Last Name 1
Sample 4
ENC 1102-U22
Professor Anderson
09 February 2014
Media Perpetuation of Violence Against Women
Historically, violence against women, and more specifically rape, has been
illustrated by the media as a nuisance crime that lurks in the shadows, exclusive only to
people of certain social contexts. This misconception creates a schism within society of
“civilized” and “other” in which the “civilized” consider rape to be so beneath contempt
that they are impervious to committing it. It is in this comfortable disdain that people,
regardless of social location, ignore the insidious psychological impact that media has on
them, which in turn manifests rape supportive attitudes. As a Women’s Studies major, the
victimization of women drives my ambition to create change in our cultural landscape,
but in order to do that, I must first gain insight into the misogynistic attitudes that are
embedded in our culture and later socialized into men in particular who perpetrate this
heinous crime.
For the purposes of variety, I will be focusing on three different agencies of
media: video games, pornography, and “slasher” films, each of which implies different
levels of social acceptability, which in turn suggests their level of impact based on
accessibility. It is through the media that violent acts against women are depicted, leading
to the instillation of rape supportive attitudes which consequently act as catalysts for the
actual execution of the crime. This begs the question that if various media forms are
subliminally perpetuating rape supportive attitudes with depictions of violence against
women, how can we eradicate these misogynistic attitudes from our culture? Also, is it
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possible and constitutional for this violence to be censored or for stricter regulations to be
implemented?
When conducting my research, I first began with the most engaging and
immersing media agent: video games, more specifically, the Grand Theft Auto industry.
The GTA industry has not only trumped the revenue of Avatar, the best selling movie of
all time, but it is also record breaking on multiple grounds. It holds the record for best
selling/highest grossing video game in 24 hours, as well as fastest videogame/
entertainment property to gross $1 billion, which should suggest it’s relevancy and the
level of impact that the game has on our tech-savvy society (Lynch). Not only are video
games visually conducive of violence, but they subliminally situate the player inside of
the virtual world, which indubitably elicits more mental commitment from the player
than a strictly visual medium, such as a movie, would.
With no prior knowledge of the psychological effect of video games, I searched
the scholarly online database EBSCOhost, using keywords such as “Grand Theft Auto,”
and “violence against women,” with the intent of finding scientific studies that would
show a significant statistical linkage between exposure to violent video games and rape. I
came across a report on the first study to use “actual video game playing and control for
causal order,” (Beck 3016) called “Violence Against Women in Video Games: A
Prequel or Sequel to Rape Myth Acceptance?” from the Journal of Interpersonal
Violence. During the study, participants were first pretested, then “treated” by watching
Grand Theft Auto IV being played in a controlled setting, and finally post-tested for
“rape-supportive attitudes” using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Participants
were asked to rank statements such as, “A lot of women lead a man on and then cry
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rape,” (Beck 3021) on degree of agreement from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). The studies
found that “sexual objectification…and violence against women in video games do
increase rape myths in male participants,” or rather, “prejudicial, stereotyped, or false
beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists” (Beck 3025, 3018).
Given that Grand Theft Auto IV provides a virtual outlet have sex with prostitutes
and then shoot them, as well as go to strip clubs and touch hyper-sexualized dancers
(non-consensually), it is no surprise that rape perpetration among the GTA IV age
demographic has rapidly risen from 0.4 to 0.8 per 1000 from 1973-2008, plausibly in
correspondence with increasing industry sales (Beck 3026). Although there is no direct
correlation between sexually violent video games and the actual execution of rape, an
inference can be made that if men are establishing virtual identities as murderers, and
advancing in the game for adequately committing the crime, then this would suggest a
consequential break in reality when rape, a more ambiguous crime than murder,
crystallizes and the perpetrator dissociates from the situation. Also, due to the rapesupportive attitudes that violent video games facilitate, this leads to a decrease in
sympathy for sexually victimized women.
Although this article was helpful for an immediate, face value explanation of how
video games perpetuate rape causal attitudes; it provides insight into the reactionary
aggressive attitudes of players rather than the rudimentary psychological detriments of
playing violent games. This gave me incentive to search for a more comprehensive study
on the matter: one that would provide an in depth, psychological analysis applicable to
various agents of misogynistic media, not just video games.
