‘The Nirbhaya who lived’
conflicting discourses and shifting ideologies in Femina’s linguistic representations of rape victims and their perpetrators
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.34994Keywords:
sexual violence, indian women’s lifestyle magazines, feminist critical discourse analysisAbstract
This article examines representations of sexual violence in Femina, an Englishlanguage women’s lifestyle magazine aimed at middle-class Indian women. A story of rape, written from the perspective of the victim, a lower-caste Indian woman is analysed using feminist critical discourse analysis. The analytical interest here rests on tensions within the magazine, vis-à-vis Femina purportedly aims to empower all women, yet in its mediation of rape, this is achieved through a process of othering. The voices of the magazine’s text producers and the rape victim storyteller are compared to reveal conflicting differences and shifting ideologies in their framing of events. Through intertextual reference, the magazine distinguishes between endemic or ‘simple’ and ‘real’ rape cases in terms of caste-based inequalities claiming that endemic rape cases do not attract media attention because of the victim’s low social and economic status. This presents an issue since Femina appeals to high income, independent middle- class women to come to the rescue of lower-caste women, thus reinforcing a power dynamic between them.
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NCRB (2017) Crime in India 2016: Statistics. New Delhi: National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved from http://ncrb.gov.in/StatPublications/CII/CII2016/pdfs/Crime%20Statistics%20-%202016.pdf.
Nettleton, P. H. (2011) Domestic violence in men’s and women’s magazines: women are guilty of choosing the wrong men, men are not guilty of hitting women. Women’s Studies in Communication 34(2): 139–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2011.618240
Parker, J. (2014) ‘Something adequate’? In memoriam Seamus Heaney, Sister Quinlan, Nirbhaya. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 13(1–2): 141–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022214522161
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Reddy, V. (2006) The nationalization of the global Indian woman geographies of beauty in Femina. South Asian Popular Culture 4(1): 61–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746680600555691
Simon-Kumar, R. (2014) Sexual violence in India: the discourses of rape and the discourses of justice. Indian Journal of Gender Studies 21(3): 451–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971521514540711
Suryanarayan, D. (2014) The Nirbhaya who lived. Femina (September): 158–62.
Talbot, M. (1995) A synthetic sisterhood: false friends in a teenage magazine. In K. Hall and M. Bucholtz (eds) Gender Articulated 143–65. London: Routledge.
Udwin, L. (2015) India’s Daughter. BBC Storyville documentary, 4 March. Assassin Films/Tathagat Films.
Weiss, K. (2007) ‘Boys will be boys’ and other gendered accounts: an exploration of victims’ excuses and justifications for unwanted sexual contact and coercion. Violence Against Women 15(7): 810–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801209333611
Baxter, J. (2003) Positioning Gender in Discourse: a Feminist Methodology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bohner, G. (2001) Writing about rape: use of the passive voice and other distancing text features as an expression of perceived responsibility of the victim. British Journal of Social Psychology 40: 515–29. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466601164957
Cameron, D. (2015) Passive aggressive. Retrieved from https://debuk.wordpress.com/tag/passive-voice.
Caringella-MacDonald, S. (1998) The relative visibility of rape cases in national popular magazines. Violence against Women 4(1): 62–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801298004001005
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. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926504045031
Dutta, D. and Sircar, O. (2013) India’s winter of discontent: some feminist dilemmas in the wake of a rape. Feminist Studies 39(1): 293–306.
Ehrlich, S. (2001) Representing Rape: Language and Sexual Consent. London: Routledge.
Estrich, S. (1987) Real Rape. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Garvey, N. (2005) Just Sex? The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape. London: Routledge.
Gautam, N. (2015) The Nirbhaya film India’s Daughter is patronising Western sensationalism. Retrieved on 19 July 2018 from www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indiannews/article-2981548/The-Nirbhaya-film-India-a-s-Daughter-patronising-Western-sensationalism.html accessed.
Gigi Durham, M. (2015) Scene of the crime. Feminist Media Studies 15(2): 175–91.
Halliday, M. A. K and Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014) Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar London: Routledge.
