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VIRGIN OR VAMP: HOW THE PRESS COVERS SEX CRIMES

Virgin or Vamp is a critique of the way the print press covers sex crimes, based on an examination of four sex-crime cases that were prominent from late 1970s to early 1990s. The cases are the 1979 reta and !ohn "ideout marital rape case in #re$on, which provo%ed a national debate about the ri$hts of husbands over wives& the 19'( pool table $an$ rape of a woman in a )ew *edford, +assachusetts bar, which resulted in clashes between feminists and local residents& the 19', sex-related %illin$ of !ennifer -evin by "obert .hambers in )ew /or%, which outra$ed feminists and press critics& and the 19'9 $an$ rape and beatin$ of the .entral 0ar% 1o$$er in )ew /or%, which divided men a$ainst women, blac%s a$ainst whites in the furor that accompanied it. +ethods used 1. 2nalysis of the lan$ua$e of the ori$inal newspaper and ma$a3ine stories 4. "esearch on media analysis, history, press ethics, the sociolo$y of crime, rape and sexual assault, and lin$uistics (. 5nterview of reporters from each one of the papers analy3ed 6abits of the newsroom that affect the way a news story is written 1. .ompetition 4. 7eadlines (. "eporters8 ambitions 9. :hat sells ;. !ournalistic traditions ,. "acism 7. <exism '. .lass pre1udice 9. *ias of sources 10. "eporters8 opinions 11. +anipulation 14. 6ierarchy in the newsroom

Rape myths, language, an the p!"t"ayal !# $!men %n the me %a "ape myths 1. "ape is sex. 4. The assailant is motivated by lust. (. The assailant is perverted or cra3y. 9. The assailant is usually blac% or lower class. ;. :omen provo%e rape. ,. :omen deserve rape. 7. #nly =loose> women are victimi3ed. '. 2 sexual attac% sullies the victim. 9. "ape is a punishment for past deeds. 10. :omen cry rape for reven$e. <exism in lan$ua$e as documented by 7ale <pender, "obin -a%off, and other lin$uists essential to examination of newspaper lan$ua$e 1. There are more words for men than for women. 4. There are more positive words for men than for women. (. +any more words for women have sexual overtones than words for women. 9. There are 440 words for a sexually promiscuous female and only twenty for a promiscuous male. ;. There are no words in ?n$lish for a stron$ female@no semantic equivalent of =hero> for

6elen *enedict. A1994B. Virgin or vamp: How the press covers sex crimes. )ew /or%C #xford Dniversity 0ress. (09 pa$es.

