sexual violence
nisbetmc | June 28, 2009[Contributed by guest blogger, Katherine Broendel]
The last time I posted, I wrote about the effects pornography and violent pornography may have on viewers' perspectives of women and sexual violence. Rather than stating an opinion, I provided a brief review of some of the studies I read as preliminary research for my thesis. On a related note, I want to explore the topic of sexually violent video games, or, rape simulation video games.
A couple weeks ago, an AAUW colleague and fellow AU grad student, Mandy Toomey, wrote an interesting blog post about rape simulation video games. I have…
sciencewoman | June 18, 2009Have you ever bought an album and discovered a song so dark, so sad that it makes you physically uncomfortable to listen to it? What do you do then? Can you stand to hear it or do you skip the track in favor of something a little lighter?
For me, the songs that twist my stomach in knots are the ones with stories of domestic violence, child abuse, or rape. And when I find one of those songs, I force myself not to delete it from my playlists and I pay attention when my iTunes shuffle pops it up. The singers recorded those songs for a reason - to tell us that terrible things are happening…
nisbetmc | June 7, 2009[Contributed by guest blogger Katherine Broendel]
Before I begin writing about what my research has found regarding the framing of sexual violence in the media, I'd like to take a moment to define some of the parameters of my research. I focused my attention on sexual violence committed against women. I recognize that approximately 10% of sexual violence victims and survivors are male, and I do not discount their experiences. However, considering the vast majority of the violence is aimed at women and girls, I chose to focus my study on women. In addition, I'd like to note that I did not…
nisbetmc | June 5, 2009
I head to Stockholm and Copenhagen today where on Wednesday I will be participating in a unique conference organized by the Danish Science Journalists Association. The focus is on many of the central themes discussed at this blog including framing, public engagement, the future of science journalism, and the promise and challenges of new media technologies. For more, check out below one of the "Dane in the Street" interviews that organizers have run in advance of the conference.
I won't have much time to blog but I do hope to be able to post my own pictures of these wonderful cities and to…
sciencewoman | June 5, 2009Sheril, Isis, Alice,Zuska and many others have introduced you to the Silence Is the Enemy project, aimed at condemning and reducing sexual violence in places like Liberia, Congo, Darfur and other conflict ridden places in the world. In Liberia, for example, as many as 3/4 of the women have been raped, often repeatedly. And 28% of new rape victims are under the age of 4. Those are girls the age of my daughter and the girls who play on the playground with her. Raped and left to suffer a lifetime of physical and psychological consequences. (At the bottom of this post, please watch an important…
nisbetmc | June 4, 2009Hello, I'm Katherine Broendel, and I will be guest blogging this month about sexual violence. As Matt mentioned in a previous post, I am a Master's degree candidate in Public Communication at American University, and I wrote my capstone (thesis) on the framing of sexual violence in the media. The goal of my research was to reevaluate the current frames being used by the news media in order to provide women's groups and issue advocates recommendations on how to get accurate, sensitive coverage of sex crimes. My experience in graduate school has allowed me to focus on women's issues in…