In October of 2011, the media could no longer ignore the thousands of protesters camping in Zuccotti Park calling themselves Occupy Wall Street with their battle cry of “We are the 99 percent” (Gitlin 50). The social movement began to bring awareness on economic inequality in which 99 percent of the wealth was controlled by one percent of the population. The name Occupy Wall Street began because the protestors were occupying the space outside of Wall Street through setting up tents and refusing to leave the location (Gitlin 26). As more and more protestors flocked to the camps, the movement broadened its goals to include a wide variety of issues including agriculture, housing and student loans. Described as lacking any clear-cut goals for the movement by the media, news pundits bickered over the credibility of the movement and if these protestors would create the next social revolution in the United States (DeLuca, Lawson, and Sun 491). The coverage of the movement varied from newspaper to newspaper, but the framing of coverage continued to show a disorganized, but large movement that showed no signs of stopping. As Occupy Wall Street gained momentum, the public became aware of sexual assaults occurring within the Occupy Wall Street camps. As a result of this information, media began covering these assaults as part of their Occupy Wall Street coverage. This project will use a feminist media analysis of mainstream newspapers to explore the discourse around the ideology of sexual assault and women protesting in public space. I argue that the coverage of sexual assaults during Occupy Wall Street used a “blame the victim” narrative to link the participation of women protesting in public space to gender based violence. Feminist researc... ... middle of paper ... ... goal as feminists is to end gender-based violence, we must look at how dominant news outlets shape messages of sexual assault. Not only does the Occupy Wall Street sexual assault coverage have repercussions for sexual assault survivors, but also it could create challenges as it relates to women occupying public spaces for public protests. Mass media displaying victim blaming narratives send a strong message to women that protesting can only occur using a narrow framework to accesses public space. The victim blaming messages can hinder women’s participation in larger social movements because of the fear of sexual assault occurring. By exploring the connections between women’s occupation of public space and sexual assault coverage, this project will demonstrate how pervasive and intertwined society’s understanding of sexual assault and the public/private divide is.
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Show MoreRape and rape culture have been a longstanding issue in American society. Looking at modern influences such as the media, our nation’s history, and the way our Consider the following: How has rape culture evolved through our history? What role does the media play in rape culture? And most importantly, how has rape become institutionalized in American society?
In America, protest has been used throughout history as a vehicle to change. Protests bring attention to issues that would or could be overlooked or ignored. A current protest receiving national attention in our media is the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest. The Occupy Wall Street protest, along with other Occupy branch protests are essentially ineffective protests. When compared to successful protests in the past, they are not having as much success gaining public support. There are many reasons this could be the case. There is no clearly defined goal or a specified outcome resulting from the protests. They are managing their funds inefficiently and in many cities they are creating more problems than they are solving.
As the term “rape culture” grows in popularity, it is imperative to break it down to understand what it actually means. According to a report by the Marshall University Women’s Center, “Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture”. Rape culture is supplemented by the objectification of women’s bodies, glamorization of sexual violence, as well as many other saddening realities in society. A sad outcome of rape culture in todays society is that women are often seen as the one at fault in rape. Commonly excuses are immediately made for them men, such as blaming the girl for being too intoxicated, blaming the girl for the way she was dressed, or even blaming the girl for speaking out about it at all. A perfect example of rape culture in the media took place in Steubenville, Ohio. A 16-year-old girl, incapacitated by alcohol, was gang raped by two high school football players who then shared photos of the assault on their social networking sites and with their friends. Immediately, mainstream news and media began to blame the victim saying she should not have chosen to get so intoxicated in the first place. The two boys were given the minimum allowed sentence of 1 and 2 years. This court case caused an uproar and a
Many women live their lives in fear. One of the major problems with the feminist movement is that it perpetuates many stereotypes which are simply not true but based on the behaviors of a small minority of those in the feminist movement. When a woman identifies herself as a feminist it should mean that she is in favor of not being discriminated against because of her sexBut when a woman stands up for herself in the workplace or in society at large, there are a lot of generalizations that people unfairly characterize them with.. They are assumed to be difficult, unhappy and dislike all men. The stereotypical feminist is a bra burning, hairy, metrosexual lesbian, who believes men should only be used from breeding until we find a way to do it without them. However, this is simply a use of stereotyping that generalizes all women and makes it difficult for real conversation to occur. Whenever a generalization is presented as a truth then the individuality of all women is jeopardized. This is particularly the case, even today when the issue of rape is mentioned. Often the legal system of the United States make it difficult on the victim and in some cased place the blame on them for an unwanted sexual attack, to the point that the trauma of the trial is worse than the attack itself. Women are interrogated like harden criminals instead of victims. One small mistake and a woman can be labeled a liar. Or it might be the case where the defendant swims fast, so he is not deemed a menace to society. Associating people with a certain level of power over other people because they were born with or without certain genitals needs to end. Power over another person is not okay. Rape culture has grown out the idea that someone can be controlled. This needs to be changed so that all women and men are secure in their bodies and wellbeing wherever they
I am a feminist. I knew this before Beyoncé infamously defined the “F” word on the VMA stage in 2014. I knew this before a major party nominated a female to be their candidate for President of the United States despite criticisms. I certainly knew this before Brock Turner sexually assaulted a woman behind a dumpster and only received six months, but was released in three months due to his “good behavior” (privilege). Judith Lorber speaks on forms of all this in her book Gender Inequality as she examines the now thirteen types of feminism. Before I started reading the book I classified myself as a radical feminist. I quickly became aware of my connection to third wave feminism through women’s direct engagement of with feminism, women’s rise
Despite rape culture being clearly relevant in most all forms of media, many people choose to argue against it. Many point to the fact that even if rape is a common crime it is still considered especially heinous. Others complain that rape culture is too much about the female agenda when rape is more about men. Dr. Tara J. Palmatier says, “Meanwhile, no one ever discusses adult male rape victims who, believe it or not, do exist and in far greater numbers than female rape victims.” She also claims that “The reality is that more men are raped every year in jail than women in the general population.”(2a) Dr. Tara believes that men should be in more fear of women than the other way around. According the the Munoz-Rivas, more women engage in psychological aggression and Parity states that women’s use of physical aggression is equal to that of men (2a). Because of the points put forth by Dr. Tara J. Palmatier, many people are under the impression that rape culture doesn't exist in the slightest.
