FRAMING SLUTWALK: A COMPARISON BETWEEN NEWSPAPERS AND FEMINIST BLOGS
By
RUIPENG WANG
A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MASS COMMUNICATION
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
2016
© 2016 Ruipeng Wang
To my Mom
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank Dr. Walsh-Childers for her guidance throughout the process. She provided me with steadfast patience and support. I thank Dr. Babanikos and Dr. Chen for their wiliness to share their wisdom with me. I would also like to thank my parents and sister for their love and support. And I thank my friends Shuang Song and Jiman Xu for their caring and encouragement.
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... 4
LIST OF TABLES ...... 7
ABSTRACT ...... 8
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION ...... 10
Third Wave Feminism ...... 12 Sexual Violence and Rape ...... 15 Rape Myths ...... 17 Rape Is a Sexual Act ...... 18 It Is Not Really Rape ...... 20 Victim Blaming ...... 21 Victim characteristics ...... 21 Observer characteristics ...... 23 Consequences of Rape Myths ...... 24
2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 26
Review of Literature ...... 26 Presentations of Rape in the News Media...... 26 Presentations of SlutWalk ...... 30 Review of Framing Theory ...... 33 Overview ...... 37
3 METHODS ...... 38
Sample Selection ...... 38 Coding and Analysis ...... 40 Constant Comparative Method ...... 40 Dedoose ...... 41 Reflexivity Statement ...... 41
4 RESULTS ...... 45
RQ 1: How Did Mainstream Newspapers Frame the SlutWalk Protests over 2011?...... 46 Masculinity ...... 46 Victim Blaming ...... 48 Strategy and Organization ...... 51 RQ2: How Did Feminist Blogs Frame the SlutWalk protests in 2011? ...... 53
5 Effectiveness ...... 54 Individualism ...... 56 Masculinity ...... 57 RQ3: Were There National Variations in Framing of SlutWalk Protests?...... 59 RQ4: Were there differences between newspapers and feminist blogs in the framing of SlutWalk protests? ...... 61
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ...... 66
Study Limitations ...... 66 Presentations of Sexual Violence ...... 66 Presentations of Women’s Movements...... 70 Presentations of SlutWalk ...... 71 Endorsing SlutWalk ...... 71 Opposing SlutWalk ...... 73 Conclusions ...... 73 Suggestions for Journalists and Bloggers ...... 74
LIST OF REFERENCES ...... 77
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...... 91
6 LIST OF TABLES
Table page
3-1 Examples of Excerpts, subthemes, and frames in newspapers...... 43
3-2 Examples of Excerpts, subthemes, and frames in feminist blogs...... 44
4-1 List of articles on SlutWalk found in mainstream newspapers...... 64
4-2 List of articles on SlutWalk found in feminist blogs...... 64
4-3 Frames used in mainstream newspapers...... 65
4-4 Frames used in feminist blogs...... 65
7 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Mass Communication
FRAMING SLUTWALK: A COMPARISON BETWEEN NEWSPAPERS AND FEMINIST BLOGS
By
Ruipeng Wang
August 2016
Chair: Kim Walsh-Childers Major: Mass Communication
Since its inception in April 2011, SlutWalk has evolved from a Toronto-based march against sexual violence and victim blaming to a global movement spanning more than 40 countries. This thesis describes a study of the framing of this movement from
February 17, 2011, through December 31, 2011, in both mainstream newspapers and feminist blogs in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The study revealed some differences and similarities in major frames between newspapers and feminist blogs. The mainstream newspapers primarily used masculinity and victim-blaming frames, while the feminist blogs focused more on the masculinity and individualism frames. Therefore, the mainstream newspapers framed SlutWalk as a feminist movement aiming to challenge masculinity and victim blaming, while the feminist media discussed the individualist values of SlutWalk and how that affected the effectiveness of the movement.
The only frame that came out in both types of media was that of masculinity and whether SlutWalk challenged or remained consistent with masculine values. The newspaper articles were more likely to frame SlutWalk as a protest challenging
8 patriarchy and masculinity, while the feminist blog posts were more likely to critique
SlutWalk as conforming to masculine values rather than challenging them.
9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
In January 2011, during a campus safety talk, Toronto Police Officer Constable
Michael Sanguinetti told a group of York University students that women who do not want to be assaulted should avoid dressing like sluts (Kwan, 2011). Though his intention might have been to protect female students, his words reflected the rape myth that victims are responsible for assaults if they are dressed provocatively. After the story first broke on Excalibur, York University’s community newspaper, two feminist activists in Toronto - Heather Jarvis and Sonya Barnett – were angered by Sanguinetti’s comments and staged the first SlutWalk protest on April 3, 2011.
Before the first protest took place, the movement went viral online. It became the subject of discussion on Facebook and Twitter, inspiring social media conversations about rape and victim blaming. Meanwhile, it received attention from the feminist blogosphere, including Rabble.ca, Jezebel and Feministing (McNicol, 2012). By the end of 2011, SlutWalks had been staged in more than 200 cities and 40 countries (Carr,
2013). In 2016, advocates continued to organize SlutWalks in several major cities, including London, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Toronto.
Women who participate in SlutWalk usually dress in short skirts, fishnet hose, and other items traditionally associated with the sexualization of female bodies. The movement is centered around preventing rape and sexual violence against women; it also advocates freedom of individual choice for women, especially the freedom to dress and act however women choose. Although it originated in social media, the protest not only opened up discussions on social media platforms but also has received publicity from mainstream news media (Carr, 2013).
10 Although research has been done on news media’s framing of the women’s movement (Ashley & Olson, 1998; Barnett, 2005; Baylor, 1996; Lind & Salo, 2002;
Mendes, 2011; Rohlinger, 2002), little research has compared differences in framing of the women’s movement between the mainstream news media and the feminist blogosphere. Given that feminist bloggers and mainstream media have different audiences, they may send conflicting messages. Analyzing both provides a more accurate view of the messages readers receive.
This study focuses on coverage of SlutWalk in both mainstream news and the blogosphere across three nations (Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States) in which SlutWalks were organized during 2011. It seeks to answer the following research questions:
1. How did mainstream newspapers frame the SlutWalk protests? 2. How did feminist bloggers frame the SlutWalk protests? 3. Were there cross-national variations in the framing of SlutWalk protests? 4. Were there differences between newspapers and feminist blogs in the framing of SlutWalk protests?
The answers to the study are important for three reasons. First, the statistics on rape are staggering, although the numbers vary across and even within the three countries included in this study. What may be more astounding is the seriousness of physical and psychological problems sexual assault victims suffer, sometimes for life.
But despite its damage, the reporting rate for rape remains relatively low, which impedes the prosecution and conviction of those who commit the crimes (Brennan &
Taylor-Butts, 2008).
The second reason for examining news and blogosphere coverage of SlutWalk protests is that rape myth acceptance is a significant potential influence on sexual
11 assault (Franiuk & Vandello, 2008). SlutWalk’s premise is to challenge rape myths, which not only can affect individuals’ attitudes toward rape, rapists and victims (Soothill,
1991), but also may influence audience behaviors and policy and legal systems
(Malamuth & Briere, 1986; Emmers-Sommer, Pauley, Hanzal, & Triplett, 2006).
Last, SlutWalk’s association with social media reflects an emerging protest culture. As a key characteristic of Third Wave feminism, online activism is a major form of political participation (Schuster, 2013). Therefore, it is important to explore how feminist activists have harnessed social media to disseminate their thoughts and mobilize people.
This study applies framing theory to investigate the research questions, using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1965). Chapter 2 reviews the literature on news coverage of rape and feminist activism. It also reviews framing theory and its application to these topics. Chapter 3 describes the methods to be used, including the selection of samples and data analysis procedures. First, however, the remainder of this chapter discusses the concept of Third Wave feminism, the prevalence of rape, and common rape myths.
Third Wave Feminism
Discourse on SlutWalk is closely connected with Third Wave feminism due to its emphasis on freedom of individual choice for women and its engagement with social media. Third Wave Feminism, just as its name implies, is generally understood as the third generation of feminist resistance (after the First and Second waves). Baumgardner and Richards (2000) noted that the First Wave feminists fought for the right to vote and to establish the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), while the Second Wave focused on
12 winning reproductive freedom and job equality and reducing street harassment, taking the movement from politics into women’s personal lives.
First Wave feminists responded to women’s exclusion from political, social and public life; their objective was to “extend the social contract so that it included political citizenship for women” (Gillis, Howie, & Munford, 2004, p.1). This era began in approximately the 1850s and extended to the 1920s. Within the context of legal and political emancipation, Second Wave feminism, which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, focused on issues central to women’s lives: “reproduction, mothering, sexual violence, expressions of sexuality, and domestic labor” (Gillis, Howie, & Munford, 2004, p.1).
However, these issues seemed not to be equally applicable for all women. This elusive category of “women” raised questions about identity and unity, especially from women of color and those from non-Western countries. Emerging from these controversies in the 1990s, Third Wave feminist activism is still working on the leftover goals of the
Second Wave, but in different ways (Baumgardner & Richards, 2000).
Mowles (2008) pointed out two key characteristics identifying Third Wave feminism. First is the tolerance for different focuses and objectives for women with different identities. Genz and Brabon (2009) pointed out that the Third Wave activists have incorporated studies from post-colonial and black feminist perspectives and have argued that other issues, such as race, feed into gender inequality. The issues women face, therefore, are not unified for all women. Mowles (2008) saw Third Wave Feminism as “spurring diverse movements” (p.31). Third Wave feminism does not try to simplify problems among different social groups and does not have a uniformly defined
13 presence but instead is made up of “hubs that are unique to its generation”
(Baumgardner & Richards, 2000, p.79).
Those “hubs” are increasingly seen to exist or occur online as the Internet becomes more embedded in everyday life. Engagement with digital media is the second key characteristic defining Third Wave feminism (Keller, 2013). Unlike the Second
Wave, the Third Wave has deflected criticism for being too academic and inaccessible by shifting the feminist agenda to digital media (Mowles, 2008). There has been considerable scholarly attention to this trend, with arguments mainly centered on the uses of blogs and social networking sites to facilitate social movements. Keller (2013) argued that blogs should be seen as important sites for feminist activism because they arouse interest and encourage participation. Yet many scholars have questioned the role of digital media in social movements. For example, Lim (2013) identified nuanced approaches to the uses of social networking sites in Indonesia and found that messages were more broadly disseminated only when they required less deliberation, which he believed was not helpful for bringing radical social changes. Henry (2004) refuted this interpretation by saying that the aim of online feminist activism has never been forming a “large-scale social justice movement” (p.43) or changing legislative and governmental policies; instead, she argued, the emphasis should be placed on raising feminist consciousness.
From Henry’s (2004) perspective, the importance of digital media in raising feminist consciousness is increasingly harder to ignore. A number of feminist blogs, including Feministing, Jezebel, and Feminist Current, have become very successful. For example, Jezebel has more than 264,000 followers on Twitter to date (Jezebel Twitter,
14 2016). These online activism sites also became an important source of traditional news media, such that the mainstream media are not only covering marches but increasingly report more on feminist campaigns online (Mendes, 2015). Feminist blogs, standing at the center of online activism and Third Wave Feminist identity, helped to cultivate feminist identities and to disseminate feminist thoughts and critiques (Rentschler, 2014).
In relation to SlutWalk, however, these critiques only make sense in the context of the ways sexual violence and rape myths (key issues highlighted by the movement) are presented in the mainstream news media.
Sexual Violence and Rape
According to the World Health Organization (2002), sexual violence is “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting” (p. 149). It includes rape, sexual assault, forced marriage, forced abortion, female genital mutilation, and human trafficking (World Health Organization, 2002).
