The Steubenville Rape Case: Rape Culture and Internet Society

• In Event: Rape in the Media and Responses

Abstract

The rape of 16-year-old girl by two high school football stars in Steubenville, Ohio was one of several high-profile stories that put rape culture in the spotlight of US media discourse during 2013. Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the Steubenville rape case was that it was a trial by media that played out on the Internet while the case progressed offline. In fact, the case likely would never have gained national notoriety if evidence of the crime had not circulated widely online. News coverage focused intensely on this aspect of the case, and it highlighted the ambivalence simmering in US culture towards new information and communications technologies. Two prominent narratives emerged in coverage: one of these technologies as a valuable crime-fighting tool, and another regarding the supposedly corrupting influence Internet culture has on youth. The presentation examines how these narratives emerged in news coverage of the Steubenville case, and considers their implications regarding public conceptions of rape culture and violence against women.

Author

• Nicholas Chagnon, University of Hawaii at Manoa