The Steubenville Rape: The Media Violence Against Women

Victims, through news reports and social media, often become celebrities overnight. Victims of crime are instantly thrown into the public eye and are fair game when reporters are rushing the scene for a top news story. The media frenzy creates a chaos that magnifies the victims pain and suffering to acquire viewer’s attention, and the reports are usually more gruesome, violent and more sexually charged than the truth. Sexually violent crimes are often a top news focus, re-victimizing the survivor of the sex crime. Research shows that “84% of prime-time television shows contain at least one episode of sexual harassment, which perhaps accurately reflects the commonplace nature of this violent crime”(Beirne, 2011, pg. 11). When a crime has been committed, victims are at a vulnerable time in their lives, which is when the media takes the opportunity to move in and overwhelm them even further while distorting the facts, asking questions, and snapping pictures looking for a news story. Victims are often even re-victimized as the media picks through their past, nothing is private, all information received, whether through a dependable source or just another citizen, is displayed for all of society to make their judgment. This can lead to society thinking the victim deserved it, it was their fault, or they weren’t a good person. This type of treatment has a greater devastating emotional

In recent history, there have been many cases of rape all over the world that have been sparking public outrage, not only because of the perverse acts but also for the way that society has responded to these attacks. The Steubenville, Ohio case is one account, where a sixteen year old girl was raped by two high school football players. Instead of focusing on the tragedy of the rape, the public and the media chose to speak about the two rapists - the boys - and how their promising football careers were over. It was suggested that the girl was at fault for being drunk, and that she was known for lying in the past, and could possibly be lying about the case (Poladian, 1). This is only one example of

The media produces double standards by representing the act of domestic violence among athletes differently based on the gender of the perpetrator or person committing the crime. Hegemonic masculinity can best be described as the dominant, privileged, and often invisible category of men at any point in history. In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity refers to the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. Hegemonic masculinity posits that society strongly encourages men to embody this kind of masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is said to be marked by a tendency for the male to dominate other males and subordinate females. A case can be made for domestic violence cases in sports. Domestic violence can be used as a way for a male to show his dominance over females and show other males not to mess with them. Men may come off as more masculine if they beat on another girl. For females in sports it has been said that a more masculine side is being brought out through competition. Even though I believe that domestic violence is portrayed differently compared to male cases, females show their masculinity in different ways. Hegemonic masculinity can be shown in females and when they use their anger in a violent way it is a way to show that they can dominate other male or females and make them seem more superior compared to other around them. In my paper I will be looking at how media effects domestic violence and how it portrayed differently.

In “ ‘A Steep Price…’” it analyzed the opinions of the public, media, victim, and aggressor in defending their particular take on the case. The article offers mild bias, so it does not completely report the events of the case, because it mostly focuses on the opinionated effects and not so much the facts. In “Feminist Put Judge...”, major bias is introduced by claiming to be in support of the feminist cause; however, the article uses a stronger ethical appeal to attract a broader, more unified audience. In “Here’s the Powerful Letter…”, the author recants the letter the victim wrote to her attacker, Brock Turner. She not only aims for the audience to feel the distress and havoc the case has relinquished on her life, but also a chance to spread a more positive message to thank her supporters while encouraging her audience to stand up for themselves and their self worth. The overall purpose of analyzing all these different media sources is to be able to recognize how the multiple points of view that a story can be told from will alter the objectivity of the event. A society’s culture will emphasis bias or certain point of views to get the public to believe one interpretation of the story based on the

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenage girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug when he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White). As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected they can become from their children in a social media world.

The media plays a massive role in the construction of crime, this includes the reporting of crime, the sensationalisation of stories, over-representation of different social groups and age of offenders. Construction of crime is also through stereotyping both ethnicity and gender. It is sometimes argued that the media is an ideological tool that is used to distort reality from its viewers. Female killers are often considered as ‘oxymoronic’, as they are seen as contradictory. Females are generally seen as caring beings but once they commit violent crimes, they are judged based individual circumstances and it is not taken into consideration that they could just as violent as male offenders in their own right. In this essay, I will be focusing on the gender stereotypes in media, specifically focusing on female killers.

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

The first is the stigmatisation of sexual assault victims,. In the documentary we see how Audrie Pott was sexually assaulted, and how pictures of the crime were were circulated on social media. She committed suicide after being harassed, and even blamed for her own assault. Victim-blaming is shockingly common in modern society and its impacts are exacerbated by the capabilities of social media. Within our piece we explore this through a video of Sierra being raped being circulated online, receiving over 100,000 views on Facebook. Comments on the video also depict a culture of character assassination by viewers, ‘look at this slut, she’s probably got an STD’. One audience member reflected on the portrayal of social media within our piece, ‘it was amusing at times and also realistic, especially the victim-blaming comments.’ Overall, we were happy with how the social media scene reflected the realities of stigmatisation, however we also reflected on how to

Every day I go on TV, there is at least one story or more relating to rape, assault towards woman, and of course violence. It is getting repetitive; as a result, more and more people are starting to brush it off their shoulders like a dust. Within rape culture, there is controversy on which it is to blame. The writers Walter Moseley and Rae Gomes write an article about the remedies for rape culture “Ten Things to End Rape Culture” and how it can create an atmosphere that enable both sexes to change for the better. In “Masculinity Is More Than a Mask”, Christina Hoff Sommers discusses the relationship between violence and masculinity when she critiques and analyzes a documentary based on the biological side of masculinity.

In the article, “When Rape Goes Viral,” Ann Friedman, a columnist for New York magazine’s website and the Columbia Journalism Review, argues that in this time period that sexual assaults are becoming more aware of and tackled due to social media. People are viewing these assaults by videos, picture, and postings from different social media pages, claims Friedman. Friedman reports that the postings of these pictures and videos have helped in multiple cases of sexual assaults. If there were no photos or videos of evidence from the cases then some of the convictions that have been made throughout time might not have ever happened, argues Friedman. She insists that the post with the most attention leave the victims in traumatic circumstances that

Media representation has always been a topic of debate, from representation of minority groups, individuals with mental illnesses and gender presentations. The latter, of course, turns mostly towards the female characters as they are presented in various medias; movies, news, and television shows. The representation of women in the media has always been leaning more towards ‘pleasing’ than it is towards informative or accurate. Representation of female offenders in the media has not deviated from the route that other representations of female factions has gone, focusing more on what is pleasing and entertaining than what is not harmful to the demographic as a whole. Women who are represented as offenders are done so in a way that is

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenaged girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug while he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White) As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for the today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected parents become from their children in a social media world.

Along with television shows, news stations are accused of trivializing rape aswell. How many times have you heard, “She asked for it.” or any other type of victim blaming, or a derivative of,“Boys will be boys.” to make rape seem like not such a big deal (1a)? News channels will even go as far as scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives and history to make the victim seem in the wrong about their rape (1a). Some channels will inflate the fake rape statistics to make rape seem like a less

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenage girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug when he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here.”(White) and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (White). Montages, long and subjective shots, close-ups, and personal sketches highlight the conflicts and tragedies that the girls face, submerging the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected they can be from their children in a social media world.

Recently, I happened to run into a video while I was looking for information for my research paper on rape and stumbled upon the "Steubenville rape case". I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the case, if not, in 2013 a 16 year old went to a party and got so dunk she could barely move. Two star football players who attended her school took her to different parties throughout the night and sexually molested her. They later on laughed about it on social media and posted graphic pictures with disturbing captions. CNN was one of the many news stations that reported the case. To my surprise and as for many who watched, the CNN reporter was extremely bias in favor of the rapists.