Week 15 Blog Post

Here is a link to an article you need to read: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/119968/lara-logans-attack-was-an-exception-the-stories-we-miss-about-rape-and-sexual-violence-those-we-tell/

 

This article is about how rape and sexual violence are described in the media, which stories are told and which are left unreported. This article explains how the use of words to describe the occurrence can easily change our views and opinions.

My eyes felt like they were suddenly opened when the columnist points out that most writers and people focus on what the victim was doing and had done rather than the criminal or the crime itself. We completely ignore details that are important because we want an explanation of why this horrible thing happened. Many times the people who write the articles do this. They make excuses for the victim, saying she was walking in a dangerous area or she was wearing provocative clothing. None of that should matter, but that is what we look for. We should be concerned with how happened and how it will be stopped from happening again.

There is also the problem that crimes like these are never printed or reported to anyone. It is the responsibility of the news to show victims that they did nothing wrong and that the wrong was done to them. Right now, we look at victims as though they were asking for it or did something stupid to provoke an attack. They need to be shown that action will be taken against these criminal instead of giving them a lecture of walking alone at night. We need to show them that there is no shame in being a victim. The shame is on the criminal. Why do we, as a society, not look at it this way? I truly do not know, but now that my eyes have been opened, maybe I can help change the view. Even if I only convinced one person to believe this, then I have made a change.