Data on sexual violence and rape usually rely on law enforcement data and survey research on victimization (World Health Organization,2002). The statistics are staggering although the numbers vary across and even within the three countries included in this study. In 2014, the police-reported sexual assault rate in Canada was
58.35 per 100,000 population (Government of Canada, 2015). In the United Kingdom, the Office for National Statistics recorded 88,219 sexual assault cases in 2014, which put the estimated sexual violence rate in the United Kingdom at around 136.57 per
100,000 population (based on estimated U.K. population of 64,596,800 in 2014) (Office for National Statistics, 2015).
15 In the United States, there is a discrepancy in rape statistics between police records and victim surveys. A report from the U.S. Justice Department Bureau of
Statistics (Berzofsky, Krebs, Langton, Planty, & Smiley-McDonald, 2013) showed that
210 of every 100,000 females had been raped in 2010. However, in a 2011 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.1% of female respondents (1100 of every 100,000) said that they had been forced to have “sex without consent” in the previous 12 months (Berzofsky, Krebs, Langton, Planty, &
Smiley-McDonald, 2013).
One explanation for this discrepancy may be that rape is one of the least reported crimes. For example, in Canada, authorities estimate that only 12% of sexual assaults were reported to police in 2014 (Government of Canada, 2015). The reporting rate is almost the same in the United Kingdom. According to the British Crime Survey, only 11% of sexual assaults were reported to police (Järvinen, Kail, Miller, & Capital,
2008). In the United States, the reporting rate stands at about 37% (Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 2013). This phenomenon indicates that the prevalence of rape is underestimated based on police report statistics, and the actual rape rates may be much higher than the accumulated data suggest.
Victims of sexual assaults are not likely to report the incidents to the police because of the following reasons: the victims felt that it was not important enough; they felt that it was personal matter; they thought that police would not do anything to help; they were afraid of reprisal (Brennan & Taylor-Butts, 2008; Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2013). Another variable in rape reporting rates is the victim’s relationship with the attacker. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2003), when the attacker is
16 a stranger, 46 to 66 percent of sexual assaults are reported. However, when the offender is a friend, acquaintance, or intimate partner, the report rate is between 8 to 14 percent.
Individuals who have experienced sexual assaults and rape may suffer from various physical, mental, and social problems. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (2013), long-term physical problems resulting from rape include chronic pain, genital injuries, increased risks of sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer. Rape also can affect victims’ mental health, with both immediate and long-term effects. Immediate impacts on victims include fear, shock, anxiety, and shame
(White House Council, 2014). A report from the World Health Organization (2002) suggested that the occurrence of psychological disorders was 33% in women with a history of sexual violence, compared to 6% in women without such history. Women who have suffered from sexual violence are at higher risk of developing eating disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and even suicidal behaviors. Sexual violence also has a profound impact on victims’ social well-being; they may be shunned by their families and friends (WHO, 2002).
These phenomena show the need to dispel some popular myths around rape, because these myths may discourage many victims from reporting sexual assaults as crimes and aggravate their trauma.
Rape Myths
Burt (1980) first defined rape myths as “prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs, prejudices or stereotypes about rape, rapists, and rape victims” (p. 217). Lonsway and
Fitzgerald (1994) argued that Burt’s definition is not articulated thoroughly enough to serve as a definition. They defined rape myths as “attitudes and beliefs that are
17 generally false but are widely and persistently held, and that serve to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women” (1994, p.134).
Payne, Lonsway, and Fitzgerald (1999) further categorized rape myths into seven domains: 1) “she asked for it”; 2) “it wasn’t really rape”; 3) “he didn’t mean to”; 4)
“she wanted it”; 5) “she lied”; 6) “rape is a trivial event”; 7) “rape is a deviant event” (p.
37). These rape myths reflect three major misconceptions about rape.
Rape Is a Sexual Act
A central assumption in this myth is that the behavior of rapists is motivated by physiological/sexual need, which indicates that it is subconscious and uncontrollable
(“he didn’t mean to”). Research, however, suggest that rapists often have clear and deliberate goals other than sexual gratification (Buss, 2009; Scully & Marolla, 1985;
Wood, 2006).
As early as the 1970s, rape has been an increasingly politicized issue. Feminists began to redefine rape from a sexual crime to a crime of violence and control, arguing that rape is a tool men use to maintain the gendered hierarchy (Bevacqua, 2001).
American feminist Susan Brownmiller was one of the first to introduce the idea that sex was not the primary motivation for rape. In Against Our Will (1975), she identified various types of rape in history and addressed the nonsexual factors (power, control, anger) in rape. Brownmiller’s view was so influential that it was taken up by researchers in a number of fields, such as criminology, psychology, feminist studies, etc. and became the central theme of almost every study relating to rape (Palmer, 1988).
Rape may result in sexual gratification, but the underlying purpose is the expression of power and dominance. Scully and Marolla (1985) interviewed 114 convicted rapists and confirmed that gaining sexual access is not the driving force
18 behind sexual assault (p. 254). Instead, rape serves a weapon of control, which can be used to punish or humiliate or to seek privilege (Scully & Marolla, 1985).
In times of conflict, rape is often a “planned and targeted policy” (Buss, 2009) and is used as a weapon of war. Wood (2006) identified various forms of rape and their associated motivations across several war settings. For example, during World War II,
Soviet soldiers were ordered to keep in mind the damage that had been wrought by the
German military, and German women were particularly sexually targeted among all the countries the Soviets invaded (Wood, 2006). In this case, rape was used to demoralize and to exact revenge. Rape was also used as a means of humiliation and ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War. Buss (2009) investigated the Rwanda Tribunal’s record on prosecuting rapes committed during the conflict between the country’s Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority; he noted that rape as an instrument of genocide in this conflict has received legal recognition. The studies all suggest that rape during wartime is not incidental but rather is carried out systematically.
Even in dating contexts, in which rape seems to be triggered by sex, the motivation most often is more than just sexual gratification. Scully and Marolla (1985) claim that cultural values emphasizing men’s entitlement to women’s bodies contribute to the prevalence of date rapes in many societies. This sense of entitlement is so ingrained that men do not recognize their act as rape in many cases. Rapaport and
Burkhart (1984) confirmed this view through a survey involved 190 male college students. They found that endorsement of using force as a viable way to obtain sexual gratification was an important predictor of sexually coercive behaviors.
19 It Is Not Really Rape
This myth suggests that “real rape” involves “gang rapists, men who use or threaten to use deadly weapons, and, most importantly, strangers” (Boux & Daum,
2015, p.157). This belief reinforces the myth that “rape is a deviant event.” In reality, rape is very common and is most likely to occur when victims and rapists know each other. As noted previously, 11 of every 1,000 women in a 2010 survey said that they had been forced to have “sex without consent” in 2010 (Berzofsky, Krebs, Langton,
Planty, & Smiley-McDonald, 2013). Also, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 51% of women had been raped by a current or former intimate partner, and another 41% had been raped by an acquaintance; only 14% of victims were raped by strangers (White House Council, 2014). The percentages total more than 100% because some woman had been raped more than once in different relationships. Rapes that fall outside of the “real rape” stereotype often are considered trivial. “Trivial rape,” also called “simple rape” (Boux & Daum, 2015) or “normal rape”
(Estrich,1987), often involves “someone the woman knows and who does not use a weapon or significant physical force against her. In a simple rape, a woman can be subjected to sex without her consent and in the face of her protests." (Boux & Daum,
2015, p.157). Differentiating “real rape” and “normal rape,” Estrich (1987) argued, normalizes other versions of rape and minimizes these experiences, rather than presenting them as serious crimes. However, regardless of the perpetrator, rape has equally negative outcomes for victims. When the attacker is an intimate partner or acquaintance, victims may feel a sense of betrayal and distrust and also may be at higher risk of repeat victimization (White House Council, 2014). Differentiating between
“real rape” and “simple rape” makes the most commonly occurring rapes seem trivial
20 and normal, even acceptable, which may discourage many victims from reporting these rapes as crimes.
Victim Blaming
Victim blaming is one of the most commonly proposed types of rape myths
(Suarez & Gadalla, 2010). As the term suggests, victim blaming refers to the tendency to shift blame from perpetrators to victims (Suarez & Gadalla, 2010). Ben-David and
Schneider (2005) further proposed that victim blaming is represented in three ways: victim masochism (“she wanted it”), victim precipitation (“she asked for it”), and victim fabrication (“she lied”). Victim blaming often exacerbates the negative social reactions people hold toward rape victims, even though the victims have been the targets for assault (Frese, Moya, & Megías, 2004).
The reasons individuals blame victims have been examined in various ways.
Grubb and Harrower (2008) concluded that two major approaches have dominated the study of victim blaming in rape cases — these focused on victim characteristics and those focused on observer characteristics. It should be noted that most of the studies reviewed investigated both the role of victim and observer characteristics in explaining victim blaming.
Victim characteristics
The first approach asks which victim characteristics are most often associated with victim blaming. Whatley (1996) reviewed experimental studies on rape victim blaming from 1973 through 1995 and concluded that four victim characteristics affect victim blaming: the victim’s physical attractiveness, the revealingness of the victim’s clothing, the victim’s character, and the degree of acquaintance between the victim and her attacker.
21 Gerdes, Dammann and Heilig (1988) found an inverse relationship between the victim’s physical attractiveness and victim blaming. They conducted an experiment with
64 college students who were assigned to read articles about rape accompanied by the victims’ pictures. They found that students tended to hold unattractive victims more accountable for the rape. In another similar experiment, however, research showed that male students tended to think attractive women were more responsible for the rape
(McCaul, Veltum, Boyechko, & Crawford, 1990).
The latter research finding may be linked with victims’ dress. Whatley and Riggo
(1993) found that “suggestively” dressed rape victims were viewed as more physically attractive than “conservatively” dressed victims. Further, individuals tend to blame victims when they were dressed provocatively. Edmonds and Cahoon (1986) showed college students two slides of a female model wearing either provocative or conservative clothes; the students then answered a set of questions regarding the likelihood of the female model being raped. The results showed that the models wearing sexier clothes were thought to be more likely to be raped and held more accountable for the rape.
Research on the effect of the relationship between the victim and the rapist also has produced inconsistent results. Quackenbush (1989) studied rape perceptions from a male perspective. He recruited 120 male students and had them watch two rape vignettes, an acquaintance version and a stranger version. He found that male students tended to express less sympathy and assign more responsibility to the acquainted victim. Bolt and Caswell (1996), however, demonstrated that unacquainted victims were held more accountable. They explained that the perceived carelessness of the victim in
22 a stranger rape scenario led to this perception. The different findings among these studies may stem from the different rape scenarios and different research subjects involved.
The key component of these misconceptions is that the idea that the victim provokes sexual assault and rape. This can be easily refuted, considering the age range of victims. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(Walters, Chen, & Breiding, 2013) estimated that 12.3% of female victims and 27.8% male victims were first raped before they reached the age of 10.
Observer characteristics
Regardless of the victim’s attributes, observer characteristics also have been found to influence the perception of rape victims. The second approach Grubb and
Harrower (2008) proposed, therefore, focuses on observer characteristics. An abundance of research has investigated individual’s attitudes toward rape, using a variety of measurements. Burt’s (1980) Rape Myths Acceptance Scale (RMA) is the most widely used one. This measurement includes 19 items measured using a 7- point
Likert format. Field’s (1978) Attitudes Towards Rape Scale (ATR) is another widely used measure of rape myth acceptance. The ATR consists of 32 items, all of which are presented in 6-point Likert format. The eight major factors of the ATR measure attitudes toward women’s responsibility in rape cases; the relationship between sex and rape; punishment for rapists; perceived role of women in causing rape; the mental well-being of rapists; control as a motivation for rape; perceptions of women who have been raped; and beliefs about women’s behavior during rape. Other measurements include the
Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMAS) (Payne et al., 1999), and the Acceptance
23 of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression Scale (AMMSA) (Gerger, Kley, Bohner &
Siebler, 2007).
