Sedation Rape and Sedation-Facilitated Sexual Assault: The Media Construction of Medical Professionals Who Drug and Sexually Assault Their Patients

• In Event: It's Not What You Think: Unpacking Drugging Victimization and Perpetration Using Different Methodologies

Abstract

A recent investigative report delivered by writers at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution exposed what appears to be widespread sexual abuse committed by medical professionals. The report suggests that the intellectual advantages and social prominence of well-heeled medical professionals provide them with special resources to commit an undetected series of attacks and to avoid or reduce punishment when they are ultimately apprehended. Thus, the story implies that medical sexual abuse and its control is shaped by money, power, and influence. Similarly, social constructionists argue that class and power shape debates, in part, through the manner in which the media frames social problems. The current study seeks to explore these issues by employing a qualitative approach to analyzing news reporting on doctor-rapists who drug their patients. Drawing from 27 sedation rape/assault media stories, we compare the media construction of doctor-administered drugging rapes to media treatments of stranger street attacks. We found that, compared to stranger street rapists, doctor-rapists are more likely to be referred to as intellectual, calculated and mechanical and their victims are more likely to be characterized as helpless and lacking in agency. Implications for studying the ways in which social class and power shape crime reporting are discussed.

Authors

• Thomas Vander Ven, Ohio University

• Lauren Wright, Northeastern State University

• Clara Fesmire, Ohio University