TOWSON UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES BILL COSBY AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MEDIA: AN EXPLORATION OF THE CONVERSATION OF RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY by Ajibola Bakare A thesis Presented to the faculty of Towson University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Science Department of Women and Gender Studies Towson University Towson, Maryland 21252 (May, 2017) Acknowledgements I am so grateful to my thesis advisor, Dr. Jameta Barlow, Assistant Professor in Women and Health in the Women and Gender Studies department at Towson University. I appreciate her patience and assistance through this process, from helping develop my topic to continuously reviewing my concepts and chapters. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Jennifer Langdon, Associate Professor at the department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Dr. Cindy Gissendanner, Professor and Director of LGBT Minor Program, and Dr. Jennifer Potter, Associate Professor at the department of Mass Communications and Communication studies for challenging my ideas and strengthening this thesis as members of the committee. I would like to dedicate this thesis and its significance of having earned my masters to my family, who did not understand my ramblings more than half the time, but supported and listened to me regardless. I would also like to acknowledge my youngest brother, Abiola Bakare, for being such a support system in every way possible. Finally, to Mahnoor Ahmed, one of my mentors and former supervisor at the Center for Student Diversity at Towson University, I am grateful for the support and her efforts in bringing my thesis to life during my time as a graduate assistant at the university. I recognize that this would not be possible without the combined efforts of these individuals in my life; I am eternally grateful for all of the support and thrilled at its completion. Thank you all. ii Abstract Bill Cosby is regarded as one of the most impactful figures within the African American community, which made the numerous sexual assault allegations raised against him contentious within and outside of the African American community. The media is a primary source of information, and more recently, online media has dominated print media as the number one source for information. In recognition of the Bill Cosby scandal, this study utilized grounded theory to analyze and develop themes around platforms within the African American online media, specifically the online platforms of Ebony and Essence magazines, as they are among the most recognized magazines within that community. Grounded theory was used to examine how the African American community responded to the allegations raised against Bill Cosby, in order to understand how rape and sexual assault are framed and discussed within that community. Several themes developed, leading to the emergence of the Fractured Conversation Model (FCM). FCM includes a discussion of rape and sexual assault and engagement of race, class, and gender dynamics, but also includes utilization of victim blaming and perpetuation of rape culture. iii Table of Contents List of Tables…………………………………………………………….…………..….……….v List of Figures…………………………………………………………….………….………….vi Introduction……………………………………………………………….………….………….1 Media, Rape, and Sexual Assault……………………………….…………….…………1 Intersectionality, Rape, and Sexual Assault…………………………….…….…………5 Exploring Rape and Sexual Assault through Bill Cosby………….…………….….……6 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………….……...12 Results…………………………………………………………………………………….…….19 Essence………………………………………………………………….…………….…20 Ebony………………………………………………………………….....……………...25 Fractured Conversation Model……………………………………………..……………33 Discussion……………………………………………………………………….……………....36 References………………………………………………………………………….…………....44 Appendix A……………………………….………………………………………..…………....50 Appendix B – Thesis Approval Page….……………………..…………..……....…...................57 CV…………………………………………………..…………..……………......…...................58 iv List of Tables Emergent Themes and Categories Found in Essence.com Content…………………………...21 Number of Articles Featuring the Following Themes in the Essence.com Title……………...21 Number of Articles Found Featuring Following Themes in Ebony.com Title………………..26 Emergent Themes and Categories Found in Ebony.com Content………..…………………....26 Fractured Conversation Model as a Function of Themes from Ebony and Essence………..…35 v List of Figures Grounded Theory Methodology as Described by Strauss…………………………………….17 The Fractured Conversation Model……………………….…………………...………….…..36 vi Introduction Media, Rape, and Sexual Assault The media is understood to be a primary source of information, one that reflects society’s outlook, and therefore promotes hegemonic theories and beliefs (McDonald & Charlesworth, 2013; Mastro, Blecha, & Seate, 2011). As the primary source of information, the media plays a significant role in generating information, and specifically affects how the audience receives its content. The way the material is delivered shapes how the conversation around the topic takes place, along with who the audience supports or rejects in any given situation. In doing so, the media constructs conversations around topics and affects how the audience rallies and distributes resources to those affected. When scandalous events occur, the media becomes a heightened space for information and guidance. Audiences focus in with an expectation of information, and larger conversational pieces form based on the given material. The media, therefore, acts as a gateway for information to the public and has particularly become more accessible through the Internet and various technological platforms. Through this, stories, or more often, scandals, are quickly and widely spread with spaces for the public to respond and comment on any given topic. Online media has noticeably changed how information is received, particularly with the reliance on websites, blogs, and social media platforms, which allow for faster dissemination of information. Researchers have identified the effect that social media has on communication, particularly noting how it has transformed how journalists and readers share and receive such information (Sanderson & Hambrick, 2012). When stories appear on the Internet, the ability to send them from one social media platform to the next and share with family and friends creates a heightened focus, particularly when the news involves 1 celebrities. Therefore, the media has more access to delivering information and a more widespread audience through these platforms. In realization of the media’s effect, researchers have extensively studied media and how it frames conversations about rape and sexual assault. In doing so, the framing theory has been used to understand how the world is perceived and to gauge which topics are deemed important and relevant by the media. Volkmer (2009) defined the framing theory to capture specific frames used by the media and to recognize how the media may be biased in its selection of the side of the story it chooses to cover. Framing theory allows for an understanding of the dominant perspective held with subjects. Rape and sexual assault can be contentious issues due to the rape culture, which leads to victim blaming and denial when cases are presented. The framing theory can clarify how rape and sexual assault are perceived and how the conversation around the topic is framed. Hollander and Rodgers (2014) grounded their work in framing theory while assessing how the media portrayed women’s resistance to sexual assault. The researchers found a lack of depiction of women’s resistance or self-defense in a sample of newspaper articles. Hollander and Rodgers expanded their research to establish a broader understanding of the importance of how rape and sexual assault are framed within the media. The researchers stated that the portrayal had implications on how women viewed their ability to fight back if they were assaulted. Along with this, such media presentations depicted women as pliable victims for potential attackers, which could have led to sexual assault being unintentionally encouraged. This study can be understood as an example of the importance of understanding how rape and sexual assault are framed within the media. 2 In recent years, there has been a shift by the media to deliver information online. Although print work exists through newspapers and magazines, the Internet has become the dominant source to view and receive information. Rosensteil, Mitchell, Purcell, and Rainie (2011) found that the Internet surpassed newspapers as a source for information, particularly for individuals who were under 40 years old. Social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, are considered the most popular, along with various forms of blogs and websites. The existence of such platforms has opened the discussion of rape and sexual assault to allow for voices outside of professional journalists. While comparing the differences between how newspapers and blogs framed the 2013 Steubenville rape case where a high school girl was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by two of her peers with several others recording and documenting the assault, Moody-Ramirez, Lewis, and Murray (2015) found that, while newspapers were split between their positive and negative framing of the football players, blogs were more likely to frame them negatively and extended the rape case into a discussion of rape culture. The researchers stated that, while