In addition to observers’ attitudes toward rape (Burt, 1980; Feild, 1978), characteristics that have been found to influence victim perceptions include attitudes toward feminism, beliefs about justice and gender (Kerr & Kurtz, 1977; Krulewitz &
Payne, 1978; Rumsey &Rumsey, 1977).
Krulewitz and Payne (1978) studied the correlation between attitudes toward feminism and victim blaming. They found no significant difference in attribution of blame between feminists and non-feminists. Feminists, however, saw societal factors as influencing the motivation to rape to a greater extent than did non-feminists. In addition,
Rumsey and Rumsey (1977) found that observers’ gender also plays a role in victim blaming. They found that female students were more likely than male students to assign responsibility to rape victims. One attempt to explain this phenomenon is to be found in the “need for control” attribution theory (Gray, Palileo, & Johnson, 1993). They found that women’s negative view of rape victims was associated with the need to distinguish themselves from the victims. Women may feel that they can protect themselves from being raped by avoiding certain behaviors they associate with rape victims, which makes them feel less vulnerable.
Consequences of Rape Myths
Rape myths have several negative consequences for the perpetuation of sexual violence. First, individuals who endorse rape myths are less likely to identify rape, even when an individual’s behaviors meet the legal definition of rape. For example, Fischer
(1986) conducted a survey among 823 college students on their attitudes toward forcible date rape. The results showed that uncertainty about what constitutes rape is
24 associated with endorsement of forcible date rape. Muehlenhard and MacNaughton
(1988) investigated the attitudes of women who believed that rape victims are partially responsible for rape. In this study, 206 female undergraduates were identified as low, medium and high on rape myth acceptance. After reading two reports about date rape, women who expressed high rape myth acceptance were more likely to blame victims.
Second, women who endorse rape myths are more vulnerable to being coerced into having sex (Muehlenhard & MacNaughton,1988). They may have difficulty refusing unreasonable requests and feel guilty in the aftermath of sexual coercion.
Third, men who are primed with rape myths tend to be more likely to sexually assault women. Bohner, Jarvis, Eyssel, and Siebler (2005) conducted an experiment among 150 male students from Bielefeld University in Germany and found that the rape myth acceptance was associated with past sexual coercion. In another longitudinal study involving 851 adolescent males, Lanier (2001) found that rape myth acceptance predicted initiation of forced sex; she concluded that changing attitudes towards rape myths may reduce the likelihood of forced sex.
Last, rape myth acceptance is associated with shorter sentences and lower rape prosecution and conviction rates. Feild (1978) analyzed data on 896 citizens who served as mock jurors and found that jurors’ perception of rape was the most important predictor of their decisions in rape trials. The results also demonstrate that the more jurors accept rape myths, the shorter the sentences they recommend. In the next chapter, the author reviews the literature on news coverage of sexual violence and feminist activism.
25 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter 2 provides a review of previous research relating to the presentation of rape in the news media, especially newspapers, and their influence on audience behaviors and social policies. In addition, the chapter discusses framing theory, focusing on how rape and women’s movements are presented in the media, and how the interplay of conflicting frames between activists and the news media influences audience’s understanding of women’s movements.
Review of Literature
Presentations of Rape in the News Media
News media represent a key arena through which rape is presented to the public and, therefore, they help shape public understanding of rape (Kitzinger, 2009). Although media coverage makes a critical contribution to advancing and transforming public discussion, Kitzinger (2009) argued that rape coverage in the news media has received criticisms from feminists. Critical feminists have argued that news coverage tends to normalize some rape myths, such as stranger danger and victim blaming, and a range of areas are open to criticism. The first area of research focuses on the distorted selection of stories about rape. The news media favor less commonly occurring rape cases, such as gang rapes and stranger rapes (Dowler, 2006). This is influenced by the stranger rape myth.
Second, research has examined the way rape is narrated in the news media, which involves two aspects of rape reporting– victim depictions and rapist depictions.
O’Hara (2012) analyzed newspaper reports about three rape cases, one from the
United Kingdom and two from the United States. They represent three types of rape
26 cases often appearing in newspapers – gang rape, stranger rape, and serial date rape.
She argued that the majority of articles employed rape myths. In the date rape case, the majority of articles overlooked the harm to the victim, which may foster victim blaming.
In the stranger rape case in the United Kingdom, the news media tended to portray the attacker as a deviant sociopath, while in the gang rape case, both myths appeared.
Portrayals of certain victim behaviors may also lead to victim blaming. Meyer
(2010) used a case study of the Daily Mail to examine news coverage of rapes involving alcohol; the study revealed that Daily Mail articles often suggested a link between rape and binge drinking. She argued that this link might impair the perceived trustworthiness of victims’ statements and lead the audience to assign responsibility for the assault to victims. In other cases, reporting the fact that victims did not attempt to resist their rapists may also result in blaming victims (Carter, 1998).
Mason and Monckton-Smith (2008) similarly argued that perpetrators are depicted as “perverted” or mentally ill, which distances them from ordinary men. Bonnes
(2013) also argued that news media sometimes depicted perpetrators as individuals who have contributed a lot to the community or as someone who has been a good friend to the victim. These articles may create positive impressions of rapists and suggest that the crimes they committed were justified. To sum up, the way news media report rape may lead the audience to blame victims and sympathize with their attackers
(Bonnes, 2013).
The last area of research on news coverage of rape highlights the lack of media attention to social structures, such as law, class, race, and gender, that contribute to the problem (Worthington, 2008). Carter (1998) noted that news media often are more
27 interested in describing lurid details of specific rape cases rather than discussing what causes rape. Disseminating details of the assaults not only distracts audience attention from the issue but also could be a contributor to victims’ traumatic experience (The
White House, 2014). Dowler (2006) also pointed out that media attention to isolated cases may suggest to the audience that rape is sporadic rather than structurally generated.
By presenting stories of violence against women as separate isolated events, the news media reinforces the idea that the violence was an isolated pathology or deviance. Maintaining this mirage of this individual pathology, the news media denies the social roots of violence against women and absolves the larger society of any obligation to end it. (Carll, 2003, p.1603)
These omissions in traditional news coverage of rape can fuel myths about rape, rapists, and rape victims (Burt, 1980). This is problematic because the news media, as an important channel for transmitting messages, can affect public opinion (Soothill,
1991), audience behaviors (Malamuth & Briere, 1986), and policy and legal system decisions (Emmers-Sommer, Pauley, Hanzal, & Triplett, 2006).
An abundance of research has demonstrated how exposure to rape myths in the news media affect audience attitudes toward rape, rapists, and rape victims. Franiuk,
Seefelt, Cepress, and Vandello’s (2008) research showed the impact of framing techniques in the Kobe Bryant case. On July 1, 2003, a hotel employee reported that
Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant had sexually assaulted her. On
September 1, 2004, the charge against Kobe Bryant was dropped because the victim had decided not to testify. In the interim, hundreds of articles about the Bryant case were published in the newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Franiuk, Seefelt,
Cepress, and Vandello (2008) first selected 156 news articles from 76 different online
28 sources and then coded and categorized them as endorsing rape myths or challenging rape myths. They then exposed 62 undergraduate students to articles about the case and measured their attitudes toward Bryant’s guilt before and after reading the articles.
The results showed that after reading articles challenging rape myths, subjects tended to believe Bryant was guilty; however, those who were exposed to articles endorsing rape myths were more likely to side with the accused.
When discussing news media effects on audience behaviors, scholars posit two paths, one direct and one indirect. Scholars who endorse direct impact believe that the news media’s specific descriptions lead to certain actions. The indirect impact model, however, does not posit a linear cause-effect relationship between media exposure and audience behaviors, but a more complex association between media portrayals and behavior. Malamuth and Briere (1986) presented an indirect model of media effects on
“antisocial behavior against women” (p.78). They categorized factors included in the model into originating variables, intermediate variables, and situational variables.
Originating variables include cultural forces (e.g. the media) and individual experiences.
The model suggests that cultural forces such as mass media may affect individuals’ intermediate responses, such as “thought patterns (attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, scripts), sexual arousal, motivations, emotions, and personality characteristics” (p.77).
These responses, under certain circumstances (situational variables), can eventually influence individuals’ aggressive behaviors. The model also indicates that there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between these variables. For example, aggressive behaviors against women may produce rape-supportive attitudes, which may result in further sexual aggression.
29 Portrayals of rape in the news media also find their way into social policies.
Levenson and D’Amour (2007) reviewed current sexual offender policies, including sex offender registration requirements, requirements for community notification of sex offenders (Megan’s Law), residence restrictions, etc., and concluded that these policies are mostly based on the premise of “stranger danger.” They argued that this policy focus stems in part from the extraordinary media attention to stranger rape.
In summary, mainstream news media tend to reproduce certain rape myths, producing an adverse impact on women’s lives. Situated within the context of Third
Wave feminism, SlutWalk activists challenged these common rape myths and critiqued the way traditional news media portrayed rape cases through feminist blogs. The concept of Third Wave feminism is useful in clarifying SlutWalk activists’ aspirations for the movement, which can explain the motivation behind their framing of the movement.
Presentations of SlutWalk
Scholars have already done research on several aspects of the SlutWalk movement, with most of the studies focused on the campaign’s strategy and emancipatory potential. For example, O’Keefe (2011) questioned the effectiveness of using the word “slut” as a way to empower women. She argued that this strategy of reclaiming negative terms has done little to promote an equality agenda; instead,
“women should find ways to create their own authentic sexuality, outside of male- defined terms like sluts” (p.17). Kapur (2012) expressed a more moderate view of
SlutWalk’s potential for feminist advocacy. She pointed out that although SlutWalk would not bring immediate and revolutionary change to victim blaming and gender inequality, the movement served a consciousness-raising function, providing an important challenge to patriarchy that eventually would advance feminist politics. Borah
30 and Nandi (2012) praised the movement’s use of the word “slut,” arguing that SlutWalk had successfully reclaimed the word. They concluded that the word “slut” not only draws public attention but also encapsulates the politics of challenging sexual norms. Dow and
Wood (2014) concluded that the controversy around SlutWalk’s tactics and potential was mainly rooted in a historical dispute about the proper focus for feminist politics and the most achievable routes to social change.
Other scholars have studied SlutWalk in different cultures. Carr (2013) reviewed the history of feminist movements and situated SlutWalk in the Third Wave. She discussed how SlutWalk, like other Third Wave movements, universalized women’s experiences and encouraged women from different cultures to participate in activism together. Gwynne (2013) specifically studied SlutWalk in Singapore by analyzing articles and public response from three sources: the Singapore version of Yahoo news, the feminist blog Aware, and a citizen journalism website, Stomp. She identified several ways SlutWalk’s organizers had engaged participants and modified the protests to adapt to local legislative prohibitions. The public response reflected both public support for the movement and some typical rape myths.
Other studies of the movement have focused on the ways people participated in
SlutWalk and how SlutWalk influenced their personal lives. For example, Ringrose and
Renold (2012) conducted a qualitative study and analyzed focus group data from teenage girls who participated in SlutWalk in the United Kingdom. Their findings suggested that girls experienced ambivalent attitudes toward SlutWalk. On the one hand, they were told in the protest that they should be proud to call themselves “sluts,” while on the other hand, they were prohibited from using the word at school.
31 Some scholars have examined how SlutWalk was presented in the news media.
Darmon (2014) analyzed blog posts on the SlutWalk Toronto website and articles from
The Guardian and The Telegraph and showed that in the transfer from blogs to mass media, messages were reframed, and the movement’s political underpinnings were obscured. In her thesis, McNicol (2012) found that the Canadian news media’s positive portrayals of SlutWalk affirmed it as a serious political movement, but she argued that their presentation was a “watered-down version of feminism and decontextualized understanding of sexual violence” (p. 11). Through her analysis of 17 Canadian newspapers, McNicol (2012) concluded that the news media tended to construct sexual violence as a problem caused by personal carelessness, rather than by a “rape culture that normalizes misogyny and men’s violence against women” (p. 55).
