Publications
Publication details [#1406]
Worthington, Nancy. 2013. Explaining Gang Rape in a “Rough Town”: Diverse Voices in Gender Violence News Online. Communication, Culture & Critique 6 (1) : 103–120. 18 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
Abstract
This study examines online news about the gang rape of a teenage girl after she left her homecoming dance in Richmond, CA. I analyze news framing in the 49 relevant stories that appeared on SFGate.com from 2009 to 2011, when 7 suspects were ordered to stand trial individually. My goals were to determine the dominant meanings in online news about gang rape and to illuminate how coverage invoked identity discourse. Findings suggest that frames debated the crime's causes, with a variety of sources offering competing explanations, many of which invoked identity discourses tying intersections of gender, race, and class with place. In contrast to previous research, some framing implicated social structures by referencing gender socialization as a cause of rape. (abstract provided by the author)