Media
shapes societal values greatly so most of the things said, people will go along
with and believe. Mass media is used to spread the seriousness that is domestic
violence and tell reader who and what is to blame. The media focuses on the
victim. They become the ones expected to handle the stopping of the abuse. The
victim is always accused for choosing the wrong partner and for not trying to
leave the relationship. Media gives such a distorted view of domestic violence and
hegemonic masculinity that most don’t fully understand what’s happening with
the situation.
The
way the media covers these events is extremely crucial to making any change but
when it neglects the other half of the demographics, not much change will be
able to happen. Men that have been abused don’t receive as much “light” to
their situation, which leads them to get less understanding, acceptance and
assistance as women do today. Women tend to always be portrayed as the victim
while men are the aggressor. Because of the hegemonic gender norms, these
situations aren’t brought to the attention of the media since the man is
supposed to be the strong one while the woman is weak. With that being said,
people in the media tend to think that men being abused is a joke, when in all
reality, abuse isn’t funny what so ever regardless of who the victim is. The
media is always blinded by the need to keep up with these gender roles. Since
men are supposed to be able to handle these things, they don’t receive as much
media coverage, assistance and acceptance. The issue of male abuse is pretty
much ignored which causes the victims to not come out and talk about their
abuse. Coming out about these events is difficult to begin with but if you have
no one to go to or any support system, it makes things so much harder,
attaching shame to the situation. In the article “Media coverage of abuse
marginalizes male victims”, Sabiha Masud talks about a study done by the
American Medical Association, “boys are less likely to report sexual or
physical abuse because they are afraid of being perceived as weak and want to
seem strong and self-reliant.” Domestic violence is such a serious issue in
today’s society, whether it is towards men or women. In 2013, only 13% of
documented contacts to the Hotline were identified as men (thehotline.org). Going
back to the ideal man that society and media has created, men are stereotyped
to not share their feelings, causing them to keep their experience with
domestic violence hidden. Male victims may feel discouraged to talk about these
things, which can cause serious mental damage. The media just covers the
heterosexual violence stories, leaving all other victims of any type of
relationship to feel like they don’t have any support.
The
media even tends distort the story when men are the ones that are the victims
of domestic violence. Media creates this form of hegemonic masculinity that
means you need to be tough, strong, and able to take anything. With this
thought, men feel the same fear when it comes to leaving their partner or even
telling someone about what has happened to them. For example, 1 in 5 women and
1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by a partner in their
lifetime (www.ncadv.org). Domestic violence is a very serious
issue in our world today but we never seem to hear much about it happening to
men until recently. For example, Montreal Canadiens center, Alex Galchenyuk,
was involved in a domestic violence dispute where he girlfriend was arrested as
the perpetrator. Once news broke, people in the hockey world, including his
coach, took to social media and seemed to care more about his play moving
forward than how he was coping. The automatic go to insult is saying that he’s
weak and that he’s the one at fault. Telling the media that he’s young and
he’ll get over it is focusing on how his masculinity will be affected over
helping him cope. The head coach of the Canadiens went on to say “it’s a
mistake… he’ll learn” (Stanley Cup of Chowder). A couple days after this
Galchenyuk had to publicly apologize for the situation. He handled this
situation the way it should be handled yet he was made to apologize. People
took to social media to say that Galchenyuk deserved the abuse and that he was
probably cheating. This is a pretty clear example of how toxic masculinity
can be, especially in the NHL. Galchenyuk was the victim and he was made out to
be the wrong. Then you get situations like the Patrick Kane case that happened
a few months ago; he was accused of raping a girl he met at a bar. When the
news broke of this, everyone defended Kane. Everyone said that he was innocent
until proven guilty and no one questioned his further play. Things should’ve
been reversed; Galchenyuk should have been defended, not torn down for
something he didn’t do. The Patrick Kane incident was talked about for a month
then it was just swept under the rug. No one questioned his morals, no one
wanted him traded, no one expected him to apologize for his actions, he was defended
throughout the whole thing. But everyone was blaming Galchenyuk for things over
an event that he had to control in. People should have supported him and
offered help, not knock him down. Patrick Kane did not deserve all the support
he received, the media is twisted when it comes to professional athletes and
this is just one example.
The media is so concerned with
keeping up the image of the true man that it doesn’t give the full story when
it comes to domestic violence. Doing so causes men to be ashamed to come out
about their abuse, so they don’t say anything. These norms are not helping
anyone; they need to be done away with so society can start to understand that
domestic violence happens to everyone, not just women. If these situations are
brought to light, male victims can get the help that is needed and not have to
feel ashamed about the situation. Media
gives such a distorted view of domestic violence and hegemonic masculinity that
most don’t fully understand what’s happening with the situation.
Citations:
Brollings.
"Men Can Be Victims of Abuse, Too." The National Domestic Violence
Hotline. N.p., 22 July 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2016. <http://www.thehotline.org/2014/07/men-can-be-victims-of-abuse-too/>.
Masud, Sabiha.
"Media Coverage of Abuse Marginalizes Male Victims." The Daily
Utah Chronicle. N.p., 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2016. <http://dailyutahchronicle.com/2014/09/29/media-coverage-of-abuse-marginalizes-male-victims/>.
Meade, Amanda.
"Media Often Distort Domestic Violence, Study Finds." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 24 Nov. 2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/25/media-often-sensationalise-domestic-violence-reporting-study-finds>
Wheeler, Paul.
"A Different Conversation." Stanley Cup of Chowder. N.p., 13
Jan. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2016/1/13/10758140/alex-galchenyuk-domestic-violence-montreal>.
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