Mendes (2015) included both the mainstream media and feminist blogs when examining representations of SlutWalk in eight countries (Australia, Canada, India, New
Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States) between
2011 and 2014. Because her primary purpose was to study how SlutWalk was organized across the world, the frame analysis served as a simple frequency analysis to support the analysis of interviews with SlutWalk organizers. This frame analysis did not compare frames in the mainstream media and the feminist blogosphere directly.
Instead, it employed the same frames. She found two frames – supportive and opposed.
It is worth a note, though, that the format and content of feminist blogs are very different from mainstream media articles. Feminist blogs have more diverse frames and use images and hyperlinks more often (Menes, 2015).
32 Review of Framing Theory
Framing theory is useful in understanding how SlutWalk was presented. It is also adopted as a way of explaining how the frames conflicted between activists and the news media regarding the understanding of SlutWalk and women’s movements.
Framing theory is widely used by scholars in a variety of fields and has been productive in research examining social movements. Goffman (1974) identified frames as
“schemata of interpretation” that individuals use to “locate, perceive, identify and label” events happening in their lives and the world at large (p.21). Frames render occurrences meaningful and influence our experiences and actions. The process of framing involves selection and salience (Entman,1993). He stated
To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described. (p. 52)
In the realm of social moments, frames also function to compress and interpret aspects of the world around us, but with the explicit intention “to mobilize potential adherents and constituents, to garner bystander support, and to demobilize antagonists”
(Snow & Benford, 2000, p.614). Frames in social movements also “are not merely aggregations of individual attitudes and perceptions but also the outcome of negotiating shared meanings” (Gamson, 1992, p.111). In sum, social movement frames work toward the goal of creating consensus and action mobilization (Klandermans, 1984).
To pursue these goals, social movement frames are often structured to identify problems, attribute responsibility, propose possible solutions and encourage others to act. Benford and Snow (2000) referred to these tasks as core framing tasks that consist of three parts: diagnostic framing, prognostic framing, and motivational framing (p.615).
33 A typical diagnostic frame is the injustice frame (Gamson, 1992), which defines authority as unjust and amplifies victimization caused by the unjust authority. Prognostic framing includes refutations of opponents’ logic and solutions, as well as explanation and advocacy of the movement’s own explanations and proposed solutions (Benford &
Snow, 2000). Motivational framing “provides a ‘call to arms’ or rationale for engaging in ameliorative collective action, including the construction of appropriate vocabularies of motive” (Benford & Snow, 2000, p.617).
These core framing tasks require the participation of the news media (Gamson &
Wolfsfeld, 1993) because news provides direct access to a mass audience. Scholars have applied framing theory to analyze media representations of feminism and women’s movements. Ashley and Olson (1998) analyzed framing techniques found in the New
York Times, Time, and Newsweek’s coverage of women’s movements from 1966 to
1986. They identified four frames: importance, illegitimacy, deviance, and focus on events (rather than issues) when analyzing news articles. The results showed that feminists were considered less important and legitimate than anti-feminists. In addition, coverage of feminists included more negative framing techniques, including reports of women’s appearance, use of quotation marks around words like “liberation,” and emphasizing internal conflicts within the movement. Mendes (2011) analyzed women’s movements of the same period as presented in the Times, the Chicago Tribune, the
New York Times, and the Daily Mirror. She found three major frames in the coverage: supportive, oppressive and controversial (p.93). The most common frame was the one that supported the movement, but even within these frames, the coverage still included patriarchal discourse that de-legitimized women’s movements. A more recent study of
34 35,000 hours of news content on ABC, CNN, PBS, and NPR news identified five frames for feminism: demonization, personalization and trivialization, goals of the movement, victimization, agency, and sites of struggle (Lind & Salo, 2002). They found that the news media tend to distance feminists from ordinary women while associating the goals of movements specifically with feminists, weakening the link between women and the movement and impairing the potential of the movement.
Lind and Salo (2002) argued that “the media ought to be seen as a site on which various social groups, institutions, and ideologies struggle over the definition and construction of social reality” (p. 213). The framing of activists and the news media represent such struggles. Though activists play a major role in framing the movement by engaging “in the production and maintenance of meanings for constituents, antagonists, and bystanders or observers” (Benford & Snow, 2000, p.613), news media also apply their own frames to the movements. Norris (1997) further noted that “the battle over news frames is itself a political process” (1997, p.9).
When the essential meanings of frames conflict, the frames preferred by the women’s movement tend to lose. The media can reach the audience on a large scale, and according to Tuchman (1973), media represent the most powerful social actors when it comes to producing and mobilizing social meanings. Also, “unfavorable media coverage of a movement discourages involvement by those ordinary citizens who support the initiative but remain outside its activities; these potential recruits may not be able to tell that they are a part of a majority” (Entman & Rojecki, 1993, p.155). Benford and Snow argued that “social movement activists rarely exercise much control over the
‘stories’ media organizations choose to cover” (2000, p.626).
35 This view has recently been challenged, particularly because of the emergence of digital media and increasingly empowered social movement organizations. Social movement organizations today are seeking effective ways to convey their messages by building their own channels. This is shown in a framing analysis of news coverage of the
National Organization for Women (NOW). Barnett (2005) analyzed 100 news releases on NOW’s website from 1995 to 2003 and found that NOW associated itself with three major frames: protection of women’s rights (Vigilance), unity with other endorsing organizations (Unity), and deviance from mainstream news media (Deviance). The findings showed that NOW used framing not only to convey the organization’s messages but also as a way to challenge mainstream media frames. Meanwhile, social movement organizations also cooperate with the press to achieve their goals. Rohlinger
(2002) examined how NOW got media coverage of the abortion debate from a public relations perspective. She noted that NOW gained media coverage on such a controversial topic by prioritizing media coverage as its organizational goal and creating networks with mainstream media personnel.
“Movements and media are both in the business of interpreting events” (Gamson
& Wolfsfeld, 1993, p.117). Framing theory is useful in this study because it shows the process of producing and mobilizing messages about the SlutWalk movement. By analyzing framing techniques in similar ways to the studies cited above, this study will investigate how SlutWalk was framed by the news media and movement activists.
These findings are significant because frames constructed by mainstream media and movement activists are interactive and are crucial in shaping public understandings.
36 Overview
This chapter has presented a summary of key academic literature relevant to this study, including news media representations of rape and SlutWalk and their influence on society. Three major themes related to rape and rape myths emerge from the literature. First, the media, especially mainstream news media, are influential in shaping our understanding of rape and even altering our actions. Second, rape myths existing in the news media have great potential to influence audience beliefs and behaviors and social policy. Last, news media and feminist activists have employed different frames when reporting on the feminist movement. These two sets of frames sometimes are interactive and are constantly colliding; together, they shape public understandings of the movements.
Previous research has not compared the frames used by mainstream news media and feminist blogs in their coverage of the SlutWalk movement. This study, therefore, is intended to answer the following questions:
1. How did mainstream media frame SlutWalk during 2011, the year the movement began?
2. How did feminist blogs frame SlutWalk during 2011?
3. Were there cross-national variations in the framing of SlutWalk protests?
4. Were there differences between newspapers and feminist blogs in the framing of SlutWalk protests?
The methods to be used in this comparison will be discussed in the next chapter.
37 CHAPTER 3 METHODS
Chapter 3 discusses the method used for the study, a framing analysis of
SlutWalk coverage in both mainstream media and feminist blogs from three countries over the year 2011. Frame analysis focuses on the way a story constructs an event, including tones, themes and so forth (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Because the primary purpose of this study is to examine how SlutWalk was constructed and sometimes challenged, frame analysis is the most appropriate approach for this study.
Sample Selection
This study focused on the framing of SlutWalk in articles from traditional news media and posts from feminist blogs. The news media can reach a mass audience and frequently serve as the opinion leaders for public discourse on a variety of issues.
Though the circulation of newspapers has been dropping, their audience reach has not dwindled (Pew Research Center, 2013). According to the Reuters Digital News Report
2015 (Newman, 2015), though people are able to access more sources of news online, traditional newspaper brands still possess the largest reach. Therefore, traditional news organizations still occupy a position of strength in terms of their audience base and influence.
Feminist blogs were chosen because they are the key sites for reporting on the progress of the women’s movement and can represent movement activists’ views of
SlutWalk. Blogs translate “the writers’ and readers’ feminist identity into a form of online political activism” (Mowles, 2008). A comparison of frames used in mainstream media and feminist blogs is important because it reveals the public and activists’ debate on rape and feminism issues.
38 Articles and blog posts were identified from February 17, 2011, when the
Facebook page for SlutWalk Toronto was created, through December 31, 2011. The year 2011 is an appropriate year for this study because it is the year when SlutWalk and its coverage emerged and also when most articles on SlutWalk were published in both mainstream newspapers and feminist blogs (Mendes, 2015). Three English-speaking countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States) were selected because each hosted SlutWalk marches and each has a tradition of feminist activism (Mendes,
2015).
Two newspapers from each country were selected due to their high circulation rates. The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail were chosen to represent Canadian publications. U.K. selections included The Guardian and The Observer. Last, the New
York Times and The Washington Post were chosen as representatives of U.S. newspapers. All the publications are available through the LexisNexis Academic database. In LexisNexis Academic, the keyword search was set up to identify any article of 400 words or more that included the word “SlutWalk”. This search procedure produced 52 items, including news stories, columns and editorials.
As for the selection of the feminist blogs, two blog sites from each country mentioned above were selected based on the number of visitors and page views.
Canadian blogs included in the analysis are Feminist Current and Rabble.ca. Bad
Reputation and The F-Word were selected for the U.K. blogs. The U.S. blogs included
Feministing and Jezebel. The keyword search was used to identify every post in each blog’s online archive that contained the word “SlutWalk”. Eventually, 42 posts were selected from the six feminist blogs.
39 Coding and Analysis
Constant Comparative Method
The constant comparative method is an approach for developing grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). “The procedures of grounded theory are designed to design a well integrated set of concepts that provides a thorough theoretical explanation of social phenomena under study” (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p.5). According to Kolb
(2012), the constant comparative method is used “to develop concepts from data by coding and analyzing at the same time” (p.83). The constant comparative method consists of four stages: “(1) comparing incidents applicable to each category, (2) integrating categories and their properties, (3) delimiting the theory, and (4) writing the theory” (Glaser & Strauss, 1965, p.5). Strauss and Corbin (2010) referred to this process of analyzing data as coding and identified three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The first stage involves continually exploring and coding various aspects of the data. In the next step, the researcher finds connections among codes built in the first stage and reorganizes them to relate them to larger categories. In the final phase, the researcher identifies a core category and relates it to other categories.
The constant comparative method is a continual process of collecting, refining, and categorizing the data. This method has been applied to framing analysis of news media content. For example, Andsager and Powers (2001) used this method to analyze how women’s magazines framed breast cancer and breast implants from 1990 to 1997.
In a more recent study, Walsh-Childers and Braddock (2014) also employed the constant comparative method to examine the framing of medical overtreatment in U.S. newspapers from 2007 to 2010.
40 Dedoose
After initial coding was completed, such that preliminary categories were identified, all newspaper items and blog posts were uploaded to Dedoose, a web-based data analysis application for qualitative and mixed-methods research. The tool allows users to review text content, highlight excerpts and apply codes and descriptors to them. Dedoose organizes the data and supplies aggregate views of codes and descriptors. Using Dedoose, data are analyzed using a grounded theory approach.
During the initial open coding, articles were analyzed to identify and code key concepts in the data. Descriptors of a list of necessary information about articles such as nation, source, date, etc. were also attached to each item in this step. The second phase of analysis involved reviewing codes and identifying themes that connected the initially identified concepts together. Initial codes that shared common elements were aggregated into larger themes, which will be discussed in the next chapter. Finally, these themes were generalized to broader frames. Table 3-1 and Table 3-2 illustrate use of the constant comparative method to select and analyze excerpts from articles and to create subthemes and frames.
