| One article
specifically about sex workers in Vancouver and the press, and
one about historical representations of aboriginals in Canadian
press; both may be useful for background:
Lowman, John
“Violence and the Outlaw Status of (Street) Prostitution
in Canada.” Violence Against Women. 6.9 (2000): 987
– 1011.
Implicates the Vancouver Sun as a contributor to a “discourse
of disposal” in the early 1980s in BC that may have
helped create a climate in which sex trade workers could be
killed with impunity. No example articles, however. Perhaps
useful as a pre-Pickton backdrop (also has statistics about
sex trade in Vancouver, overview of responses to disappearance
of women).
Harding, Robert
“Historical Representations of Aboriginal People in
the Canadian News Media.” Discourse and Society. 17.2
(2006): 205 – 235.
Critical Discourse and Frame analysis of newspaper coverage
of “flashpoints in the history of aboriginal-non-aboriginal
relations in Canada”. Identifies three frames, and consistencies
between coverage in 1860s and 1990s, which may help when considering
how the aboriginality of some of Pickton’s victims is
being figured in press coverage.
Two articles that provide
analysis of press coverage and readers, providing very specific
ideas about possible interventions.
Anastasio, Phyllis A. and Diana M. Costa
“Twice Hurt: How Newspaper Coverage May Reduce Empathy
and Engender Blame for Female Victims of Crime.” Sex
Roles. 51.9-10 (2004): 535 – 542.
Content Analysis to determine if victims of violent crime
(not including sex crime) are identified differently vis-à-vis
their gender. Also studied readers and found that the inclusion
of personal info helped increase empathy for victims among
male readers. Such info also reduced victim blame among both
male and female readers. Therefore provides evidence for one
specific feature to which one can attend when doing an intervention.
Henley, Nancy M. et al
“Syntax, Semantics, and Sexual Violence: Agency and
the Passive Voice.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology.
14.1 (1995): 60 – 84.
Three studies were conducted to explore the effects of passive
voice in news stories about violence against women. Found
that the passive voice was more commonly used in reporting
of men’s violence against women, and that male readers
of stories in the active voice tended to attribute more harm
and less victim blame to victims/survivors of violence. Also
found that readers of both sexes exposed to stories in the
passive voice were more accepting of, for example, rape myths
(that women provoked their attack). Therefore provides another
specific aspect of story-construction to which one can attend.
A few articles that consider interconnections
of race, class, and gender in relation with violence against
women:
Meyers, Marian
“African American Women and Violence: Gender, Race and
Class in the News.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication.
21.2 (2004): 95 – 118.
Discourse analysis of local TV coverage of an annual weekend
of partying in Atlanta that tended to result in increased
incidents of violence against local, African American women.
Found that the press mitigated the seriousness of the crimes,
and hardly paid attention to them at all. As such, the attackers’
responsibility was undermined, while factors such as the women’s
dress were highlighted, increasing victim blame.
Wilcox, Paula
“Beauty and the Beast: Gendered and Raced Discourse
in the News.” Social and Legal Studies. 14.4 (2005):
515 – 532.
Also emphasizes the importance of considering intersections
of gender and race, and to a lesser degree, class, in a way
that will be useful to consider when analyzing Pickton coverage.
Does a discourse analysis of the murder of two young black
women in Birmingham, noting the need to emphasize their innocence.
Argues that this is borne of assumptions of women’s,
especially women of visible minorities’, guilt.
Cossins, Anne
“Saints, Sluts and Sexual Assault: Rethinking the Relationship
Between Sex, Race and Gender.” Social and Legal Studies.
12.1 (2003): 77 – 103.
Not about media representations, but nonetheless interesting
in its analysis of how laws discriminate not only by sex/gender,
but by race as well. Provides a lengthy theoretical analysis
of a large case study of sexual assault trials in Australia
as she attempts to think through the different experiences
of Aboriginal women complainants. Therefore provides an interesting
addition to issues of media representations of violence against
women. |
|
Articles that
help round out evidence of the press’s tendency to report
on violence against women in manners that decrease its seriousness,
increase victim blame, and otherwise perpetuate myths of femininity:
Carll, Elizabeth K.
“News Portrayals of Violence and Women: Implications for
Public Policy.” American Behavioral Scientist. 46.12 (2003):
1601 – 1610.
A relatively brief and broad article that discusses more generally
how news portrays women as both victims and perpetrators of
violence. Suggests that such coverage in the U.S. and elsewhere
only serves to help one avoid considering the reasons for such
violence and suggests that more thoughtful press attention could
help address these issues.
Korn, Alina and Sivan Efrat
“The Coverage of Rape in the Israeli Popular Press.”
Violence Against Women. 10.9 (2004): 1056 – 1074.
Examines two rape cases in the daily Israeli popular press.
Finds that in both cases the sexual history of the women was
emphasized, perpetuating myths about women’s inability
to be raped if they have ever had consensual sex. Notes the
tendency to air the defendants’ sides far more than the
victims, and suggest that the lurid details were used to help
sell newspapers.
Howe, Adrian
"The War Against Women: Media Representations of Men’s
Violence Against Women in Australia.” Violence Against
Women. 3.1 (1997): 59 – 75
Examines the Melbourne-published paper, The Age’s 1993
series about violence against women. Relatively brief in its
analysis of how the coverage emphasized such violence as aberrant,
something in which women can acquiesce, and undermined feminist
analyses to the contrary.
Michelle, Carolyn and C. Kay Weaver
“Discursive Manoeuvres and Hegemonic
Recuperations in New Zealand Documentary Representations of
Domestic Violence.” Feminist Media Studies. 3.3 (2003):
283 – 299.
Examination of documentaries made in connection with a NZ campaign
to raise public awareness of domestic violence. However, notes
numerous ways in which these documentaries mitigated men’s
responsibility while increasing that of women, and also tended
to skirt issues of the social roots of men’s violence
against women.
Barnett, Barbara
“Perfect Mother or Artist of Obscenity? Narrative and
Myth in a Qualitative Analysis of Press Coverage of the Andrea
Yates Murders.” Journal of Communication Inquiry. 29.1
(2005): 9 – 29.
Narrative analysis of press coverage of Yates’s drowning
of her five children. Identifies two main narrative and sub-themes,
arguing throughout that the coverage reinforced myths about
women’s natural predisposition to care taking. Also suggests
that issues of post-partum depression were largely avoided.
Therefore provides an interesting counter-point to articles
in which women are victims, as Barnett still finds a persistent
reinforcement of ideas about women’s proper roles and
behavior.
General Feminist Media Resources
in Canada
Mahtani, Minelle. 2005. "Gendered News
Practices: The Experiences of Women Journalists in Different
National Contexts" in Allan, Stuart (ed). Journalism: Critical
Issues. London: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill publishers.
Pp. 299-310.
Mahtani, Minelle. 2001. "Mapping the Meanings
of "Racism" and "Feminism" among Women Television
Broadcast Journalists in Canada" in Twine, France Winddance
and Kathleen Blee (eds). Feminism and Anti-Racism: International
Struggles. New York: New York University Press. Pp. 349-366.
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