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. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x95141004
Holoshitz, T. and Cameron, D. (2014) The linguistic representation of sexual violence in conflict settings. Gender and Language 8(2): 169–84. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v8i2.169
Jaborooty, M. P. and Baker, P. (2017) Resisting silence: moments of empowerment in Iranian women’s blogs Gender and Language 11(1): 77–99. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.22212
Kapur, R. (2014) Brutalized bodies and sexy dressing on the Indian street. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 20(1): 9–14. ttps://doi.org/10.1086/676890
Kristeva, J. (1986a) The system and the speaking subject. In T. Moi (ed.) The Kristeva Reader 24–33. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Kristeva, J. (1986b) Word, dialogue and novel. In T. Moi (ed.) The Kristeva Reader 34–61. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Lazar, M. (2005) Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender, Power and Ideology in Discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lazar, M. (2014) Recuperating feminism, reclaiming femininity: hybrid postfeminist I-identity in consumer advertisements. Gender and Language 8(2): 205–24. ttps://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v8i2.205
Lees, S. (1997) Ruling Passions: Sexual Violence, Reputation and the Law. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Los, M. and Chamard, S. E. (1997) Selling newspapers or just educating the public? Sexual violence in the media. Canadian Journal of Criminology 39(3): 293–328.
Marhia, N. (2008) Just Representation? Press reporting and the reality of rape. The Lilith Project. London: Eaves.
McDuie-Ra, D. (2012) Violence against women in the militarized Indian frontier: beyond ‘Indian Culture’ in the experiences of ethnic minority women. Violence Against Women 18(3): 322–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801212443114
McLachlin, D., Dhakal, T. and Menon, P. (2012) ‘For all the women you are’: national identity, gender, and tradition/modernity in Indian women’s magazines. Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2573&context=isp_collection.
McLoughlin, L. (2000) The Language of Magazines. London: Routledge.
McLoughlin, L. (2017) A Critical Discourse Analysis of South Asian Women’s Magazines. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mohanty, C. T. (2012) Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822384649-011
Nagar, I. (2016) Reporting rape: language, neoliberalism, and the media. Discourse and Communication 10(3): 257–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481315623900
NCRB (2017) Crime in India 2016: Statistics. New Delhi: National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved from http://ncrb.gov.in/StatPublications/CII/CII2016/pdfs/Crime%20Statistics%20-%202016.pdf.
Nettleton, P. H. (2011) Domestic violence in men’s and women’s magazines: women are guilty of choosing the wrong men, men are not guilty of hitting women. Women’s Studies in Communication 34(2): 139–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2011.618240
Parker, J. (2014) ‘Something adequate’? In memoriam Seamus Heaney, Sister Quinlan, Nirbhaya. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 13(1–2): 141–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022214522161
Penelope, J. (1990) Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies of the Fathers’ Tongues. New York: Pergamon.
Priya, S. (2017) Rape cases in India – has anything changed after the Nirbhaya Incident? Part 1. Retrieved on 31 October 2017 from https://factly.in/rape-cases-in-india-statistics-has-anything-changed-after-the-nirbhaya-incident-part-1.
Reddy, V. (2006) The nationalization of the global Indian woman geographies of beauty in Femina. South Asian Popular Culture 4(1): 61–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746680600555691
Simon-Kumar, R. (2014) Sexual violence in India: the discourses of rape and the discourses of justice. Indian Journal of Gender Studies 21(3): 451–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971521514540711
Suryanarayan, D. (2014) The Nirbhaya who lived. Femina (September): 158–62.
Talbot, M. (1995) A synthetic sisterhood: false friends in a teenage magazine. In K. Hall and M. Bucholtz (eds) Gender Articulated 143–65. London: Routledge.
Udwin, L. (2015) India’s Daughter. BBC Storyville documentary, 4 March. Assassin Films/Tathagat Films.
Weiss, K. (2007) ‘Boys will be boys’ and other gendered accounts: an exploration of victims’ excuses and justifications for unwanted sexual contact and coercion. Violence Against Women 15(7): 810–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801209333611
Published
2019-07-31
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
McLoughlin, L. (2019). ‘The Nirbhaya who lived’: conflicting discourses and shifting ideologies in Femina’s linguistic representations of rape victims and their perpetrators. Gender and Language, 13(2), 202-223. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.34994