Reflexivity Statement
My interest in this research topic started from the news of a SlutWalk London protest in 2011 on Weibo; this was the moment when rape culture and feminist rhetoric entered my range of vocabulary and thought. The idea evolved into my undergraduate thesis in 2014, which focused on rape and victimized women in Thomas Hardy’s literary works. The late-Victorian poet and novelist portrayed victimized women as heroic characters and challenged the concept of victim blaming and rape culture.
41 A century and a half after Hardy’s works were published, the SlutWalk protests are still fighting against rape culture. Although SlutWalk protests never took place in
China, there is much debate about the issue of victim blaming and violence against women, especially on social media platforms. For example, in 2012, a Shanghai Metro
Weibo post offering a “dress code” for women to avoid harassment sparked a wide- ranging debate on victim blaming. More recently, a Weibo post about a female attacked by a stranger in a Beijing hotel raised heated discussion. In the video, security and bystanders ignored the attack because they considered it a family dispute.
While I do not deny the importance of advice for females on how to prevent sexual violence, I come to this research having observed too many comments that support conventional beliefs regarding sexual violence, which imply that men are entitled to women’s bodies. As a woman, I am tired of being told we must limit our behaviors to protect ourselves, and I also am concerned about women’s safety in a culture that fosters such beliefs. I view such beliefs as exacerbating sexual assaults and as harmful to the well-being of both men and women.
42 Table 3-1. Examples of Excerpts, subthemes, and frames in newspapers. Excerpt Subtheme Frame “The right to be sexy can Challenging masculinity Masculinity coexist with equality of sexes” (McCartney, p. C6). “Indian feminists now want to Complying with masculine dress in clothes that reveal values their breasts and buttocks and demand this ‘self- objectification’ as a right?” (Dhillon, 2011, p. A13) “(I)f there is this fissure Men’s participation in between men and women, SlutWalk then that's something that everyone suffers from” (Davies, 2011, p.11). “A woman's clothing or Victim blaming is wrong Victim Blaming sexual history or lack of one or excess of the other has nothing to do with her right to be free and safe” (Onstad, 2011, p. L14). “Victims feeling disbelieved Victim blaming is harmful and twice damaged” (Coren, 2011,p. 34) “(The word “slut”)allowed Use of the word “slut” Strategy and Organization organizers to put the issue of women's sexuality on the table and then focus on a more pressing topic - why society has failed to address sexual violence” (Church, 2011, p. A6). “The word is so saturated with the ideology that female sexual energy deserves punishment that trying to change its meaning is a waste of precious feminist resources” (Dines & Murphy, 2011, p. 25) “(Participants are) more likely Role of social media to stay involved once the protest is over” (Timson, 2011, p. L3).
43 Table 3-2. Examples of Excerpts, subthemes, and frames in feminist blogs. Excerpt Subtheme Frame (S)imple enough to be Articulation of SlutWalk’s goal Effectiveness understood, broad enough to resonate with different kinds of people, and provocative enough to get attention” (Truitt, 2011, para. 11).
“(U)nwillingness to name the problem, to address the root of violence against women” (Murphy, 2011, para. 14)
“(N)ever have these Potential to enact social images provided change women with equality or humanity” (Murphy, 2011, para. 14)
“This is a non-judgmental Individual value is essential. Individualism movement that embraces all choices a woman wishes to make” (Murphy, 2011, para.5) “The myth that certain Lack of consideration of cultural/religious identities are various cultural backgrounds inherently antithetical to women’s rights” (Adelman, 2011, para. 4). “It’s about uprooting that Challenging masculinity Masculinity patriarchal “madonna/whore” view and changing it” (Angyal, 2011, para.2) “It is palatable to men and to Complying with masculine people who don’t much wish values to challenge dominant ideology or to look at the roots of patriarchy” (Murphy, 2011, para.14) “(T)hat this is a matter for Men’s role in women’s women, that it is their voices movements and actions that must determine the change and redefinition” (Murphy, 2011, para.3)
44
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS
Chapter 4 outlines the results of the study, comparing SlutWalk content in mainstream newspapers and feminist blogs and the frames appearing in that content.
Ninety-four articles were identified from six mainstream newspapers and six feminist blogs from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Of the 94 articles, 52 articles were found in mainstream newspapers: Toronto Star (n=6), The
Globe and Mail (n=8), The Guardian (n=25), The Observer (n=5), New York Times
(n=1), and The Washington Post (n=7). The other 42 articles were found in feminist blogs: Feminist Current (n=8), Rabble (n=8), Bad Reputation (n=2), The F-Word (n=7),
Feministing (n=12), and Jezebel (n=5). (Tables 4-1 and 4-2).
The articles varied in length, but a majority of articles were between 400 to 800 words, with 29 mainstream newspaper articles (55.7% of total) and 17 feminist blogs
(40.5% of total) published in this range. The feminist media were more likely to publish longer articles discussing SlutWalk. Of all articles of 1,200 or more words, 16 items came from feminist blogs and only five came from mainstream newspapers.
May and June were the months that both mainstream newspapers and feminist media most commonly discussed SlutWalk protests. Twenty-five newspapers articles
(48.1% of the total) and 21 blog posts (50% of the total) were published during these two months following the movement’s inaugural protest in April. Although there was a decline in the number of articles published between July and September, feminist media were more likely than mainstream newspapers to continue covering SlutWalk protests after September (16 posts vs. 6 articles).
45 A large majority of articles (86.2%) were written by female journalists or bloggers.
Although the proportion of male writers was low in both types of media, mainstream newspapers tended to see a higher percentage of male writers than feminist media
(21.2% vs. 4.8%).
RQ 1: How Did Mainstream Newspapers Frame the SlutWalk Protests over 2011?
Mainstream newspapers consisted of 52 articles from Toronto Star (n=6), The
Globe and Mail (n=8), The Guardian (n=25), The Observer (n=5), New York Times
(n=1), and The Washington Post (n=7). Of the 52 articles, 33 appeared on opinion or editorial pages, and 19 were news or feature stories. The majority of the items (40) centered on the SlutWalk movement, while others focused on other feminist movements
(n=8), masculinity (n=3), and fashion (n=1). Analysis of the items found three major frames: masculinity, victim blaming, and SlutWalk’s strategy. (Table 4-3).
Masculinity
One of the most common frames in mainstream newspapers was masculinity.
Themes within this frame included the empowerment of women, SlutWalk as a product of masculinity, and men’s participation in the movement. References to masculinity appeared in 75% of the articles.
The most prominent theme within the masculinity frame was how SlutWalk empowered women and challenged patriarchy. References to the empowerment of women were present in 70% of all articles. These articles not only discussed women’s individual right to dress however they like and to exercise sexual autonomy but also discussed structural gender inequalities. The advocacy of individual choices was evident in headlines such as “Being a slut – to my mind, was mostly fun – wearing and
46 doing what you liked” (Moore, 2011, p.35), “The new feminists: as slutty as we want to be” (Valenti, 2011, p. B1), and “Why dress down for perverts?” (Mallick, 2011, p. A19).
In addition to promoting freedom of individual choice, these articles mentioned attempts to challenge the patriarchal culture. Examples of frames that addressed the masculinity culture included: “a scream of dirty, unfeminine rage ripping through conventional gender stereotypes” (Gold, 2011, p. 20) and “The right to be sexy can coexist with equality of sexes” (McCartney, p. C6). The well-known feminist Jessica
Valenti also wrote in a Washington Post column:
The SlutWalkers, in outfits that could be grumpily labeled "ridiculous and indecent," are not inducing exclusion from respectable society. They're generating excitement, translating their anger into action and trying to change our supposedly respectable society into one that truly respects men, women and yes, even "sluts." (p. B1)
The second most prevalent theme within the masculinity frame represents a typical charge against SlutWalk, which is that rather than empowering women, SlutWalk promoted the sexualization of women, which was a product of the masculine culture.
This was evident in the following The Globe and Mail article about a SlutWalk protest in
India:
Earlier feminists had railed against popular culture's reduction of women to body parts - breasts and buttocks. This belittlement of women as nothing more than sexual objects was regarded as one of the most degrading things that patriarchal societies had done to women. Yet, the so-called younger generation of Indian feminists now want to dress in clothes that reveal their breasts and buttocks and demand this "self-objectification" as a right? And again focusing attention on their body parts as though it's liberating? (Dhillon, 2011, p. A13)
An equally prevalent theme within the masculinity frame referenced men’s involvement in resisting sexual violence. McVeigh (2011) attributed sexual violence partly to masculinity and addressed the need to educate men about sexual violence:
47 That’s a terribly sad indictment of masculinity today. Why aren't we telling men: stop raping women? Rather than women celebrating this misogynistic term 'slutiness'. What is different about what the Canadian police officer said and what police officers have said through time immemorial when killers and serial rapists are on the loose, which is: 'Women, don't go out on your own at night, stay indoors.' They don't say to men: 'There's a curfew on you.' The curfew is on us. (p. 24)
Other articles explained why men should be concerned about feminist activism.
The Guardian quoted a male Leeds University student who participated in the SlutWalk protest: “‘I reckon that if there is this fissure between men and women, then that's something that everyone suffers from,’ he said. The issues being discussed, he said, had affected the women in his life, including his mother” (Davies, 2011, p.11). In a column in The Washington Post, McCartney (2011) also argued that “Men should be happy that women want to look sexy. Men should return the favor by treating women with respect, and they should back off instantly when told no. That's a cause worthy of support from both sexes” (2011, p. C6).
Victim Blaming
Given that SlutWalk initially emerged in response to a Toronto police officer’s reference to women dressing like “sluts,” it is not surprising that SlutWalk was constructed as a movement challenging rape culture and victim blaming. This frame appeared in 66% of all articles. It was evident in headlines like “Policeman’s loose talk about wearing provocative clothes sets SlutWalking movement on angry road: Lecture to students ignites protests at culture of blaming the victim” (Pilkington, 2011, p. 29),
“Why SlutWalk? Because women don’t ‘ask for it’” (Mallick, 2011, p. A16), “Step toward fighting a culture of blame” (Wu, 2011, p. C4), and “Women rally against ‘slut’ stereotypes: Sexual assaults not about provocative clothing or ‘asking for it’, they say”
(Thomas, 2011, p. G1). Articles that adopted this frame recognized the widespread
48 myths that women’s appearance, clothing or sexual history cause rape and challenged this myth by showing how victim blaming can be harmful to women and society.
The most common theme within the victim blaming frame was to clarify that victim blaming and other rape myths are wrong. For instance, one article from The
Globe and Mail explained SlutWalk’s message that “a woman's clothing or sexual history or lack of one or excess of the other has nothing to do with her right to be free and safe” (Onstad, 2011, p. L14).
Along with the challenge to victim blaming, articles also attempted to dismantle the myth that rape is a sexual act. As The Guardian columnist Moore (2011) asked:
But if rape is understood as a confusion about outfits, then the solution is that we all wear burqas. No woman in a burqa is ever abused, is she? But the thinking behind the get-up is similar. Sexual desire, or nine tenths of it, somehow resides in the female. This does not explain why some men rape babies. Or elderly women. In war, rape is increasing used as a weapon of mass destruction. Dying, mutilated women are raped in front of their children. I hardly think this is to do with "stripper shoes" and miniskirts (p. 35).
Meanwhile, the idea that certain types of rape are not real rape also received criticism from Observer columnist Wiseman (2011): “Rape has become a cultural meme… There was Ken Clarke, who distinguished between "proper rape", "serious rape" and "classic rape", as though they were collectable NatWest piggy banks” (p. 5).
