[Commlist] New book: From Fritzl to #metoo: Twelve years of rape coverage in the British press

Alessia Tranchese is really pleased to share the news that my research 
on the representation of sexual violence has finally been published in a 
book: *From Fritzl to #metoo: Twelve years of rape coverage in the 
British press 
<https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-09353-1>* (Palgrave 
Macmillan). The book is part of the Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender 
and Sexuality. If you're interested in knowing more, I've added a short 
summary, table of contents, and reviews below.

Please feel free to get in touch with me ((alessia.tranchese /at/ port.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(alessia.tranchese /at/ port.ac.uk)>) if you want to know more about it 
and kindly forward it to anyone who might be interested.

*About the book*
This book provides a much-needed longitudinal analysis of the language 
used by the British press to talk about sexual violence. Through a 
diachronic analysis informed by corpus linguistics and feminist theory, 
the book examines how rape discourse has (or has not) changed over the 
past decade, and it explores how age-old myths about sexual violence 
re-emerge in different forms within news narratives. Against the 
backdrop of twelve years of newspaper coverage of rape, including many 
high-profile cases, this study also traces the rise of “celebrity 
culture”, the emergence of #metoo, and the development of the backlash 
against it. The historical events and media trends covered in this book 
are placed within broader debates on feminism and the role played by 
(social) media in shaping contemporary rape discourse.

More information about the author is available here 
<https://www.port.ac.uk/about-us/structure-and-governance/our-people/our-staff/alessia-tranchese>.

*Table of Contents*
*
*
*Introduction*
1. Not Another Book About Male Violence Against Women!

*Setting the Scene*
2. Defining the field
3. Method, Context, and Data

*At the Surface*
4. The Different Names of Sexual Violence
5. Sexual Violence Across Time

*Delving Deeper*
6. It’s Not just Semantics
7. Emerging Patterns
8. Disappearing Patterns

*Before and After*
9.Does Rape Attract Murder?
10. #metoo: The Good, the Bad, and the Backlash
11. From Fritzl to #metoo: What Has Changed?
12. CONCLUSION Joining the Dots


*Reviews*
“An important, rigorous and very readable book which will be an 
essential point of reference for future studies of sexual violence in 
the news. Tranchese demonstrates which myths about rape have persisted, 
as well as highlighting how they have adapted to the digital news 
environment. Her analysis is clear and persuasive and provides activists 
with new tools and evidence to push for change. This is feminist media 
studies at its best. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.”
*Karen Boyle*, Author #MeToo, Weinstein and Feminism, University of 
Strathclyde

“This book is essential reading for anyone who really wants to 
understand how the myths and stereotypes around rape are moulded and 
sustained by the British media, distracting from the profound structural 
changes required to dismantle misogyny and deliver real justice for 
women, too often denied by the courts.”
*Yvonne Roberts*, journalist and campaigner

“This analysis of what changed, and what didn’t, in British press 
coverage of sexual violence against women between 2009 and 2019 is a 
valuable and much needed contribution to our understanding of a 
pervasive social problem. Tranchese shows how the media’s choices about 
what to report and how contribute to that problem, and how recent 
developments like the rise of online media consumption and the 
‘celebrification’ of news have made things worse. It’s a sobering but 
necessary read, which will be welcomed by linguists and other social 
scientists researching violence against women, media discourse or both.”
*Deborah Cameron*, Professor of Language and Communication, University 
of Oxford, UK

“A fascinating analysis of linguistic and discursive patterns 
surrounding press reporting of sexual violence towards women both before 
and during the #MeToo era.”
*Paul Baker*, Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster 
University, UK

“An exceptionally well-researched account of how the British media have 
represented sexual violence over the past two decades. Through in-depth 
discourse analysis, Tranchese powerfully charts the mythologies embedded 
in press coverage of men’s sexual violence against women, and details 
how these contribute to the social conditions that make such violence 
possible.”
*Dr. Fiona Vera-Gray*, Deputy Director of the Child and Woman Abuse 
Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University, UK

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