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example. 2 hero is active, stron$, brave, while a heroine more often waits to be rescued by the hero. 0ortrayal of women in the media The media presents women as bein$ rewarded for the characteristics of passivity, dependence, and indecisiveness. The most common portrayal of women by the visual media is as a sex ob1ect and $lamour $irl, the allurin$ siren. Dnderlyin$ the media8s portrayal of women is an inescapable vir$inEwhore dichotomy. 2s alla$her pointed out, throu$hout the ima$ery of the Fvir$in8 runs a consistent stress on subordination, sacrifice, and purity. The Fwhore8 ima$ery is connected with cruelty, inhumanity, insensitivity, and unscrupulousness. 5t is not surprisin$, therefore, that the public and the press tend to combine the bias in our lan$ua$e, the traditional ima$es of women, and rape myths into a shared narrative about sex crimes that $oes li%e thisC The Fvamp8 versionC The woman, by her looks, behavior or generally loose morality, drove the man to such extremes of lust that he was compelled to commit the crime. The Fvir$in8 versionC The man, a depraved and perverted monster, sullied the innocent victim, who is now a martyr to the flows of society. A p!l%&eman %n e'e"y (e "!!m: The )*+,-)*+* G"eta an .!hn R% e!ut ma"%tal "ape &ase 5n 1977, #re$on had become the third state in the D< to ma%e marital rape ille$al. Dntil then, in #re$on and in most states, a man could not be char$ed with rapin$ his wife because under seventeenth-century *ritish common law, she was his to have whenever he wanted. The &ase reta and !ohn met when she was 1, and he was 1' in 0ortland, #re$on. !ohn, one of six children, came from a poor, fatherless family in #re$on, while reta was one of four children of a secretary and drau$hstman in 0hoenix, 2ri3ona. The couple be$an livin$ to$ether in 0ortland. !ohn wor%ed as a coo%, reta as a waitress. :hen reta became pre$nant !ohn proposed marria$e, but she refused him because she thou$ht she was irresponsible. !ohn 1oined the army and left reta alone with her dau$hter. -ater, !ohn proposed a$ain and this time, driven by loneliness and poverty, reta flew to eor$ia to marry him. <oon their fi$hts over money, over responsibility, over sex escalated. reta left !ohn a$ain to live with her parents, but he followed her and won her bac%. They moved to <alem, but their relationship did not improve. #n #ctober 10, 197', the "ideouts had their bi$$est fi$ht to date. reta said !ohn had hit her face, almost brea%in$ her 1aw, cho%ed her, dra$$ed her home from a nei$hborin$ field, and forced her to submit to sex in front of her dau$hter. !ohn said they quarreled, she %need him in the $roin, he slapped her, and then they made up and made love. 2fter the fi$ht, reta ran to a nei$hbor8s house, hid under the table, and called a woman8s crisis hotline, sayin$ she had been beaten and was bein$ chased by her husband. Two days later, she pressed char$es of rape. !ohn was arrested, indicted, and the trial was set. The "ep!"t%ng .overed in a surprisin$ly discrete lan$ua$e& possible to attribute the discretion to the fact that it was covered lar$ely by women@three women and two women of the main local newspaper and three women and two men on wire reportin$ The "ideout story ori$inally belon$ed to local reporter !anet ?venson A Statesman ournalB, who stumbled across it durin$ a routine chec% of indictments of at the 728s office.

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!anet ?venson had to ar$ue with her editor in favor of namin$ reta because the paper had a staunch policy not to use victims8 names in rape stories. <he won the ar$ument. The 20 and D05 were runnin$ stories in re$ional newspapers all alon$ the west coast by the end of first month of covera$e but national attention was still lac%in$. #nly *etty -iddic% of the !.".Times paid any attention to reta durin$ the early sta$e of the case. -iddic% flew to <alem and conducted a remar%ably candid interview with reta, which ran two wee%s before the trial. 5n contrast to the plain and unemotional lan$ua$e of the other reporters, -iddic% used some )ew !ournalism techniques to set a scene, create a mood, and to draw a sympathetic picture of reta as a lon$-sufferin$, lonely, and poor sin$le mother@a victim. +issin$ the story E The pretrial hearin$s were mostly i$nored by the press. This was the sta$e where important developments such as the decision of the 1ud$e to ma%e reta8s prior sexual conduct admissible and the droppin$ of the ori$inal char$e of beatin$ and rape in favor of rape alone were missed. 7ecember 19, 197' E first day of the trialGspectacle. The story of the trial8s openin$ ran in the national press from one coast to the other. The local reporters suddenly found themselves in demand. +c7onou$h of The #regonian sold stories to the -os 2n$eles Herald $xaminer, while ?venson sold stories to the %ashington &ost and the 'hicago Tribune. 6er Tribune story had the headline, =-andmar% rape caseC man vs. wife.> <emanticsC !ohn was allowed the di$nity of his $ender, while reta was only defined in her relation to him. The press8 attention focused on the ar$uments of the attorneys instead of explainin$ the le$al implications of the case, ma%in$ the reporters more sub1ect to manipulation by attorneys and less free to interpret the case themselves. The defense8s ar$uments $iven more importance over prosecution8s E reta with serious sexual problems Aher alle$ed lesbian and extramarital affairs includin$ one with !ohn8s half brotherB and the publicity as a source of $ratification for her& the defense lawyer $enerally ac%nowled$ed as the more effective of the two lawyers The defense relied on the rape myths ="apists are motivated by lust,> =only bad women are raped,> and =women cry rape for reven$e.> 7ecember 4' E acquittal. The slant of the stories was affected by how much of the final testimony the reporters decided to include and by whether they emphasi3ed !ohnFs story or reta8s. The acquittal stories by the news ma$a3ines and The (ew )ork Times were more balanced than the local stories, but they shared one flawC They $ave the impression that the 1ury had nothin$ to 1ud$e by but reta8s word a$ainst !ohn8s, or of the photo$raphs of reta8s battered face. ?arly opinionsC debates on the ri$hts of husbands over wives and whether the law should be allowed into the privacy of the marital bedroom divided columnists. #n one side were those who stood up for protection of women a$ainst rape in or out of marria$e, and on the other were those who were worried about women usin$ the rape law for reven$e and about the law interferin$ with marital privacy AThe %ashington &ost columnist8s use of *one %ith The %ind analo$yB. !anuary 10, 1979 E the reconciliation. !ohn and reta appeared at the defense attorney8s office and announced that they had reconciled. The press, feminists, and antirape advocates were not amused. The divorce. 5n +arch 1979, reta filed for divorce. *y this time, both the national press and the local press were clearly fed up with the "ideout story. The divorce was finali3ed in +ay 1979.

