Stories have always mattered. Media coverage helps inform our view of the world, and cements – or challenges – social attitudes. Rightly or wrongly, much like the parables of old, news and media stories can carry the weight of lessons.
When we read the news today, what do we learn about issues like sexual assault and violence against women? Let's take a look at some examples:
![Tara Moss: "Every time we call rape 'sex', we do the public and injustice."](/web/20170112212534im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/w/9/0/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grfjfd.png/1473827512590.png)
Canadian judge to rape accuser: "Why couldn't you just keep your knees together?"
Here's an article (well written) about an actual case in Canada where a judge asked a 19-year old-survivor of an alleged rape why she couldn't just keep her legs closed. He also told her "pain and sex sometimes go together" and referred to her as "the accused" throughout the trial.
Father Found Dead With His Three Children After Leaving Home For Park Trip
At first this tragic story seems not to be about the issue of violence against women at all. How did this man and his three children die? It isn't until we get into the middle of the article that we read "Megan Short, their mother, was also dead", and a few paragraphs further in, "Authorities believe Mark Short was the gunman in the murder-suicide; he is believed to have shot his wife and children before turning the firearm on himself, officials said."
Then there are these recent headlines from Ireland:
Wonderful children who will be missed by all who knew them
Killed in their pyjamas by father in frenzied attack
As Linnea Dunne pointed out in a moving blog post that has gone viral, "It is almost as if we've already forgotten: they were a family of five. Rest in peace, invisible mother."
This month, an article reporting on the shocking rape of a 6-year- old girl at an Australian primary school read that, "Both boys [the suspected perpetrators] were allegedly present during both incidents but only one of the boys had sex with her in the second incident, police allege." The term "had sex with" is not a substitute for the terms "sexual assault", "rape" or "child abuse". One is consensual, the other is a crime. (When contacted, the reporter voluntarily corrected the wording, which I appreciate.)
When I spoke publicly two years ago about a sexual assault I had survived in Canada, the terminology often used in the media revealed a great deal about prevailing attitudes towards survivors of these crimes, with the frequent use of the word "confess" and headlines like Tara's Dark Past and Tara's Demons.
On radio I was questioned about my decision to speak out in solidarity with other survivors of rape: "What did your husband think of you deciding to confess these things publicly?" I had to point out that while survivors of crime share their stories if they choose to, it's the criminals who "confess". To confess is literally to "Admit that one has committed a crime or done something wrong."
Another writer published a piece titled What We Can Learn From Tara Moss's Rapist, contacting the convicted rapist for a quote. Whether intentional or not, the implied lesson was that we could "learn from" the man who committed the crime, but not the other person who was there - the woman who survived it, a woman who was voiceless in the piece, with only a photo and the caption: "Tara Moss: Raped at 21."
This tendency to erase the accounts of women's experiences of violence is consistent with the findings of The Media Representations of Violence Study launched in June of this year, commissioned by Our Watch and Anrows, showing that there has been a tendency in the media to "mute" the victim's perspective. Further, reporting tended to focus on how perpetrators' futures were harmed by the cases, rather than victims' lives impacted by the attacks.
Make no mistake - from those judge's comments, to erasure of survivor's stories and the downplaying of rape to "sex", survivors of sexual assault, abuse and violence see these articles. One in three women will experience violence in her lifetime, and one in five women will be raped, as will about one in 22 men. (17 per cent of women and 4 per cent of men experienced sexual assault since the age of 15 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics - Personal Safety Survey, 2012.) The many survivors of these crimes read. They are informed about how they will be regarded and what they may be subjected to if they speak out.
Every time we write about survivors of crime "confessing" they have been attacked, every time we erase the woman who was murdered, every time we call rape "sex" and we mute the experiences of survivors, and every time we victim blame, we do the public an injustice, because we miss a real opportunity to inform, and instead we further cement damaging social attitudes that minimise, excuse or ignore the hard reality of violence. And we teach survivors that they should think twice before speaking out. We teach them that their voices are not valued.
As a writer and journalist myself, I know the pressure writers can find themselves under. Reporting on these troubling and sensitive issues can be challenging, but it is vital, which is why we must not only encourage continued reporting in this area but celebrate excellence in that reporting.
This is why I believe the Our Watch Awards, now in their second year, are an important development.
In a year when the Stanford Rape Survivor's eloquent and heart wrenching victim impact statement went viral, with some 9 million views in four days, the 2016 Our Watch Awards finalists demonstrated a real commitment to ensuring the voices of survivors were not "muted". They reported on tough issues with fairness and accuracy.
This reporting matters. Because every time we report on these issues with sensitivity and accuracy, hearing victims and survivors, we re-write the old damaging stories. We tell survivors it is okay to speak out. We say, "You matter". And we honour the memories of those who can no longer speak out, by ensuring they are not erased from their own stories.
Tara Moss is the author of 11 books, patron of the Full Stop Foundation for Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia and an Our Watch Ambassador. On Wednesday night, she will be presenting an award for best longform journalism at the Our Watch Awards. Visit her at taramoss.com.