Women’s issues are a huge concern to me as I transition into the adult world, especially when sexual assaults are associated with the college culture. From the streets of America to a child bride in Africa, women are suffering from abuse, harassment, and mistreatment. The feminist movement has enhanced life for women, but, in modern society, there are many areas that still need improvement. If we want to resolve issues over the treatment of women, we must tackle and overcome negative views of women, take preventive measures to ensure the safety of women, and bring attention to these injustices.
Demonstrating a form of protest that was more of an art form and a statement than riots and violence, in September 2011, people occupied New York 's financial district of Wall Street over issues that Henry David
Recently, the “#MeToo” movement has been creating a platform for people, more specifically women, to come out about being victims of sexual assault. Creating an open conversation about sexual assault is a great way to use social media, yet there are still issues being created by this movement. The most significant of those issues is men being accused of sexual assault publicly and forced out of their professions through social pressure with no hard evidence, only anecdotal. In addition, there is a large grey area between sexual assault, sexual harassment, and misread signals between the alleged victim and perpetrator. This is leading to accused assaulters who meant no harm in their actions to be publicly recognized as a criminal with no course
This event in particular shook me as I had run past the exact same spot, on the exact same day, one hour later than she had, and without pepper spray”. She says that these occurrences are not uncommon and as stated before, she says women are targeted over men unproportionally. She feels that simply because of her gender, she is being targeted and that makes her feel unsafe and uneasy even in these heavily policed places. Soffe does fail to show true evidence that there is a disparity between men and women and that women are truly targeted more however, she truly connects to her audience by connecting sexism to her everyday life making her more relatable. This example really bridges the gap between reader and writer. Individual experience with sexism can vary a lot depending on where you live, work, and study and this connection Soffe makes to her audience especially those who are currently in college. Soffe is a clear example of real sexism happening in everyday life and her example makes the issue see much more real to her audience and more of an issue that needs to be
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
In Jane Gilmore’s “Has social media ruined feminism?” published by The Sydney Morning Herald news website, she tackles the ongoing controversial topic of feminism, which has grown to a boiling rage over decades of oppression and silence for many who have been let down by the system that victims so desperately needed. Jane expresses her outrage of the defense of the #NotAllMen tag as well as the dull criticism of the recent #MeToo movement given by Katie Roiphe with the real and genuine explanation of the #MeToo movement that has recently manifested through social media.
In order to better understand society’s attitudes towards sexual assault on college campuses, Ashley Giraldi and Elizabeth Monk-Turner have analyzed the comments on a local media post about an incident involving banners with sexually charged messages on them that happened at a large southeastern university during its move in day. They discuss how social media affects almost every aspect of our lives and the information we see, specifically concerning rape culture. There are two approaches to looking at the way social media perpetuates rape culture: through perpetuating hegemonic masculinity or the “boys will be boys” ideology and by normalizing rape culture in fraternities. The data gathered about the story came from comments on a Facebook
The main article that will be utilized within this event analysis on the topic of the Occupy Wall Street Protests is Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in the U.S in Response to Occupy Wall Street. This particular article looks at Occupy Wall Street broadly through the discussion of several topics such as policing guidelines, international laws and protest rights and the excessive use of force conducted by the police. The specific section of this article I will be
Sexual violence is a national issue that permeates every aspect society. Sexual assault and rape is an ongoing problem, evident by the troubling statistic that roughly 20 million out of 112 million women (18.0%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Ruggiero, Conoscenti, McCauley, 2007). Despite the continuous push for gender equality, the current culture of society perpetuates victim-blaming tendencies towards innate cognitive processes and media influences.