When does violence against women matter? Gender, race and class in Australian media representations of sexual violence and homicide

Abstract

This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of violence against women in Australian news and information media. We draw on Judith Butler’s concept of ‘grievability’ to question the frames through which violence against women is made to ‘matter’ in media representations. Through an intersectional feminist lens, we explore how victims, perpetrators and the violence as a whole are represented in three relatively high profile cases of sexual violence and homicide. In the case of Jill Meagher, discourses of the victim’s ideal White femininity and the perpetrator’s deviant underclass morality frame the murder as tragic. In the case of Lynette Daley, stereotypes of deviant aboriginal sexualit..