I came across an article titled “Brief report: Does exposure to violent video games
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increase moral disengagement among adolescents?” by Alessandro Gabbiadini, a
professor from the Department of Psychology at the University of Milamo-Bicocca in
Italy. In his article, Gabbiadini outlines a study that was conducted in attempt to “provide
preliminary evidence that exposure to [violent video games] affects the process of moral
disengagement,” (Gabbiadini 1403). Rather than being exposed to Grand Theft Auto IV
in a controlled setting, participants of various ages and genders were given a
questionnaire based on their preexisting familiarity with the game. In order to test for
exposure as a causal factor in moral disengagement, participants were given questions
relating to the relevance of GTA IV in their lives, as well as modified questions derived
from the Moral Disengagement Scale. The scale tests the five different mechanisms of
moral disengagement: moral justification, advantageous comparison, diffusion of
responsibility, distortion of consequences, and dehumanization (Gabbiadini 1404). In
three of the mechanisms, results showed that level of moral disengagement was only
dependent on recency of exposure to GTA IV; however, frequency of exposure was
significant only when testing for advantageous comparison, and dehumanization was not
dependent on either factors of exposure.
This study was helpful in examining the various psychological grounds that moral
disengagement takes place, which in turn offers explanation as to how sexual violence
against women could reify beyond virtual borders. When examining the five mechanisms
of moral disengagement, they are very much pertinent to rape justification narratives, i.e.,
“The victim was asking for it by dressing provocatively,” (moral justification), “She led
me on, it wasn’t rape,” (diffusion of responsibility), and “She deserved it,”
(dehumanization). However, since GTA IV was not a controlled variable, this muddies
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the accuracy of the study, and since gender and age were the only variants tested, this
study fails to account for participants’ individual differences and possible predispositions
to violent mentalities.
When considering the incredibly active role that gamers have in their virtual
experience, it is no surprise that video games have subliminally encouraged players to
transpose their violent actions outside of virtual bounds. This led me to question the
sexually violent consequences of a media agency that requires even less engagement
from the viewer: pornography.
I began my research on pornography with an article titled “Pornography,
Individual Differences in Risk and Men’s Acceptance of Violence Against Women in a
Representative Sample” by Neil M. Malamuth, a professor in the Department of
Communication and Psychology at University of California in Los Angeles. In his article,
Malamuth reports on a study that was conducted in which a random sample of
heterosexual men completed a questionnaire called “National Survey of Inter-Gender
Relationships,” which measured, on a point scale, sexual aggression, pornography
consumption, and attitudes supporting violence against women (ASV) (Malamuth 431).
Results were then assessed based on the Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression, which
“meaningfully organizes [correlations] into two main clusters of characteristics paths
labeled ‘Hostile Masculinity’ (HM) and ‘Impersonal Sex’ (IS)” (Malamuth 432).
Participants’ questionnaires were then evaluated for correlation between pornography
consumption and ASV, and then given “risk scores”, or scores that suggest the
individual’s risk level of aggression towards women. By calculating risk scores and
comparing them to the amount of pornography consumption, this accounted for
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individual differences among the men. Results showed a significant relationship between
ASV and exposure to both violent and non-violent pornography, as well as a relationship
between risk levels and the amount of pornography consumed.
These findings suggest that exposure to even the most tame pornography still
perpetuates attitudes supporting violence, which initially shocked me. However, logical
inferences can immediately be made as to why consumers of violent pornography often
manifest these violent behaviors during their own sexual encounters, especially when we
live in a technologically advanced society in which violent, uncensored pornography is
easily accessible on the Internet, and therefore more relevant in society. For example, in
the majority of pornographic films, consent between actors is never expressed in any
scene preluding the sexual acts. Also, pornographic films of the heterosexual persuasion
often depict women as passive recipients of male domination, which not only objectifies
them, but it also perpetuates the false notion that women are “always in the mood”, and
that they derive sexual pleasure from being dominated; even when the sexual practice of
dominance/submission (D/S), or to a further extent, sadomasochism (S&M), is
unwarranted. Given that heterosexual men are the predominant demographic for
pornography, this relegates women and their bodies into the position of “surveyed”, while
men assume the position of “surveyor”, which insinuates power, and in turn, entitlement
when these men actually engage in sexual acts.
