The linguistic representation of sexual violence in conflict settings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v8i2.169Keywords:
rape, sexual violence, conflict, news mediaAbstract
Although numerous studies have examined the representation of sexual violence in news and legal discourse, less is known about its representation when it occurs in the context of military and political conflict. This study analyses reports from the New York Times on two such contexts: the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Analysis reveals both similarities with the language used to report rape in non-conflict settings, and differences between the language used to describe rape and sexual abuse in the two settings. It is argued that reporting on the DRC uses an illustrative frame, which presents violence against women in sexualized terms and neglects to identify perpetrators or interrogate their motives. Reporting on Abu Ghraib, by contrast, uses an investigative frame, which de-emphasizes both the sexual nature of the abuse and the experiences of victims, focusing instead on the perpetrators as objects of judicial examination.
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Biber, D. and Conrad, S. (2001) Register variation: a corpus approach. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen and H. E. Hamilton (eds) The Handbook of Discourse Analysis 175–96. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Bonnes, S. (2013) Gender and racial stereotyping in rape coverage. Feminist Media Studies 13(2): 208–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2011.623170
Chari, T. (2010) Representation or misrepresentation? The New York Times’s framing of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. African Identities 8(4): 333–49.
Clark, K. (1998) The linguistics of blame: representations of women in the Sun’s reporting of crimes of sexual violence. In D. Cameron (ed.) The Feminist Critique of Language 183–97. London: Routledge.
Coates, L. and Wade, A. (2004) Telling it like it isn’t: obscuring perpetrator responsibility for violent crime. Discourse and Society 15(5): 499–526. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926504045031
Coates, L., Bavelas, J. B. and Gibson, J. (1994) Anomalous language in sexual assault trial judgments. Discourse and Society 5(2): 189–206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926594005002003
Ehrlich, S. (2001) Representing Rape: Language and Sexual Consent. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203459034
Estrich, S. (1988) Real Rape. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fowler, R., Hodge, B., Kress, G. and Trew, T. (1979) Language and Control. London: Routledge.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Martin, J. R. (1993) Writing Science. London: Falmer Press.
Henley, N. M., Miller, M. and Beazley, J. A. (1995) Syntax, semantics, and sexual violence: agency and the passive voice. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 14(1–2): 60–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0261927X95141004
Human Rights Watch (2009) Soldiers who rape, commanders who condone: sexual violence and military reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Retrieved on 20 February 2012 from www.hrw.org/reports/2009/07/16/soldiers-who-rape-commanders- who-condone
Human Rights Watch (2010) Trail of death: LRA atrocities in northeastern Congo. Retrieved on 20 February 2012 from www.hrw.org/reports/2010/03/28/trail-death
MacKinnon, C. A. (1993) On torture: a feminist perspective on human rights. In K. E. Mahoney and P. Mahoney (eds) Human Rights in the Twenty-First Century 21–31. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
MacMartin, C. (2002) (Un)reasonable doubt? The invocation of children’s consent in sexual abuse trial judgments. Discourse and Society 13(1): 9–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926502013001002
Mautner, G. (2005) For-profit discourse in the nonprofit and public sectors. In G. Erreygers and G. Jacobs (eds) Language, Communication and the Economy 25–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Myers, S. M. (2004) The reach of war: detainees; testimony from Abu Ghraib prisoners describes a center of violence and fear. New York Times, 22 May. Retrieved on 24 May 2012 from www.nytimes.com/2004/05/22/world/reach-war-detainees-testimony-abu-ghraib-prisoners-describes-center-violence.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Taguba, A. (2004) Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade. Retrieved on 20 February 2012 from www.npr.org/iraq/2004/prison_abuse_report.pdf
van Dijk, T. A. (1988) News as Discourse. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wall, M. A. (1997) The Rwanda crisis: an analysis of news magazine coverage. International Communication Gazette 59(2): 121–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0016549297059002003
Wood, L. A. and Rennie, H. (1994) Formulating rape: the discursive construction of victims and villains. Discourse and Society 5(1): 125–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926594005001006
Published
2014-06-25
Issue
Section
Special Issue Articles
How to Cite
Holoshitz, T., & Cameron, D. (2014). The linguistic representation of sexual violence in conflict settings. Gender and Language, 8(2), 169-184. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v8i2.169
