From Fritzl to #metoo: Twelve Years of Rape Coverage in the British Press

Description

This is the first longitudinal study of the language used by the British press to talk about rape. Through a diachronic analysis informed by corpus linguistics and feminist theory, Tranchese examines how rape discourse has (or has not) changed over the past decade. With its detailed investigation of media representations, the book explores how age-old myths about sexual violence re-emerge in different forms within news narratives. Against the backdrop of twelve years of newspaper coverage of rape, including many high-profile cases, this study also traces the rise of “celebrity culture”, the emergence of #metoo, and the development of the backlash against it. The author places these historical events and recent trends within broader debates on feminism and the role played by (social) media in shaping contemporary rape discourse. This book provides a much-needed linguistic analysis which will be of particular interest to scholars and students of feminist studies, language and gender, corpus-assisted discourse studies, and gendered crime. Acknowledgements Praise for From Fritzl to #metoo Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1 Not Another Book About Male Violence Against Women! Sexual Violence as a Gendered Crime Structure of the Book Notes References Part I Setting the Scene 2 Defining the Field Defining Sexual Violence: Beyond the Myth The “Cry-Rape Girl” Stranger Danger Sexual Violence and the News The News Value of Sexual Violence Discourse, Media, and Ideology Note References 3 Method, Context, and Data Methodological Considerations Critical Discourse Analysis: An Overview Corpus Linguistics Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics Contextualising the Data The Media Landscape in the UK Male Violence Against Women in the UK—Legal Definitions Prevalence of Male Violence Against Women in the UK Dataset and Trends Selection and Distribution of Newspapers Over Time Selection and Distribution of Search Terms Over Time Rape Assault Abuse Harassment Summary of trends Notes References Part II At the Surface 4 The Different Names of Sexual Violence Behind the Scenes Keywords Frequency and Dispersion of Keywords What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Rape and Sexual Assault? Homogeneous Keywords Across Themes Notes References 5 Sexual Violence Across Time Behind the Scenes Diachronic Keywords and Diachronic Collocates Terminating, Initiating, Consistent, and Transient Keywords How Did the Discourse of Rape and Sexual Assault Evolve Over Time? Diachronic Semantic Fields in the R Corpus Consistent Semantic Fields in the R Corpus Terminating Semantic Fields in the R Corpus Initiating Semantic Fields in the R Corpus Diachronic Semantic Fields in the A Corpus Consistent Semantic Fields in the A Corpus Terminating Semantic Fields in the A Corpus Initiating Semantic Fields in the A Corpus Notes References Part III Delving Deeper 6 It’s Not just Semantics Behind the Scenes Collocations and Collocation Analysis Statistical Measures for Collocation Analysis Semantic Preference and Discourse Prosody WordSketches and SketchEngine Thesaurus Concordances and Concordance Analysis Who Rapes and Who Is Raped? Who Assaults, Abuses, and Harasses? When Rape Is not Enough When Rape Is No Longer an Action A Vehement Denial What’s in a Name? Notes References 7 Emerging Patterns Behind the Scenes Seasonal and Diachronic Collocates Lexical Priming N-grams Concordance Keywords and Sub-Corpora Keywords WordSketch Difference What’s New About Rape? Alleged Alleged Victim Alleged Rape Allegedly Guilty Not Guilty or Innocent? Notes References 8 Disappearing Patterns Jail The “Other” (and the “Ideal Victim”) The “Golden Boy” (and the “Cry-Rape Girl”) Attempted Notes References Part IV Before and After 9 Does Rape Attract Murder? Behind the Scenes GraphColl and Collocation Networks Does Rape Attract Murder? Femicide and “Sexual Murders” in the UK “Sexual Murders” in 2009 Identikit of a “Sexual Murderer” What Was Missing? “Sexual Murders” in 2018 Identikit of a “Sexual Murder(er)” What Was (Still) Missing? A Note on Some Recent Cases Notes References 10 #metoo: The Good, the Bad, and the Backlash A Brief Excursus of the Key Debates and Main Events Surrounding #metoo The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly The Good Changing What Counts as Sexual Violence No More Labels #IBelieveHer A Global Movement Numbers Matter The Bad Nothing New on the Horizon Not All Women Are Equal It Is Still Just “Rotten Apples” Visibility Does Not Equal Social Change The Ugly (the Backlash) The Personification of #metoo Note References 11 From Fritzl to #metoo: What Has Changed? Timeline of Perpetrators Types of Violence Believing Victims Speak Tell Say Notes References 12 CONCLUSION Joining the Dots Three Age-Old Issues Women’s Credibility Is the New Short Skirt “It’s 1994 and the Shit Is Hitting the Fan. Women Are Pissed” In a Post-Feminist World, Women Are the Oppressors Bringing the Attention Back to the Structure References Index