Another theme within the victim-blaming frame was to demand the attribution of blame to rapists, not the victims. It was evident in phrases such as “Don’t tell me – Don’t get raped. Tell man – Don’t rape” (Daoust, 2011, p.21). Similarly, Mallick (2011) wrote explicitly in The Toronto Star, “‘Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,’ was the sentence that inspired SlutWalk. No. Rapists and pedophiles should avoid attacking people in order not to be arrested” (p. A19). Another statement
49 from The Guardian suggested that rather than admonishing women for their clothing, police officers “should be warning potential offenders that they should ‘avoid assaulting women in order not to go to prison’” (Dines & Murphy, 2011, p. 25).
The last subtheme within the victim-blaming frame was to explain how victim blaming may be harmful to women and society. Coren (2011) explained that “victims feeling disbelieved and twice damaged” (p. 34). Articles also associated victim blaming with low conviction rates for men accused of rape and sexual assaults. For example,
McVeigh (2011) argued:
Society does not say don't rape, it says don't get raped. Everywhere you look, the onus is on the woman to not experience harassment, and there's very little to say, actually we condemn rape. Only 6.5% of all rape cases end in conviction. That shows this attitude is extremely dangerous (p. 24).
These challenges to victim blaming and other rape myths, however, were mixed with voices suggesting that women’s clothing is a trigger for sexual assaults in some cases. For example, a feature story in The Guardian stated:
It is women who tend to do sex work, and sex workers have adopted clothing styles designed to signal this very specific type of availability. When women wear similar clothing in a private and personal capacity, it pains them when it is presumed to be a sex-work signal, or at least a reference to a sex-work signal (Orr, 2011, p.10).
The Globe and Mail columnist Timson (2011) similarly argued: “Yes, women should be able to dress exactly how they please without becoming sexual targets. But dressing with your breasts cantilevered and hanging out has conveyed a sexual message for all of eternity” (p. L3). A comment from The Observer also provided rape prevention advice for women: “Clothes are self-expression, but you have to be aware it can trigger things in other people. That is not something you can control. You can only control yourself. So it's really important to be aware” (McVeigh, 2011, p. 24).
50 In addition, some articles denied the prevalence of victim blaming and its negative effects. For instance, Wente (2011) stated in The Globe and Mail column that
“The attitude that rape victims bring it on themselves has largely (though not entirely) disappeared from mainstream society” (p. A17); the column argued that there has been progress in the judicial and police system in processing rape cases. These articles often supported the movements against sexual violence in general, but argued that rather than encouraging women’s freedom to choose sexy clothes, feminist activists’ efforts should be put into more serious issues facing women, such as domestic violence and the lack of rape aftermath support.
Strategy and Organization
The final frame, appearing in 42% of all articles, focused on the controversy over how the use of the word “slut” affected individuals’ perceptions of the movement, and how organizers had harnessed social media to mobilize people.
The most prevalent theme within the strategy and organization frame was the debate about the use of word “slut.” Advocates praised the use of word “slut” because it is “effective in attracting publicity and stimulating a burst of grass-roots activism”
(McCartney, 2011, p. C6). McCartney (2011) argued that the word attracts public attention effectively: “As a title, "SlutWalk" packs some punch. An "Empowerment
March Against Sexual Violence" would sound like a yawn.” (p. C6). In addition, many articles suggested that the use of the word “slut” represented a straightforward and potent way to address the sexual violence issue. Jessica Valenti (2011) wrote in a
Washington Post column that, “Feminism is frequently on the defensive.” (p. B1). She noted, as an example, that Planned Parenthood had defended its work by focusing on the women’s health services it provides that are not related to reproductive services.
51 Instead of focusing on the fact that “abortion is legal and should be funded” (p. B1), she wrote, Planned Parenthood’s advocates emphasized that the clinics provide breast exams and cancer screening. The campaign reflects a tendency to mute important messages in the feminist movement in order to be more accessible and welcomed. In contrast, she wrote, the word “slut” is straight to the point, proactive, and appealing to the audience.
Similarly, a news report from The Globe and Mail wrote that using this charged word “allowed organizers to put the issue of women's sexuality on the table and then focus on a more pressing topic - why society has failed to address sexual violence”
(Church, 2011, p. A6). Some took the discourse to the level of women’s liberation. For instance, Gold (2011) wrote in The Guardian: “The rejection by women of compulsory cleansing of mind, body and soul is a necessary pre-condition of liberation” (p. 6).
Opponents insisted that the word “slut” is undesirable, irredeemable and exclusive of women who, for various reasons, may find the word uncomfortable. Dines and Murphy (2011) wrote in The Guardian:
The term slut is so deeply rooted in the patriarchal "Madonna/whore" view of women's sexuality that it is beyond redemption. The word is so saturated with the ideology that female sexual energy deserves punishment that trying to change its meaning is a waste of precious feminist resources. (p. 25)
The attempt to redeem the word “slut” was also seen as running the risk of alienating women who have been insulted by this word. As McVeigh (2011) noted in
The Observer: “It excludes women who have been defined by this word, including the thousands in prostitution who do not want to be there.” (p. 24). Many articles also suggested that advocating the use of the word “slut” is futile and might hinder the crucial message of resisting sexual violence. Wiseman (2011) commented: “Concentrating on
52 the reclaiming of the word "slut" felt like trying to put out a cigarette in the middle of a house fire” (p. 5). McCartney similarly cited comments from the District of Columbia
Rape Crisis Center, saying that SlutWalk risked “getting lost in a focus on a frivolous and individualistic message of the 'right to wear what I want to,' ignoring the deeper societal structures that support sexual violence” (p. C6). Journalists also advised feminist activists that women should “find ways to create their own authentic sexuality, outside of male-defined terms like slut” and “Women should be fighting for liberation from culturally imposed myths about their sexuality that encourage gendered violence”
(Dines & Murphy, 2011, p.25).
The second subtheme within the strategy frame discussed social media’s role in the SlutWalk movement. Many articles praised the use of social media because it was a new and effective way of organizing and it might create a lasting effect of activism.
Timson (2011) noted that social media not only allowed activists to “mobilize in a hell of a hurry,” but also enabled activists to organize themselves instead of “being organized by established groups,” which she believed will make participants “more likely to stay involved once the protest is over” (p. L3).
RQ2: How Did Feminist Blogs Frame the SlutWalk protests in 2011?
The feminist blogs included 42 articles from Feminist Current (n=8), Rabble
(n=8), Bad Reputation (n=2), The F-Word (n=7), Feministing (n=12), and Jezebel (n=5).
The main topics centered on the mainstream interpretations of the SlutWalk protests
(n=16), experiences of SlutWalkers (n=10), and interviews with feminist activists (n=7).
Three major frames emerged from these articles: effectiveness, individualism, and masculinity. (Table 4-4).
53 Effectiveness
A dominant frame present in the feminist blogs was the effectiveness of
SlutWalk’s approach to challenging rape culture. Discussions on its effectiveness in achieving this aim appeared in 59.5% of all articles. Subthemes within this frame focused on the precision of the movement’s goal and its emancipation potential.
The most common theme within the effectiveness frame was the debate on whether the movement had succeeded in articulating its goal of challenging victim blaming and rape culture. The Feministing blogger Jos Truitt (2011) argued that the movement’s messages “strike a promising balance between being simple enough to be understood, broad enough to resonate with different kinds of people, and provocative enough to get attention” (para. 11). Feminist bloggers also generally agreed that the use of the word “slut” was a powerful and efficient tool to get to these ends. As Angyal
(2011) argued, “One of the most effective ways to fight hate is to disarm the derogatory terms employed by haters, embracing them and giving them positive connotations”
(para. 4). Similarly, Jones (2011) argued that using “slut” in the movement means
“tearing down the ideological underpinnings that give ‘slut’ its stability and laughing at
‘slut’ when it wobbles and falls” (para. 19).
Many bloggers, however, argued that mainstream media failed to grasp the primary goal of the SlutWalk protests. Some took issue with mainstream media’s misleading interpretations of SlutWalk’s aims. For example, one Feministing blog post stated, “the way Slutwalk is understood in the mainstream media is not necessarily about victim-blaming–even if that is the intention of the marches themselves” (Truitt,
2011, para. 1). Similarly, Adelman (2011) asked, after interviewing a SlutWalk organizer, “Could it be that, once again, the media would rather pontificate about young
54 women’s activism and sexuality than let them speak on it for themselves?” (Adelman,
2011, para. 1).
Some bloggers aimed their criticism directly at what they viewed as SlutWalk’s inappropriate approaches. Feminist Current founder Meghan Murphy argued in an interview, “There is no cohesive message, no collective demands, and there is an unwillingness to name the problem, to address the root of violence against women”
(para. 14)
These criticisms were often based on the movement’s effort to appropriate the word “slut”. Meghan Murphy (2011) argued in a Feminist Current post:
I was very uncomfortable with the word ‘slut’ being used as a way to empower women, and even more uncomfortable with the assertion that organizers had taken it upon themselves to ‘reclaim’ the word. This is a word that has been used to hurt, shame, and abuse me. It is a word that has been used to hurt, shame, and abuse women everywhere. In order to silence them, control them, punish them and, of course, blame them. (para. 3)
She continued, stating that rather than challenging rape culture, the SlutWalk protests “derailed into a conversation and focus on ‘sluts’, language, reclaiming language” (Murphy, 2011, para. 16).
The second theme within the effectiveness frame concerned the movement’s ability to enact social change. Feminist Current founder Meghan Murphy wrote several posts criticizing the ways SlutWalk had attracted media attention at the expense of its revolutionary mission:
The reason Slutwalks have become so popular is because of the name and the sexy photo ops. It isn’t because anything is changing, it isn’t because Slutwalks are revolutionary, and it isn’t because the media are just so freakin excited about female liberation. Women on stripper poles have always been able to capture the gaze of their audience but never have these images provided women with equality or humanity. (Murphy, 2011, para. 14)
55 Discussions within this frame supported the premise of challenging rape culture and victim blaming, but criticized the ways SlutWalk enunciated these goals and staged the movement.
Individualism
Another prominent frame within the feminist media samples was the interpretation of SlutWalk as promoting the value of individualism. Mentioned in 47.6% of all blog posts, the individualism frame can be divided into two opposing subthemes: respecting the freedom of individual choices is crucial to feminist activism; and advocating the value of individualism is inappropriate for women’s movements that require collective action.
Some bloggers noted that the value of individualism is an essential component of feminist movements. As quoted in a blog in Feminist Current, a representative of
SlutWalk D.C. stated:
This is a non-judgmental movement that embraces all choices a woman wishes to make, while making a statement that her choices do NOT invite sexual violence. As any women’s activist should know, women who work in adult entertainment and more specifically, erotic dancers, are very often the victims of sexual assault. These women are very often to victims of Slut Shaming and Victim Blaming due to their profession. (Murphy, 2011, para. 5)
This statement took a position that every woman deserves cultural and legal protection against sexual violence no matter what her occupation is. The intention was to dispel misunderstanding around sexual violence and to appeal for respect for every individual choice. Although many bloggers explicitly claimed that SlutWalk comprises of
“people from all gender expressions and orientations, all walks of life, levels of employment and education, all races, ages, abilities, and backgrounds, from all points
56 of this city and elsewhere.” (Kraus, 2011, para. 4), numerous blog posts still criticized the movement for being exclusive and privileged.
The most common criticism of SlutWalk was that it lacked consideration of class, racial, and religious issues. Some bloggers argued that the organizers of SlutWalk were trying to frame structural inequalities as individual choices. Meghan Murphy contributed several harsh critiques of the ways SlutWalk legitimized the sex industry in the name of promoting individual freedom. She (2011) pointed out that framing prostitution as an individual choice or a “career path” is problematic because often, “(w)hen there are no social structures in place that support women's survival and safety, when women have no real choice, they "choose" prostitution” (para. 15).
In addition, some bloggers suggested that SlutWalk risked alienating women from socially marginalized groups. For example, Adelman (2011) argued that a feminist movement that contains the message supporting the individual choice to wear provocative clothes will perpetuate “the myth that certain cultural/religious identities are inherently antithetical to women’s rights” (para. 4). She suggested that SlutWalk’s approach further marginalized “Muslim women’s movements who are hugely impacted by the racist ‘reasonable accommodation’ debate and state policies against the niqab”
(para. 4).
