Routine Violence, Routine Frames: The Problematic Dominance of Institutional Frames in News of Violence Against Women

• In Event: Narratives of Crime and Criminal Justice

Abstract

Feminist studies of violence against women (VAW) in the news have generated important critiques of such press coverage. Feminists argue that news coverage of VAW often fails to effectively illuminate the pervasiveness and diversity of such violence in American society, and worldwide. Furthermore, the press often blames women for being victims, for example by questioning their sexual histories. This victim blaming is more common for racially and/or economically marginalized women. The upshot of all this is that news produces a partial and misleading picture of VAW, which constructs disparate classes of victims and offenders. However, feminist research has not fully explored the consequences of the institutional frames most commonly employed in news of VAW. This study argues that one of the most troubling aspects of VAW coverage is that it frames such violence primarily in terms of policing and courts issues, allowing the patriarchal state to claim ownership of the problem, and thus ensuring that this problem is only partially addressed by society.

Author

• Nicholas Chagnon, University of Hawaii at Manoa