This paper examines the Swedish tabloid press coverage of three rape case allegations where the accused was a high-profile sport star. Critical discourse analysis was applied as the theoretical and methodological framework combined with the theoretical concepts of monstering and rape myths. The three cases we examined were the rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo, the rape allegations against three Swedish hockey players and the child rape case involving the Malmö FF player Kingsley Sarfo. Monstering is a term used to describe the process in which the media portrays a rapist as a “monster” or “pervert”. By doing so the rapist is separated from “ordinary men”. If the problem is never identified as “men raping” then the solution can never be “stop men from raping” Rape myths on the other hand, focuses on how media reports on rape creates and sustains stereotypic ideas about rape. Research have found that if the media writes about rape in a stereotypical way then this perception of rape will spread to the readers. We found that monstering appeared regularly in each of the three cases mostly through naming and reference of the alleged perpetrators and the accusers. Rape myths also appeared in each of the three cases but to a lesser degree. Rape myths was prominent through a linguistic separation between the alleged rapist and the rape. Our results also showed that a patriarchal discourse was prevalent in the reporting on rape in the Swedish tabloid press.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-433857 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Åberg, Robin, Edlund, Tobias |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Medier och kommunikation |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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