Masculinity
The final frame in feminist blogs, referenced in 42.8% of all blog posts, centered on the masculinity issue. Subthemes within this frame include the debate on whether
SlutWalk complied with masculinity or challenged it, and men’s role in feminist activism.
Some bloggers asserted that SlutWalk is meant to confront masculinity. For example, Angyal (2011) commented on SlutWalk Boston:
57 It’s about uprooting that patriarchal “madonna/whore” view and changing it. Those people in Boston weren’t just calling themselves “sluts” and leaving it at that. They were making the connection between the word and the attitude and the physical violence and calling for a change to all of it. (para. 2)
Some bloggers, in contrast, expressed concern that SlutWalk’s emphasis on women’s sexuality conformed to masculine values. Adelman (2011) stated in a blog post, “the palatable ‘I can wear what I want’ feminism” seemed to contain “a message that I have heard since I was a young girl – that I am only a feminist under the White gaze if I dressed and behaved in certain exposing and forward ways” (para. 5). The F
Word blogger Flanders (2011) shared the same worry; she described SlutWalk as “self- defeating” because it creates “much pressure on women to dress hyper-feminine” (para.
3).
These critiques showed concerns about women living in male-dominated societies being encouraged to label themselves sexually to be heard and welcomed by the society. This sentiment implied that SlutWalk protesters are on the shaky ground.
Meghan Murphy (2011) asked:
Why, exactly, does feminism have to be ‘sexy’ in order for it to be supported? Well, the answer, of course, is so that it is palatable to men and to people who don’t much wish to challenge dominant ideology or to look at the roots of patriarchy. So that it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable. (para. 14)
She argued that if SlutWalk was truly capable of uprooting patriarchy, “you can bet most of those men would not be standing on the sidelines, smiling and taking photos. They would be angry” (Murphy, 2011, para. 15). Viewing men’s support as an alarming sign illustrates concerns about men’s role in feminist activism.
The second theme within the masculinity frame focused on whether men should participate in the feminist movement. The controversy about men’s role in SlutWalk
58 mostly arose from a former SlutWalk Los Angeles organizer, Hugo Schwyzer, who admitted to have been a sexual abuser on his Twitter account. His intentions in participating in and leading SlutWalk was called into question. In a conversation between Hugo Schwyzer and Meghan Murphy, Schwyzer (2011) argued that men should actively participate in feminist movements but should be careful about taking a leadership role in such movements (Murphy, 2011). Murphy disagreed with Schwyzer, quoting Stephen Heath’s words in Male Feminism, “that this is a matter for women, that it is their voices and actions that must determine the change and redefinition. Their voices and actions, not ours” (Murphy, 2011, para. 3).
Murphy’s sentiment reflected the fact that men’s involvement was not universally accepted. Cook (2011) expressed worries that this might discourage men’s involvement in SlutWalk and reduce their attention to sexual violence issues. She wrote, “The men walking with us were either ignored, or even more tellingly, assumed to be women”
(Cook, 2011, para. 7). She also argued that “if SlutWalk is viewed as a man-excluding club then it falls too easily into the trap of accusations of man-hating, rather like common judgments of feminism itself” (para. 8).
RQ3: Were There National Variations in Framing of SlutWalk Protests?
There was no significant difference in frames used in mainstream newspapers across countries. The most common frame was masculinity, followed by victim blaming and strategy frames. The U.K. newspapers tended to be more positive about SlutWalk’s potential to challenge masculinity and victim blaming than the newspapers in Canada and the United States. For example, 73.3% of newspaper articles in the United Kingdom affirmed that SlutWalk empowered women and challenged patriarchal values, and
66.6% of the U.K. newspaper articles clarified victim blaming and its harm. The U.S.
59 newspapers were more keen to discussing the use of the word “slut” in the movement, while Canadian newspapers were more concerned about men’s participation in
SlutWalk.
The frames in feminist blogs differed slightly in the three countries. The dominant frame adopted by feminist media in Canada was the individualism frame while the effectiveness frame was dominant in the United Kingdom and the United States. Within the effectiveness frame, feminist blogs in the United States focused more on whether
SlutWalk organizers have made their goals understood by the public, while the U.K. blogs focused more on whether SlutWalk has the potential to promote awareness and to enact change. In the masculinity frame, the U.S. feminist blogs were more likely to see SlutWalk as challenging masculine values, while the Canadian blogs were more likely to criticize SlutWalk as being compliant with masculinity.
The publishing time of newspapers on the SlutWalk protests varies across the three countries. This not only indicated different starting time of the protests, but also showed different focus on the phases of the movement. Most newspaper articles on
SlutWalk in Canada and the United Kingdom appeared before the start of the protest marches, while most of the U.S. newspapers tended to cover the movement after these marches.
Newspapers in Canada, where the movement was first organized, responded first to the SlutWalk protest. All the articles discussing SlutWalk in March and April 2011 were published in Canadian newspapers. The news coverage of SlutWalk emerged in
British newspapers in May 2011, before the first U.K. SlutWalk protest took place on
60 June 4th, 2011. The first U.S. SlutWalk movement began on May 7th in Boston, but most of the U.S. newspaper articles on SlutWalk (73.3%) appeared in August.
Canadian (28.6%) and the U.S. (25%) newspapers were more keen to following the global development of SlutWalk than the U.K. newspapers (10%). The U.K. newspapers focused more on local activism than on SlutWalk protests in other cultural contexts.
RQ4: Were there differences between newspapers and feminist blogs in the framing of SlutWalk protests?
This study revealed that mainstream media and feminist blogs had different focuses when framing SlutWalk. The mainstream newspapers primarily used masculinity and victim blaming frames, while the feminist blogs focused more on the masculinity and individualism frames. Therefore, the mainstream newspapers framed
SlutWalk as a feminist movement aiming to challenge masculinity and victim blaming, while the feminist media discussed the individualist focus of SlutWalk and how that affected the effectiveness of the movement.
There were also some similarities between these two types of media. The only frame that came out in both types of media was that of masculinity and whether
SlutWalk challenged or remained consistent with masculine values. The opinions of journalists and bloggers, however, were not identical. The newspaper articles were more likely to frame SlutWalk as a protest challenging patriarchy and masculinity, while the feminist blog posts were more likely to critique SlutWalk as conforming to masculine values rather than challenging them. Another theme within masculinity was men’s role in sexual violence issues and feminist activism. The newspaper articles appealed for
61 males’ participation in the movement, while the feminist blog posts were conflicted about whether men should be allowed to participate in or lead a feminist movement.
The criticisms of SlutWalk were not necessarily bad because at times they provided valuable suggestions for the movement’s development. Similarly, articles that generally supported SlutWalk but failed to address the broader context of SlutWalk and sexual violence, were not likely to foster the movement’s true goals.
Mainstream interpretation of the SlutWalk protests was one of the major sources referenced in feminist blogs. Among 42 feminist blog posts, 16 of them mentioned and commented on mainstream interpretations of SlutWalk. Meanwhile, feminist blogs also influenced the news frames. When reporting the movement, newspaper articles frequently quoted passages from SlutWalk’s official websites and their organizers. In some cases, the feminist bloggers also wrote for mainstream newspapers. For example,
Jessica Valenti, the founder of Feministing, wrote several commentaries in The
Washington Post.
The mainstream media and the feminist blogs both pointed to the uneven levels of depth in discourses about SlutWalk. Previous studies have suggested that the mainstream media presented a decontextualized version of the movement. For example, McNicol (2012) argued in her thesis that Canadian mainstream media representations produced “a watered-down version of feminism and a decontextualized understanding of sexual violence” (p.11); she believed newspapers neglected the issues of “heterosexism, racism, and institutional class oppression” (p.69). Although a number of newspaper articles excluded these issues, many other articles that provided follow-up discussion and nuanced analyses of SlutWalk and sexual violence issues.
62 Similarly, the feminist blogs contained both simplified messages and in-depth analyses.
The blogs not only contained basic information about SlutWalk and its future agendas but also presented discussions on the intersectionality of sexual violence issues.
63 Table 4-1. List of articles on SlutWalk found in mainstream newspapers. Country Newspapers Number of Articles Canada Toronto Star 6 The Globe and Mail 8 The United Kingdom The Observer 5 The Guardian 25 The United States New York Times 1 Washington Post 7 Total 52
Table 4-2. List of articles on SlutWalk found in feminist blogs. Country Blog Sites Number of Articles Canada Feminist Current 8 Rabble 8 The United Kingdom Bad Reputation 2 The F-Word 7 The United States Feministing 12 Jezebel 5 Total 42
64
Table 4-3. Frames used in mainstream newspapers. Frames Number of Articles Percent Masculinity 39 75.0 Victim Blaming 34 65.4 Strategy and Organization 21 40.4 Note: Percentages total more than 100% because each article could contain multiple frames.
Table 4-4. Frames used in feminist blogs. Frames Number of Articles Percent Effectiveness 25 59.5 Individualism 20 47.6 Masculinity 19 45.2 Note: Percentages total more than 100% because each article could contain multiple frames.
65 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Study Limitations
Before going further in the discussion of the study’s findings and implications, it is important to acknowledge several study limitations. Given the international nature of the
SlutWalk protests, it would have been more interesting to include non-western countries in this study, which would produce a more complete picture of the movement around the globe. Also, SlutWalks continued to be held through 2016, but the study only examined articles published in 2011. Including articles and blog posts published after 2011 would reveal how the framing of the movement evolved over time.
In addition, this study only analyzed the textual content of both mainstream media and feminist blogs. Photographs, videos and hyperlinks were not analyzed in this study, which may have led to an incomplete interpretation of the messages in audiences would have found in newspapers and feminist blogs.
Moreover, this study only examined media representations of SlutWalk without attempting to determine how these frames influenced public understanding of SlutWalk and feminist movements. Future research could investigate the impacts of these frames by measuring readers’ perceptions of SlutWalk, the coverage of the movement, and attitudes toward sexual violence and victim blaming to investigate the impacts of these frames.
Presentations of Sexual Violence
Dowler (2006) argued that, unlike other crime stories such as robbery and homicide, a principal frame in sexual violence stories is the victim’s accountability. As a result, reports on sexual violence often include irrelevant details about victims, and
66 victim credibility is often called into question. Franiuk, Seefelt, and Vandello (2008) also argued that journalists are more likely to doubt the victim’s story than the perpetrator’s.
Because SlutWalk existed as a movement aiming to challenge victim-blaming, it is not surprising that a majority of newspaper articles and blog posts on SlutWalk addressed the myth of victim blaming and attempted to clarify the real causes of sexual violence.
For example, Traister (2011) criticized the ways mainstream newspapers perpetuated the myth of victim blaming and argued that giving these excessive and irrelevant details about victims was misleading and resulted in distrust and passivity toward victims. She wrote in a New York Times article:
When an 11-year-old Texas girl was allegedly gang-raped by 19 men, The New York Times ran a story quoting neighbors saying that she habitually wore makeup and dressed in clothes more appropriate for a 20-year-old. The maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of rape has been discredited for being a liar, and The New York Post claimed she was a prostitute.
O’Hara (2012) analyzed news coverage of three rape cases in the United States and the United Kingdom and argued that news reports often employed “the myth of sociopathic rapists” (2012, p. 256). Articles on SlutWalk, in some cases, reproduced this myth. This was evident in newspaper titles such as “Why dress down for perverts?”
(Mallick, 2011, p. A19) and made reference to a rapist as a “sociopath” (Coren, 2011, p.
34). Mason and Monckton-Smith (2008) argued that depicting perpetrators as
“perverted” or mentally ill may enable friends, acquaintances, relatives and intimates to distance themselves from those who engage in sexual violence. O’Hara (2012) also contended that “(i)f the perpetrator is a devious monster, rape became a random act of violence rather than a societal problem” (2012, p.257).
