Rape Myths and Framing of Sexual Violence in Tamil Newspaper

Abstract

News media plays an important role in constructing public understandings and creating opinion on sexual violence through the selection, representation and framing.  Although journalism can illustrate gender-based violence and demand accountability, its narratives may also reproduce rape myths by questioning victims' credibility, emphasizing their circumstances, minimizing perpetrators' responsibility or normalizing sexual aggression. This study examines the construction and reproduction of rape myths through representations of victims, perpetrators and the circumstances of rape, while critically analysing the language used to describe rape in Tamil-language news-related records. The study employs descriptive content analysis informed by rape-myth theory, media-framing theory and critical discourse analysis. The dataset comprises 186 records dated between January 2019 and December 2023, containing information on incident classifications, perpetrator–victim relationships, locations, victim status, news type and Tamil-language descriptions of rape. The study argues for a contextual approach that distinguishes descriptive information from victim-blaming, linguistic minimization and the displacement of responsibility. It proposes a theory-driven analytical framework for examining how news narratives construct sexual violence and its social meanings.