When considering cultural ubiquity, not only are movies more implicitly
detrimental than the aforementioned media forms, but the viewer also undertakes a
completely passive role in their own sexual gratification. With this notion in mind, I was
prompted to investigate consequential violence against women when an even more
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homogenized instrument of media comes into question: “slasher” films. I came across an
article called “Brutalization of Women is a Constant in Popular Film” by Carrie Rickey,
a feminist film critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer. In her article, Rickey argues that the
change in film regulation from the Motion Picture Production Code (1934-1968), to the
current Ratings System has given filmmakers freedom to act out their “artistic
unconscious [that is] responsible for sadomasochistic fantasies” (Rickey 50). She also
argues that the Ratings System is problematic because while “fem-jeps” or women-injeopardy films, achieve shock factor at the expensive of women being sexually
brutalized, and receive a lenient rating of “R”, films that depict women being sexually
pleasured (consensually) receive an arbitrary “NC-17” from quasi-purity protectors.
Implicit sexualization comes into question when concerning fem-jeps. In the vein
of these movies, damsels are often shown naked or sexually compromised right before
they are brutalized, i.e., the notorious Psycho shower scene (1960). This is
psychologically harmful because it arouses men and then segues into violence, while
utilizing camera work to oscillate the viewer’s perspective back and forth from victim to
perpetrator. This juxtaposition of sexuality and violence creates a subconscious
association in the viewer’s mind. One can logically presume that the constant
sensationalizing of rape, even in revenge movies such as The Last House on the Left
(1972), dehumanize women and most likely desensitize men to the act, considering that
these scenes graphically push the envelope further than many murder scenes do. These
vulgar displays of femi-cidal hate crimes as a form of entertainment degrade women into
meekness while indulging a demographic that is entranced by their own misogynistic
fantasies.
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Now that I had deepened my own perspective and understanding of how the
media facilitates sexist attitudes and actions, I decided to explore opposing feminist
discourse that aims to preserve free speech, regardless of the implications for women.
I began by locating an article titled “OUT OF HARM’S WAY: The Great Soothing
Appeal of Censorship” by Marcia Pally, from the SIECUS Report volume on Media and
Censorship Issues. In her article, Pally negates claims of correlation between media and
violence, and argues that censorship is an ill-conceived solution to violence, because not
only has sexual violence pervaded long before sexual imagery was marketed, but “imageblaming” ignores underlying causes, such as “poverty, illegal drug markets, or sexism”
(Pally 4). Pally first suggests that in pro-censorship discourse, issues of pornographic
degradation refer simply to the sexual expression of women and the act of arousing men.
She then argues that by censoring this “sexually degrading imagery”, a “good-girl/badgirl” dichotomy is created in which female purity is protected, and sexual activity is
shamed; which in turn stifles female sexuality and “takes women down a peg,” which
leads to insecurities and guilt. Pally suggests that preservation of this dichotomy
discourages women from initiating sexual acts, which in turn frames rape discussion and
creates a “cult of victim” in which women often feel “soiled” and raped after sexual acts
because they are emotionally conflicted. She argues that image-blaming not only offers
control over sexuality, but it offers justification for male violence, similar to how victimblaming offers justification for rape (i.e., she was asking for it because she was dressed
provocatively).
However, given that this article was written 20 years ago, Pally’s argument is
only relevant during a time when pornography was tamer and distribution was heavily
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regulated, video game graphics were too premature to simulate murder, and the “slasher”
film demographic was content with coy scenes that required the fulfillment of
imagination. Also, her narrative of the pro-censorship agenda is extremely misguided in
that it misrepresents pro-censorship feminists as a group that aim to preserve purity and
control women’s sexuality because they see the expression of it as “degrading”. Contrary
to Pally’s perspective, pro-censorship feminists do not aim to censor women as sexual
beings, but rather they aim to censor male gratification that is achieved by means of
sexual violence, or violent degradation. Although Pally suggests that image-blaming
shames women’s sexuality and promotes a culture of quasi-rape; she fails to offer
supporting evidence on this because in reality, false claims account for less than 2% of
reported rapes, and are often isolated cases.
