Good Victim Vs. Bad Victim and The Role the Media Plays in Framing Societal Thoughts, Practices and Standards
Danielle Haynes | September 23 | 9:00 - 10:00 AM | Room 2592
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the role of the media and how it influences people’s mindset and how we respond to events. Danielle will do this by explaining victimhood (good victim vs. bad victim) and how these terms are influenced by the media and people’s perception. Throughout this presentation she will be referencing media framing-- which is the action of shaping or directing one’s thoughts, actions, powers, etc towards a certain cause or purpose. To be clear framing is the study of communication in which the source selects some facets of events, problem, or issue and make connections among them as to promote a particular interpretation.
This is absolutely the case when it comes to a good rape victim versus a bad rape victim. The media highlights a good rape victim as a woman raped by a stranger in a dark alley. Reality tells us that the majority of rapes happen by acquaintances “people we know”. However, it is the victims of those rapes that are identified as the bad victim due to media’s portrayal of what a good rape is. The media currently focus more on the rape victim and their behavior than that of the offender. The media must change its coverage of highlighting the victim to highlighting the wrong action of the offender to help bring justice to the survivors. Purpose of this session is to highlight media framing, explain the truths about RAPE, and to possibly address a solution moving forward.