Media Influences on Cultural Norms that Perpetuate Sexual Violence and Silence Victims in the U.S. and India: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Analysis
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Johnson, Wendy M.
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Johnson, Wendy M. 2022. Media Influences on Cultural Norms that Perpetuate Sexual Violence and Silence Victims in the U.S. and India: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Analysis. Master's thesis, Harvard University Division of Continuing Education.Abstract
A global culture of sexual violence exists across the world and is found within families, institutions, communities, faiths, and all socioeconomic backgrounds. A sexual violence culture exists when people go to great lengths to protect the perpetrator(s), thus emboldening their actions, and where the media and family silence victims for coming forward with their experience. This cross-cultural analysis between the U.S. and India focuses on the media’s influence on cultural norms—norms that perpetuate sexual violence and silence victims of both child sexual abuse and adult sexual assault. The study seeks to show how this issue has evolved over a 40-year span in the two countries.A structured random sample of articles was extracted from The New York Times and The Times of India between 1980 and 2019 using the keyword phrase, “sexual abuse.” This phrase was found in both newspaper articles across all four decades. A content analysis was then conducted on the selected sample articles. The sample articles included incident reports on specific episodes of sexual abuse as well as feature articles that reported more generally on sexual abuse.
Among the incident reports, the average age of victims in both countries was young, just 11 to 17 years. Female victims were reported more than males in both countries. Incident reports were typically presented in reports that focused on the criminal justice system. The feature articles discussed sexual abuse in a broader context across a range of social and cultural themes. Such feature articles in particular could be used to sensitize and educate society to challenge cultures of sexual violence. Unfortunately, the intended audience (perpetrators) and those enabling them most likely are not reading articles about sexual abuse. Thus, the media’s message on sexual abuse needs to be made more relevant to the enablers, and specifically, those who know but do not say anything. Silence and covering up is the biggest part of the cycle besides the actual abuse. In both countries the media’s characterization of sexual abuse often used inappropriate and even harmful terminology.
Although both countries may be considered patriarchal, women have more individual freedoms in the U.S. Despite these freedoms, however, the U.S. media, like India, shamed, blamed, and ostracized girls and women for disclosing their experience with sexual abuse. In addition, multiple victims of the same perpetrator were reported in both countries as well as multiple perpetrators involved in the abuse. A sexual abuse perpetrator culture clearly exists in both countries.
Societies suffer from their respective media’s failure to challenge misguided notions of sexual abuse. This failure contributes to the perpetuation of cultures of sexual violence that in turn leads to sexual abuse. The findings from this thesis research illuminate the media’s role in perpetuating a culture of sexual violence. These findings also support and emphasize the need for educating journalists on how to challenge cultures of sexual violence. The media needs to improve society’s awareness of and sensitivity to sexual violence, not perpetuate it.
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