IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v7y2018i5p80-d146397.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Masculinity, Organizational Culture, Media Framing and Sexual Violence in the Military

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Kuhl

    (School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA)

  • Anna E. Kosloski

    (School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA)

  • Stephanie Bontrager Ryon

    (Department of Criminal Justice, Tarleton State University, 1333 W Washington St, Stephenville, TX 76402, USA)

  • Astrid Monar

    (School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA)

Abstract

Sexual violence in the military is woven into history, with stories and myths that date back to the times of ancient Rome. For example, military conquests thousands of years ago involved looting, pillaging, and raping—the “spoils of war” for the winning side. Over time, women, seen as sexual outlets, continued to be used to boost soldier morale in combat. Today, instances such as the Marine sexual misconduct scandal are still associated with notions of male empowerment through victimization of enlisted and civilian women, despite female officers making up 14% of service members across all military branches. To determine if the optics of violent and predatory behavior within the military has changed from the “spoils of war”, the current study utilized qualitative content analysis to analyze the media frames of military sexual assault and sexual harassment over the past 20 years. Through holistic reflection, the inquiry explores military framing by the media during high-profile incidents of misconduct from 1996 to 2013. The Aberdeen Proving Ground, Lackland Airforce Base, and Airforce Academy sexual assault cases demonstrate that responsibility and human-interest frames are the most prominent optics used by the media to describe these events. Further, since the first case in 1996, media coverage of sexual harassment and assault within the military has declined significantly. This suggest that, while media framing may accurately reflect these offenses, these offenses are considered less and less news worthy.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Kuhl & Anna E. Kosloski & Stephanie Bontrager Ryon & Astrid Monar, 2018. "Masculinity, Organizational Culture, Media Framing and Sexual Violence in the Military," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:5:p:80-:d:146397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/5/80/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/5/80/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Iyengar, Shanto, 1987. "Television News and Citizens' Explanations of National Affairs," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(3), pages 815-831, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lyu, Tu & Chen, Hao & Guo, Yulin, 2023. "Investigating innovation diffusion, social influence, and personal inner forces to understand people's participation in online e-waste recycling," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Emre Toros, 2012. "The Kurdish problem, print media, and democratic consolidation in Turkey," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 317-333, December.
    3. Reeko Watanabe & Tsunemi Watanabe & Kyohei Wakui, 2021. "Acceptance of Main Power Generation Sources among Japan’s Undergraduate Students: The Roles of Knowledge, Experience, Trust, and Perceived Risk and Benefit," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1, November.
    4. Andreas Schedler, 1998. "The Normative Force of Electoral Promises," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 191-214, April.
    5. Pan, Lingling & Li, Xiumei & Chen, Jianhong & Chen, Tianxu, 2020. "Sounds novel or familiar? Entrepreneurs' framing strategy in the venture capital market," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    6. Jie Zhuang & Jeffrey G. Cox & Minwoong Chung & Joseph A. Hamm & Adam Zwickle & Brad L. Upham, 2019. "Risk, Stigma, Trustworthiness, and Citizen Participation—A Multifaceted Analysis of Media Coverage of Dioxin Contamination in Midland, Michigan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-15, October.
    7. Denise L. Anthony & Douglas D. Heckathorn & Steven M. Maser, 1994. "Rational Rhetoric in Politics," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(4), pages 489-518, October.
    8. Stoutenborough, James W. & Vedlitz, Arnold, 2016. "The role of scientific knowledge in the public's perceptions of energy technology risks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 206-216.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:5:p:80-:d:146397. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.