamed. Not supporting the Media, but the Media cannot report what they did not know. On the RAINN’s website, they state that sexual assault crimes are one of the most under reported crimes among all the crimes, with up to 68 percent still being left unreported to the law enforcement. Also stating out of every 100 rapes, 32 are only reported, seven leads to an arrest, two leads

As many of us currently know, at the moment there is a movement in place, dealing with dozens of allegations of sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein. Actor Milano tweeted to survivors of sexual harassment to use the hashtag #MeToo. This campaign created a huge amount of responses across social media, empowering many women in particular. On the other hand, not many male victims have received such support. They have been shut down, and were told that their timing and message we

Fitzgerald and Lonsway define myths of rape as “false but persistent beliefs and stereotypes regarding forced sexual intercourse and the victims and perpetrators of such acts” (Kahlor). These rape myths include opinions that women who act or dress offensively are asking to be raped, or women who claim to have been raped when they later regretted having consensual sex. While it may be a common myth that some women lie about being sexually assaulted, “the fact is that only 2% of rape reports prove to be intentionally reported falsely” (Bohmer). An additional flagrant myth about rape is that no actually means yes, and that being raped is what some women secretly want. Although there a many myths about rape that are related to the rape victim and what she was doing and wearing, there are many myths about rape that define the rapist and create false images on what people actually commit rape crimes. An example of one of those myths is that “rapists are sex-starved, insane, or both” and that the action of rape is strictly a passion crime (Iconis). These assertions provide many

I understand that the media is allowing society to become informed about sexual abuse by covering murder cases, high-profile offenders and congressional scandals in headlines and television shows. For decades, the media has portrayed pedophiles as monsters; however, they are no longer being viewed as the “stranger” in “danger.” They are your neighbors, friends, and family members. Most importantly, pedophiles are people before they become criminals. This “stranger danger” perception blinds us from the warning signs when the actual offender could be someone we know and care about. Society is always shocked to learn that someone has sexually abused a child. Often enough, we will ask, how could someone be so evil to sexually abuse a child? But

But this causes that some crimes are to be thought as not important enough to get coverage. Most of the victims of these crimes hide in the dark. ““Few studies have examined newspaper rape coverage and concluded that rape stories have fewer details than stories about murder or assault and do not provide information that puts the crime into perspective (1602).” Some solutions to this problematic representation of rape victims in the news media are education and social media. Because of rape culture in our society, many of the rape aggressors are often times tried for a minimum sentence which is not enough for the action he committed. Many who don’t agree can have a voice through social media. “Today feminist bloggers utilize social media in order to respond to rape culture, and hold accountable those responsible for its practices when mainstream news media, police and school authorities do not. (67) Education is another possible solution for this problem. ““Project Sister, a Pomona-based organization dedicated to helping victims of sexual and domestic violence, offers several education programs, with age-specific lessons for kindergarteners through the

Americans are born into a systematic tolerance of rape culture. It is a complex set of beliefs in which sexual violence, harassment and predominantly male aggression towards females is normalized as a matter of life. It starts as young as preschool where children are taught that if a boy pulls a girl’s hair, he must like her. In ancient Greece, rape was indeed a crime; however it was not against the victim but against the protectors whose “property” was considered damaged. This common crime was typically punished with a small fine issued to the protector of the “damaged” victim. Thousands of years later, time has not healed this alarming acceptance of sexual violence in society, leading to an institutional perception that rape culture is normality.