67 However, as noted in Chapter 4, a majority of articles pointed to the structural gender inequality and social roots of sexual violence. For example, many articles in both newspaper articles and feminist blogs adopted the masculinity frame and argued that there is a connection between masculinity and sexual violence. Research has revealed connections between masculinity and rape-supportive attitudes and behaviors as well.
For example, Hill and Fischer (2011) argued that men’s sense of entitlement to women in masculine ideology is central to rape-related attitudes and behaviors. Truman, Tokar and Fischer (1996) similarly stated:
Our culture allows men to make their sexual needs explicit because they appear as rights or entitlement divorced from emotional neediness. Women become objects of men’s sexual desires. As long as men can experience their sexual needs as simply for physical release, they can feel entitled to having women meet their needs. Men feeling such entitlement without intimacy may then be more likely to believe that using force to obtain sexual gratification is acceptable. (p. 560)
Although a majority of articles recognized that sexual violence is influenced by masculine ideology and broader social structures, what seemed to be missing in both newspaper articles and feminist blog posts was the discussion of the prevalence of sexual violence. Among all articles,10 addressed rape as a social problem, but only two discussed the sexual violence issues in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United
States; the others all focused on sexual violence in non-western countries. For example,
Wente (2011) argued in a Globe and Mail commentary that the American campus sexual violence rate is “a figure that is credible only if you include every incident of being groped by some 20-year-old drunk” (2011, p. A17). She also contended that these highly educated students who participated in SlutWalk are among the safest and most secure in the world. However, without information on the prevalence of sexual
68 violence, the audience may perceive sexual violence as an issue that is far from them and therefore may underestimate the importance of this issue (Worthington, 2008).
Another element that seemed to be missing from both the stories and the blog posts was any discussion of effective rape prevention solutions, which often require interventions with men and dealing with masculine values. Interventions with men are important not only because they are most likely to be sexual violence perpetrators, but also because educational interventions aimed at men can prevent sexual violence before it begins. Some newspaper articles, however, still neglected men’s role in sexual violence and proposed traditional rape prevention advice for females. Feminist blogs, on the other hand, generally recognized that ending sexual violence requires collective actions from the whole society, but still failed to address strategies for changing men’s role in sexual violence.
Men, as the primary sexual violence perpetrators, cannot be excluded from sexual violence discussions. It is not simply a women’s issue; it is a concern shared by both men and women. Although the focus of this study was sexual violence against women, an abundance of literature has pointed out that men can be the victims of sexual violence as well and are often victimized for the same reasons as women – as an expression of power on the part of the rapist (Scarce, 2001). Thus, men should not be overlooked and should be seen as allies in ending sexual violence (Fabiano,
Perkins, Berkowitz, Linkenbach, & Stark, 2003).
Hong (2000) developed a peer education program – Men Against Violence – that encourages male students to challenge the myths and stereotypes that link masculinity with sexual violence. He (2000) argued that rape prevention approaches on campus
69 often have focused on “(a) risk-reduction and self-defense workshops designed for women; (b) environmental changes to make the campus safer or to reduce the availability of alcohol and other drugs used to facilitate sexual assaults” (p. 269). These approaches often fail to address the agency of sexual violence perpetrators and the cultural foundations of sexual violence.
Overall, newspaper articles and feminist blogs on SlutWalk took a positive step toward clarifying the myths of victim blaming and addressing the real causes of sexual violence, but did not provide sufficient information on the prevalence of sexual violence or discussions of practical rape prevention solutions. Thus, both types of discourse short-changed their audiences, failing to take full advantage of the opportunity the
SlutWalk protests provided.
Presentations of Women’s Movements
Research on news coverage of the Second Wave women’s movements has demonstrated that feminist goals (e.g. abortion rights, equal pay, etc.) were often opposed in mainstream newspapers (Mendes, 2011). Ashley and Olson (1998) found the dominant frame structuring 1966-1986 news coverage of women’s movements in the New York Times, Time and Newsweek was the de-legitimation of feminism and feminists. This frame included reporting on the appearance of women who participated in the movements, using quotation marks on the word like “liberation” and emphasizing views opposed to the women’s movement.
Similarly, news coverage of SlutWalk has been criticized for depoliticizing
SlutWalk’s goal, suggesting that the focus was promoting individual choice for women to dress however they like (McNicol, 2012). However, a number of articles in this study contended that SlutWalk’s defense of women’s right to dress however they like is not
70 saying that this individual choice is inherently important, but rather is arguing that in the masculine culture, clothing should not be seen as a trigger for sexual violence. These commentators argue that even when women wear conservative clothes, other excuses will be used to blame the victim and to justify sexual violence.
Presentations of the SlutWalk protests, therefore, often supported the overall goal of ending sexual violence and victim blaming and provided contextualized information about the movement. Most articles shifted away from depoliticizing the goals and rights expressed in the SlutWalk protests; instead, they focused on how activists could better achieve these goals. Rather than depicting feminist goals as unnecessary and trivial, a majority of articles recognized sexual violence, victim blaming and gender inequality as major issues, but were concerned about the strategies employed by
SlutWalk organizers. These discourses revealed the tensions about the goals and purposes and about proper strategies and tactics of feminist activism.
Presentations of SlutWalk
As demonstrated in Chapter 4, articles on SlutWalk reflected various aspects of the movement and a divergence of views. This divergence in SlutWalk coverage is rooted in “clashing political investments in feminism, disagreements over strategies, tactics, and priorities, and related conflicts over theories of social change that have divided feminists for decades” (Dow & Wood, 2014, p. 23). The frequent emergence of dissent is necessary for the development and progress of SlutWalk and other feminist movements (Mendes, 2015); they represent the vitality of feminist activism.
Endorsing SlutWalk
Both newspaper articles and feminist blogs in 2011 overwhelmingly supported the SlutWalk protests’ goals of ending victim blaming and sexual violence. This is
71 consistent with previous findings that “the media portrays SlutWalk in a fair and positive light” (McNicol, 2012, p.113). Despite the overall support, previous studies have criticized mainstream representations of SlutWalk. For example, McNicol (2014) criticized Canadian mainstream media for oversimplifying the problem of sexual violence and providing too little space for interrogating the context of SlutWalk. Mendes
(2015) also argued in her book that the mainstream media “often presented superficial accounts of the movement” because they are restricted by “traditional journalistic conventions such as objectivity, narrative style or organizational, political or economic constraints” (p.189).
Although newspaper items did appear to be less personal than feminist blog posts regarding their narrative styles, in this study, they still presented a number of in- depth analyses of sexual violence and victim blaming. The differences from other authors’ findings might stem from the word count limit and the inclusion of columns and editorial pieces. This study analyzed only articles of 400 words or more, which may have ensured sufficient space for discussing and analyzing SlutWalk and victim blaming. In addition, as noted in the last chapter, the percentage of columns and editorials was higher than the percentage of news and feature stories in the newspaper samples, which offered more freedom in narrative styles and space for detailed explanation of sexual violence. These two characteristics remedied the defects found in previous studies of mainstream newspapers.
It is also worth note that mainstream media and feminist media have different audience bases. Detailed discussion of SlutWalk and victim blaming only makes sense if the audience understands what SlutWalk is and why victim blaming is wrong.
72 Therefore, the simpler messages supporting SlutWalk and debunking victim blaming are of significance because they can inform audiences who otherwise might not have known of the existence of the movement or the problem of victim blaming.
Opposing SlutWalk
The results also revealed sharp disagreements about the effectiveness of the
SlutWalk protests in 2011. SlutWalk’s emphasis on reclaiming the word “slut” and advocating for women’s rights to dress like “sluts” have led to a variety of criticisms. The methods SlutWalk organizers adopted to address their goals raised two questions. First, many journalists and bloggers worried that SlutWalk sexualized women’s bodies, raising fears that rather than challenging patriarchy, the SlutWalk protests were intended to appeal to men, acceding to women’s need to sexualize themselves to get acceptance in the public sphere. Second, critics charged that focusing on the idea that women could choose to dress like “sluts” limited the movement’s relevance to young and white women; the individualistic focus, they argued, could not generate collective political action. In this sense, SlutWalk’s message of advocating women’s right to dress however they like without worrying about their safety was often lost.
These controversies all pointed to the complexity of the sexual violence issue. As
McNicol (2014) argued in her thesis, sexual violence is the result of a variety of systems such as “heterosexism, racism, and institutional class oppression” (p.69). Meanwhile, the international nature of SlutWalk made it even more complex because it required addressing sexual violence in different cultural contexts.
Conclusions
The findings in this study showed different frames of the SlutWalk protests in
2011 in mainstream media and feminist blogosphere. The mainstream newspapers
73 framed SlutWalk as a feminist movement aiming to challenge masculinity and victim blaming, while the feminist media discussed the individualist values of SlutWalk and how that individualist focus might diminish the effectiveness of the movement. Both types of media showed varying levels of depth in discourses about SlutWalk. Simplistic messages supporting SlutWalk and opposing victim blaming were mixed with nuanced analyses of the context of rape culture. Overall, the articles took a positive step toward clarifying the problems of victim blaming and sexual violence.
Suggestions for Journalists and Bloggers
There does not appear to have been any significant shift in reporting sexual violence issues in the news media since 2011. On June 2nd, 2016, the defendant Brock
Turner was sentenced to 3 months in county prison after sexual assaulting an unconscious woman on the Stanford University campus. Reports on the Stanford sexual assault case have sparked public outrage, not only over the light sentence, but also over the ways news media framed Brock Turner as a promising student and an All-
American swimmer. Stack (2016) argued in a New York Times report that, the descriptions of perpetrator’s achievement and the victim’s consumption of alcohol obscured the real point of focus and trivialized the crime. This phenomenon illuminated the continuing need to educate journalists and bloggers about reporting on sexual violence.
Several organizations have provided resources for journalists on covering sexual violence issues. For example, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center sponsored a series of online courses on how to report sexual violence. Chicago
Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Women also created a guide for journalists
(Garcia-Rojas, 2012) on how to interview victims of sexual violence and how to use
74 appropriate languages to describe the crime. Garcia-Rojas (2012) proposed the following suggestions:
1. Respect victims’ privacy and safety because in some cultures, being suspected of having been raped can lead to humiliation and further violence.
2. Introduce necessary contexts for understanding sexual violence. This includes defining rape as violence that often leads to trauma for the victims, addressing sexual violence as a social problem and debunking some common rape myths.
3. Choose accurate and honest language to describe crimes of sexual violence. Avoid using victim blaming language such as “unharmed,” “domestic dispute,” “sexual activity,” etc.
4. Generate new angles for covering sexual violence issues such as collective solutions to prevent sexual violence and health-related effects of victimization.
As Goffman (1974) argued, individuals use frames to “locate, perceive, identify and label” events happening in their lives and the world at large (p.21). Therefore, how newspapers and blogs frame sexual violence has an impact on how readers perceive this issue. Given the pace of how the reports and blogs are delivered, shared and read today, these articles can spread in short time and have a broad impact. However, if not contextualized and accurately written, these articles may discredit victims and bring about further victimization and shame for the victims. They may also perpetuate rape myths and gender inequality that foster the rape culture.
Sexual violence is the result of various systems of oppressions (capitalism, racism, patriarchy, etc.) that are still deeply entrenched (Mendes, 2014). Meanwhile, journalists are struggling with dominant social attitudes, institutional regulations and readers’ preferences (Mendes, 2014; Robinson, 2010). Reporting on the issue of sexual violence is challenging. However, more deliberation on how we report on the issue of sexual violence will create a more truthful picture of reality: what sexual violence is,
75 what harm it causes, and how we can help to end it, which will benefit both men and women.
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90 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Ruipeng Wang attended Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai in 2010 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature. She entered College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida in fall
2014 and started to pursue her Master of Arts degree in Mass Communication.
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