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Knowing Her Name: the Framing of Sexual Assault Victims and Assailants in News Media

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Knowing Her Name: the Framing of Sexual Assault Victims and Assailants in News Media Knowing Her Name: The Framing of Sexual Assault Victims and Assailants in News Media Headlines A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences by Tessa Webb B.A. University of Cincinnati, December 2017 Advisor: Nancy Jennings, PhD. Committee: Omotayo Banjo, PhD. and Ronald Jackson, III, PhD. Abstract: By examining how attribution of responsibility is constructed by public opinion, this research determines the discrepancy in the presence of the victim and their sexual assailant in news media headlines. This research is based in the theoretical framework of framing, which will be used to evaluate how electronic news media sources portray these stories and the ways in which they possibly alter truth through agenda setting and priming. Rape myths grow within our society through repetition, so the theoretical basis of the cumulative and cognitive-transactional model of media effects will be utilized in order to focus on the consonance and repetition of themes and messages that occur across media content. A content analysis will examine the ways in which electronic news media headlines are more likely to utilize language of support and use more description for the sexual assailant, as opposed to their victim. Content analyzed will include electronic news media headlines related to the Stanford sexual assault trial. ii iii Acknowledgments: I would first like to acknowledge the support of my advisor, Dr. Nancy Jennings. Your patience and support are the reason why I survived such a harsh topic of research. In addition, much thanks and love are in order for my mentors and friends, Dr. Jessica Graves- Rack and Dr. Autumn Miller, without whom I would not be where I am today. Thank you for always being there and willing to give me the pep talk I need. Additional thanks are also in order for my committee members Dr. Omotayo Banjo and Dr. Ron Jackson who have supplied me with numerous sources, ideas, and feedback that has helped shape my research. With love and gratitude, I would like to thank my parents, Katie, Marissa Gene, Shelly, and Gary Fine, Rebekah Knaggs and Evan Neidig, Sue Graves, Marcella Miller, and all of the amazing friends I’ve made along the way. It truly takes a village to raise an academic, and mine has been the best village of all. iv Table of Contents Tables……………………………………………………………………………………………..vi Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..……1 Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………….4 Rape myths………………………………………………………………………………...4 Rape myths, victim blaming and the Stanford case…………………………………….....5 Rape myths, framing, and agenda setting………………………………………………....9 Rape myths and media effects…………………………………………………………...12 Research questions……………………………………………………………………………….16 Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………..16 Sample……………………………………………………………………………………17 Coding……………………………………………………………………………………17 Variables…………………………………………………………………………………19 Results……………………………………………………………………………………………21 Presence of the victim……………………………………………………………………21 Presence of the perpetrator……………………………………………………………….22 Presence of rape myths…………………………………………………………………..24 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………..24 Maintaining identity……………………………………………………………………...25 What’s in a name? ……………………………………………………………………….27 Attribution of responsibility and public opinion…………………………………………30 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………………….32 Future research…………………………………………………………………………………...33 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….33 Appendix A………………………………………………………………………………………35 v Tables Table 1. Reliability………………………………………………………………………………17 Table 2. News Sources and Presence of Victim…………………………………………………21 Table 3. News Source and Victim Referred to as Innocent……………………….…………….23 Table 4. News Sources and Presence of Perpetrator…………………………………………….23 Table 5. News Source and Description of the Perpetrator………………………………………24 Table 6. Presence of Perpetrator and Language of Support…………………………………..…24 vi Introduction News media headlines are tasked with summarizing the story in one line. We skim through these headlines on Twitter or our news app of choice and grab the necessary information from them in order to determine if an article is worth our time. Often, when reporting a sexual assault, news media outlets will include aspects of the perpetrator that reveal the violent offender’s identity but will simply use “victim” or “woman” for the individual that has been assaulted, if she’s mentioned at all (Kahlor & Eastin, 2011; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000; Yodanis, 2004). There are implications for focusing on the identity1 of the sexual assailant, while diminishing their victim. This concept has become even more apparent in recent years with the rise of the Me Too movement. There has been a shift of focus within our society that has changed the ways in which we discuss sexual assault. The Me Too movement focuses on mobilizing against sexual harassment and assault (Lee, 2018) while maintaining a goal of refocusing the narrative of sexual assault and rape to be concerned with the victim and not the sexually violent offender. Founded in 2006, the movement was meant to help the survivors of sexual violence find opportunities for healing (Me Too Movement, n.d.). The drive of this movement was and still remains to address the lack of resources for survivors of sexual violence while building a community made up of advocates, driven by survivors, that will work together in order to create solutions to end sexual violence within these communities (Me Too Movement, n.d.). 1 Identity is conceptualized in this research as factors that pertain to the individual that would be used to describe aspects of their everyday life. This includes occupation, academic affiliation, relation to individuals, athletic affiliations, or the use of their name. 1 Furthermore, this movement also brought to light the heinous and disempowering actions committed by men against women in various industries across the United States, especially within Hollywood (i.e., Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby) and the news media (i.e., Matt Lauer, Les Moonves, Roger Ailes). Well-known male actors, artists, and musicians that had engaged in sexual misconduct without consequences throughout the entirety of their careers were soon cast into the spotlight, except this time they played the starring role in their own demise. With a growing focus on reclaiming the “victim” narrative, Me Too has worked to establish a society where survivors and women feel comfortable discussing their assault or harassment and can find allies in the public around them (Lee, 2018). Readers have become more critical and this is often influenced by whose narrative is given more attention in the media. This research is significant because it will contribute to the understanding of the ways in which our news media frame the identities of sexually violent offenders and the women they assault, including determining the presence of rape myths associated with the victim and perpetrator. Current and past research has focused on the portrayal of the victim in television programming and the implications of these depictions (Cavender, et al., 1999; Kahlor & Eastin, 2011;). This research analyzes headlines and news media narratives that can shape the social reality and public opinion of consumers. While there is much literature to be considered that discusses the ways in which victims are portrayed in the media, or the depiction of sexually violent offenders, there is a lack of focus on how the two identities compare when being presented in the news. News media is the main source for us as citizens to read about these crimes and educate ourselves on the facts surrounding the assault. However, when these sources consistently allow the perpetrator of the assault to maintain their identity while automatically reassigning the woman to the “victim” 2 identity, we begin to see how framing plays a part in the presentation of these narratives. One prominent example of this is the case of Stanford University attempted rapist, Brock Turner. The purpose of this research is to analyze the news media headlines that correspond with stories of the sexual assault of “Emily Doe,” a pseudonym chosen by herself as the female that was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner. Using these headlines as content, this research will determine the presence of language regarding “Doe” and Turner. If the sexual assailant’s identity remains, then why do we replace the identity of the women they assault? If there is a difference in the language used to present the identities of Turner and Doe in these headlines, how does this differential framing of the crime impact the perceptions of the audience that consumes this form of media? How society places such weight on the attribution of responsibility in crime can affect the ways that rape myths have become so pervasive in our beliefs. When the victim’s identity is replaced in news headlines and the assailant’s remains, it is easier for consumers of this information to attribute responsibility on the victim. This is how questions and assumptions such as “What were they wearing,” “How much had they drank,” and “She was probably teasing or flirting” become established responses to stories of sexual assault and rape due to the attribution of responsibility to the victim. If societal knowledge and public opinion of the attribution of responsibility decides who is to blame
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