As we are developing language skills since infants, media has played a huge role in how we view and learn things. As media gives us a better picture of reality. But is it the reality? Or is what society wants us to learn? Since infants we have seen commercials, ads, and shows of how women and men are supposed to act, dress, and like. Let’s look at a study that recognizes television as the messenger of cultural norms that ultimately embeds in a culture of violence towards women Kahlor, & Eastin, 2011). This study helps identify how one mean of media can play in social construction. For instance, the television is a source of media that is used to support social construction of gender by relating significantly to first- and second-order rape myth beliefs among men and women. For instance, Kahlor and Eastin (2011) indicate that television adapts airs many overestimations of false rape accusations indicating labeling women as liars because beauty is all they possess. Also, Kahlor and Eastin (2011) indicate how television portraits a negative relationship between crime-show viewing and rape myth acceptance. Television has become one of the prime means of media that can serve as a significant predictor of rape beliefs. This social constructs that men should see women differently. As men should always hold the women and women as complainers. Television is one way that media plays a role in how the social construction of gender come into play today in today’s gender

Women: A Study of Television Viewing and the Cultivation of Rape Myth Acceptance in the United States." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic

Rape culture has been seen in many ways throughout the media. For example, during one of our readings we learned how rape and violence against women were being seen as normal, in song lyrics. Rape culture is also reinforced in films and movies. But, I decided to focus my manifesto project on how rape culture is represented in the news media. I have personally read and seen how the news media often blames the victim for being raped. Although they don’t state it so obvious, if you pay close attention you can see it. I believe this is an important issue given that it reinforces the idea that a victim of rape is responsible for it, which isn’t the true. Anyone who is raped is not responsible for what happened to them. If the news media, along with

Violence against women globally is so widespread a problem that it is now a widely understood fact that approximately one in three women have experienced either physical or sexual violence in her lifetime (WHO, 2013). The media plays a central role in shaping our understanding of the world around us and as a result its influence on how the wider community both views and understands violence against women is powerful. The media story titled: ‘The Steubenville Rape Case: Script goes awry for accused teen,’ tells the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who was raped by two high school football players who then shared photos of the rape on social media. This online article published by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) provides a startlingly

The media should become more concerned and prevent sexual violence from occurring instead of advertising sexual violence by using female bodies to sell a product. Rape culture is when society whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect pf normalizing sexual violence. Rape culture or media supports the idea that men have power over women. Instead f saying “boys will be boys” and teaching girls how not to get raped we need to establish strategies to avoid normalisation of sexual violence: Teach about consent: you can speak to people about what consent means, Avoid victim blaming- so many survivors of rape are accused of asking for being raped because of what they were wearing and how much did they have to drink.

Rape culture is defined as “a culture in which dominant cultural ideologies, media images, social practices, and societal institutions support and condone sexual abuse by normalizing, trivializing and eroticizing male violence against women and blaming victims for their own abuse” (Kacmarek, 2014). Victim blame is present in just about any kind of assault case, but we will look at two cases of idolized men assaulting women. When women come forward with sexual assault allegations, the media’s response is to frame the people involved. The victim is framed by sexualizing, describing their state during the attack, or assume they are just seeking attention. The suspect is framed as a playboy, sociopath, or a monster.

Brinson (1992) reported that “rape myths allow our culture to rationalize the prevalence of rape by offering explanations for its occurrence” . Further she states rape myths actually influence whether or not an assault will be considered “real rape.” Researchers have found evidence that the “greater acceptance of rape myths is associated with greater willingness to attribute blame to the victims of sexual assault” .

Rape culture is an environment in which social attitudes have the effect of normalizing sexual violence against women and excusing it in the media and other popular cultures. Rape culture attempts to rationalize a continuum of sexual violence that range from sexist remarks to unwanted sexual touching, and rape itself. Rape culture has become so desensitized by society that perpetrators may not be aware of their wrongdoings and victims may not realize they are being victimized. It is a culture in which victims are suppressed when they decide to speak up about their traumatic attack, because they are seen as being dramatic or untruthful while the perpetrator's actions are left unpunished. While the majority of victims are women, rape culture is not solemnly an issue of female oppression, it is a general disconnect between human beings. It is a culture that many of us refuse to accept exist, however there are numerous examples that normalize rape and sexual assault on a daily basis. Rape culture is not a new topic. The term was first used back in the 1970’s by a group of feminist to raise the awareness of the normalization of sexual violence in society. In recent years the topic has become a popular, controversial issue and has come to permeate virtually every aspect of our lives through media, song lyrics, and everyday jargon.