Berrington, E., Honkatukia, P. (2002). An Evil Monster and a Poor Thing: Female
Violence in Media. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 3(1): 50-72.
Berrington and Honkatukia examine patriarchal constructs of British news media using case of Rosemary West as an example and comparing by way of contrast to the Finnish reporting on Sanna Sillanpaa, another female "killer." The ways in which media representations of these two women differed suggest that the cultural societies in which they lived espoused different views regarding women and violence.
This article is interesting because it supports what the study by Naylor (2002) shows, which is that media representations are gender-skewed in the British news. Women who commit violent acts are described in monstrous terms as though they were the epitome of evil, whereas in other countries there is more sympathy or sensitivity expressed in the media and therefore felt by the public. As far as Rosemary West is concerned, she is remembered in England as a monster because the murders that were committed are viewed as particularly unnatural when a woman is involved, according to media representations in England, so this article posits.
The researchers assert that the reason for the gender bias is that England has a patriarchal culture which views women in a particular light and any movement or activity by them outside of that light instantly casts them in a dubious gray light. They are seen as less natural, as something wicked, whereas men are simply accepted as they are. What the researchers claim is that these representations say more about the culture that delivers them than the individuals they are reporting on. The Finnish example, for instance, shows how a different culture displays more gender sensitivity and responsibility in its treatment of female violence.
I would recommend this article to anyone interested in how media representations foster bias in cultures and/or how cultures foster media bias. It is particularly relevant for gender studies and students interested in the sociology of violence and media.
Emmers-Sommer, T., Pauley, P., Hanzal, A., Triplett, L. (2006). Love, Suspense, Sex,
and Violence: Men's and Women's Film Predilections, Exposure to Sexually Violent Media, and their Relationship to Rape Myth Acceptance. Sex Roles, 55: 311-320.
Emmers-Sommer et al. analyze the relationship between sex and violence in media and gender preferences and find that men prefer films with more sex and violence than women do. Women, on the contrary, prefer love stories more than more do. Men, however, are more accepting of the rape myth than women are. Emmers-Sommer et al. see a correlation between men's preferences and rape myth acceptance and women's preferences and than lack of rape myth acceptance.
In a lot of ways, the study arrives at conclusions that would seem obvious on the surface. However, the researchers offer "theoretical explanations for the findings" which are interesting in their own right (p. 311). The researchers discuss the notion that men's attitudes toward women can be negatively affected by violent and/or sexually explicit films and/or sexually violent films. They argue that expose to such media can affect the way that men value women if the exposure coincides with other social factors. One finding that Emmers-Sommer et al. note is that women's attitudes towards rape myth acceptance fluctuated if the film they were viewing was a true story. For men, whether it was true or not did not alter their opinions one way or the other.
In a sense, this study suggests that men or more insensitive to rape than are women, that they tend to favor films which are violent and/or sexual (though not in a romantic sense), whereas women tend toward more sensitive films (romantic love stories). This study appears to support stereotypical findings regarding gender preferences, so for that reason it might be dismissed as conservative. The researchers do provide an extensive literature review to show what other researchers have found in the past, so what they illustrate here is not surprising.
Overall the study does not really offer anything new other than the concept that violently sexual films reinforce negative stereotypical ideas regarding rape myth acceptance in men, and that women's exposure to such films when based on a true story can be negatively influenced as well. The study, in my opinion, might have benefitted from a more in-depth analysis of rape myth acceptance as it was assumed for the most part by the researchers that the reader would have a common understanding...
A in millions) Current in millions) Provided by Federal Bureau of Investigation as of September 18, 2006. www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/3ae6b1ac94aa97e6650780f280890a7c81100e47.html" CHART: National Correctional Populations National Correctional Populations The number of adults in correctional population has been increasing. A in millions) Current million in millions) Provided by Bureau of Justice Statistics as of November 30, 2006. (Social Statistics Briefing Room, 2006) More Statistics Violence in the Media Huston and colleagues have estimated that the average 18-year-old will have viewed 200,000 acts of violence on
The spin that often surrounds war, is fundamentally damaging even if it is intended as damage control for the nation as a whole, or at the very least the leaders of the nation. Public Belief It has been hinted at within this work that the old adage, the public does not necessarily believe what it hears, but it hears what it believes is at play when it comes to media. As
Conclusion: The police adapting to rapid changes in technology is felt in two ways -- primarily in using the technology that comes with new inventions for the police like better weapons, communication networks and so on for which they have to be thoroughly trained. The specialist has also to be trained in many issues like cyber crimes, and use of sophisticated computers and machines for crime. Police with an up-to-date mass
There are a variety of theoretical explanations that have been put forward to explain female abuse and violent crimes against women. These include feminist and gender theories and extend to theories of genetic pathology. However, in the criminological literature a distinction is made between two categories of explanation. On the one hand, there are theories that tend to focus on individual pathology and forms of deviance that can lead to these
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