In order to gain insight into the possibility of censorship actually coming into
fruition, I decided to research censorship cases that have been grounded on concerns
similar to mine: sexism, misogyny, and violence against women. I conducted research on
a prominent case in the matter called the Indianapolis Anti-Pornography ordinance and
came across an article titled “Constitutional Law: Death of an Ordinance: Pornography
Unconstitutionally Defined as Sex Discrimination” by Derian Dombrow. The article
explains that the purpose of the ordinance was “to prevent and prohibit all discriminatory
practices of sexual subordination or inequality through pornography” (Dombrow 89),
however when implemented in the case of American Booksellers Association, Inc. v.
Hudnut (1985), it proved to violate freedom of speech, thus rendering it unconstitutional
as dictated by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. They also contended that since
pornography is so influential in our society, and since the definition of it is too vague, the
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ordinance would unintentionally censor a lot of valuable speech. Finally, the court
concluded that freedom of speech would be a more effective tool in fighting sex
discrimination than censorship would, because “proliferation of pornography [would]
allow the truth as to its harmful character to surface” (Dombrow 93).
This article really provided background knowledge and illustrated for me the
impossibility of censorship laws to ever be attained by pro-censorship feminists. No
matter how harmful certain media depictions of women may be, or the violent
consequences they may have, it all pales in comparison to the priority that is placed on
upholding the Bill of Rights. Even if a simple regulation was implemented that, for
example, required all participants to consent on camera before a pornographic act, it
would set rigid guidelines for consent, when realistically, sexual consent typically
deviates from an explicit, verbal agreement.
When researching the correlation between media and violence, it was alarming to
discover the existence of it, not only on one media platform, but rather sweeping across
multiple. Since the Bill of Rights practically destines the failure of censorship laws,
education would be the only realistic approach to obliterating misogynistic attitudes. Talk
about women’s rights and feminism typically elicits responses from the general public
such as, “Feminism is unnecessary, women are already equal,” “Why do we need
feminism? Women achieved suffrage almost a century ago” and other complacent,
unprogressive rhetoric of that nature. If women are equal, and misogyny is dead, then
why are 1/3 women raped during their lifetime? If patriarchy is a fabrication by hairylegged misandrists, then why is violence against women commodified as a sales tactic?
My research has made me realize that above all, video games, pornography, and movies
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are all billion-dollar industries. Just like any other industry; the people who benefit from
revenues would rather sweep casualties under the rug than risk having to relinquish their
power over consumers. Although my research has created further questions, rather than a
definitive answer, it has uncovered an imperative premise for modern feminism:
women’s rights on paper don’t necessarily guarantee equitability with men, or liberation
from patriarchy. In fact, equality on paper might even demand a more critical approach to
women’s rights in order to understand how they’re being systematically and subtly
undermined in attempt to keep women “in their place.” This requires people to take a step
back, reject their disdain, and question their own perpetuation of violence against women.
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Works Cited
Beck, Victoria Simpson1, et al. "Violence Against Women In Video Games: A Prequel
Or Sequel To Rape Myth Acceptance?" Journal Of Interpersonal Violence 27.15 (2012):
3016-3031. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
Dombrow, Derian. "Constitutional Law: Death of an Ordinance: Pornography
Unconstitutionally Defined as Sex Discrimination." Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment
Law Review (1987): 88-96. Web.
Gabbiadini, Alessandro, Luca1 Andrighetto, and Chiara1 Volpato. "Brief Report: Does
Exposure To Violent Video Games Increase Moral Disengagement Among
Adolescents?" Journal Of Adolescence 35.5 (2012): 1403-1406. OmniFile Full Text
Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
Lynch, Kevin. "Confirmed: Grand Theft Auto 5 Breaks 6 Sales World Records."
Guinness World Records. N.p., 08 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
Malamuth, Neil, Gert1 Hald, and Mary2 Koss. "Pornography, Individual Differences In
Risk And Men's Acceptance Of Violence Against Women In A Representative Sample."
Sex Roles 66.7/8 (2012): 427-439. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 4 Feb.
2014.
Pally, Marcia. "OUT OF HARM’S WAY: The Great Soothing Appeal of Censorship."
SIECUS Report 23.1 (1994): 3-9. Web.
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"Psycho." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
Rickey, Carrie. "Brutalization Of Women Is A Constant In Popular Film." Variety 429.10
(2013): 49-51. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
"The Last House on the Left." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.