Gender-Based Violence in the Media

Gender-based violence includes several forms of violence, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking. While men can be victims of gender-based violence, women are at an overwhelmingly higher risk. Almost one in three women around the world experience intimate partner sexual violence. Within the United States alone, almost 20% of women report having been raped; of the perpetrators who are reported, 91.9% are [Page 785]intimate partners or acquaintances. For men, the rate is 1.4% and 52.4%, respectively. This higher risk faced by women is symptomatic of the gender discrimination and normative gender roles that reinforce the systematic devaluation of women.

Media—and the depictions of violence perpetuated against women in the media—is one of the key ways in which the current systematic devaluation of women is ...