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'She wore a G-string'
25/11/2005 09:01 - (SA)
Recent reporting of the rape and murder of a young woman in the Southern Cape raises, once again, the question of how journalists handle the issue of gender.
Tragically, this incident has been followed by another murder and possible rape case in the same area, but thankfully, it seems that the criticism of the reporting in the first instance resulted in more gender-sensitive reporting in the second.
The 16 Days of Activism For No Violence Against Women and Children campaign is coming up, and hopefully there will be "en-gendered" reporting that will not only make an impression during the campaign, but will become entrenched in journalistic practice.
Now, let's briefly revisit the crime story that was reported in a way that can only be described as a crime against women.
Sure enough, lessons were learned from it, but the question remains: How can narratives still portray such discriminatory language? How can it still be acceptable in any newsroom to write a story according to a journalistic matrix in which stereotypes are entrenched?
It is not only the practice of journalism and the news narratives that need attention. The language in which we package our stories also needs serious consideration.
Indeed, we need to unlearn practices and languages, and learn to speak in a new way.
Both were formed - and are still practised and spoken - within a male dominated society, where the male standard is accepted as the norm, the "universal", according to which everything is measured.
And, dear reader, before you click this voice into silence, let me give you the example that got me thinking. Again.
The tragedy - one of so many - and this one only made the headlines because it's a young, white woman, in a scenic Garden Route town, her body found in the garden of a church - was reinforced by the language in which it was told.
What was wrong with this narrative?
We read of a rape "gone wrong".
Since when can rape go right?
It was reported that the victim's blood would be tested for alcohol and drugs. And yes, it was also reported: she wore a G-string. She was framed, literally and figuratively.
But it is not only the reporting that needs a gender aware point of departure.
We also need to be critical of language, and of other practices and structures supporting a male standard.
For instance, the training of the forensic expert who commented in the story, who learned her profession from within a male paradigm, the "male universe", needs to be revisited. She spoke from a typical "male" point of view, in "male" language. This after all, is the school in which she was taught.
Rape is women's fault
The fact that a "sexist blame culture" still exists, as concluded from a recent British poll - 'Poll: Rape is women's fault' - does not make it easier for journalists to write and think in a new way.
Women, and critical masses of women in certain professions, will not bring about change unless structures, language and curricula are also not changed. Indeed, society as a whole, including women, should think anew.
We don't only have to unlearn old habits. We also need to unlearn certain entrenched linguistic habits.
As one activist recently said, "manmade English" - or any language for that matter - is due for a service. Just take an ordinary legal document as an example. In so many cases women should just accept that "he" will represent "her". As was written: it actually "negates women to being linguistically invisible".
So, let's literally emasculate practices and languages. There must be a fair and just space, from which to report in a fair and just way, with practices in languages that honour the right of women as equal citizens.
Book of the week:
A place in the news: From the woman's pages to the front pages, by Kate Mills (1990, New York: Columbia University Press). This book documents women journalists' long walk from the "ghetto" of the women's pages to be accepted in mainstream media. An inspiring read - and to quote a union leader talking about blacks in labour unions in America, as quoted by Mills: "We have made progress, but progress is a relative thing. We are in the middle of a social revolution and when you are dealing with the dynamics of a revolution, people will not judge where we are or where we have come from, they will judge us based on how far we still must go." Amazon.com has copies from just over $1 available - which must be one of the best buys ever.
Lizette Rabe is head of the postgraduate Department of Journalism at the University of Stellenbosch, a Sanef council member and Sanef-convenor for the Western Cape. And she's addicted to news.
Leave your message of support for the 16 days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign on the MWEB White Ribbon Wall.
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