Violence Against Women in the Media

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared over twenty years ago that violence is the primary health concern amongst women in America. Recent studies have shown that the problem has not diminished since then. Consider these statistics:

-Domestic violence is the primary cause of injury to American women. The number of domestic violence cases exceeds the number of murders, muggings, gang-related violence, and accidents.
-Nearly one-third of American women (31%) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.
-One in every seven (14%) American woman has been raped in her lifetime.
-In the United States, one woman is raped every two minutes (thirty in every hour; 720 in every day).
-In America, a woman is physically abused every 9 seconds.
-More than one-third of women in emergency rooms have suffered physical or sexual abuse (37% of these women reported being abused by an intimate partner).
-Thirty percent (30%) of women murdered in the U.S. are killed by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends.

Although no one can give an explanation for the high rate of violence against women, it has been suggested that a factor could be the way women are shown in the media. Women in the media are most often depicted as sexual objects or victims of violence. Researchers have concluded that the way the media portrays women influences how society treats and views them. Film and television, music and their videos, video and computer games, and the internet have all been criticized for content known to be degrading to women, such as sexual objectification, depictions of violence against women, and the frequent association of violence with sexuality. Over forty years of investigation has led researchers to presume that violence against women in the media significantly contributes to the hostile behaviour and attitudes in our society towards women.