Read all about it: A linguistic analysis of the media's construction of rape

Abstract

This paper investigates the way the media discusses the topic of rape, with respect to both its overall distribution and description in a spoken news corpus, as well as a qualitative analysis of a more recent article. Past research has shown that the media controls the framing of a story, which in turn, can strongly impact the conceptualization and understanding of that issue. The present study applies this past research to the issue of sexual assault and finds that although the media’s discussion of rape can have positive effects, such as the encouragement of policy changes, it tends to discuss this issue in a way that supports popular rape myths, thus perpetuating the current rape culture of the United States.