/%s&uss%!n The reporters should have reco$ni3ed the case as one of domestic violence and educated themselves about the issue. The reporters should have resisted the temptation to lau$h at reta and !ohn for their youth, class, and lac% of sophistication. The reporters should have resisted the attorney8s attempts to manipulate them into portrayin$ reta as the vamp of the rape narrative. She sh!ul (e pun%she : The )*,0-)*,1 Ne$ 2e #!" 32%g /an4s5 gang "ape

The &ase The victim of the *i$ 7an8s rape had been born and brou$ht up in the )orth end of )ew *edford. 2bandoned by her mother in infancy, she was raised by her $reat-$randmother in a 0ortu$uesespea%in$ household until she was five, when she moved to her $randparents8 house in )ew *edford. The family primarily lived on welfare. <he spent all whole life in )ew *edford. <he attended local schools until she dropped out of hi$h school because she $ot pre$nant with a son, and then moved into an apartment with her boyfriend and had two more children. ?mployed intermittently, she continued to depend on welfare. <he and her boyfriend fou$ht constantly and ended up havin$ what a nei$hbor called a =platonic relationsip> but %ept on livin$ to$ether. #n +arch ,, 1'9(, the woman, by now 41, celebrated her dau$hter8s third birthday with a small party. That evenin$, after puttin$ her children to bed, she left her boyfriend to watch over them and went out to buy ci$arettes. <he wal%ed to *i$ 7an8s Tavern, a bar two bloc%s from her home, and once inside ordered a drin% and chatted with the waitress, whom she %new. <he stayed for a while, drin%in$ and tal%in$ to people in the bar. <ome time later, as she told it, she was pushed to the floor by several men, her 1eans were forcibly pulled off, and she was carried, stru$$lin$, cryin$ and shoutin$ for help, to the pool table at the bac% of the small bar. There she was raped, forced into oral sex, hit, held down, and molested by at least four men while others watched and perhaps cheered. )o one tried to stop the assault and no one called the police. 2fter so many assaults she lost count, the woman mana$ed to brea% free and run out of the door. <creamin$ and only half dressed, she ran into the street wavin$ for help. 2 pic%-up truc% stopped and the men inside covered her and too% her to the police station, where she explained what happened. The police too% her bac% to the bar, with her consent, where she identified some of her assailants, who were still han$in$ around drin%in$ and, some said, boastin$ of the rape. Hour men where arrested on char$es of a$$ravated rape@$an$ rape@and two others were arrested on char$es of 1oint enterprise, which means encoura$in$ an ille$al act and doin$ nothin$ to stop it. The men were brou$ht to trial in the nearby town fall of Hall "iver, +assachusetts. The "ep!"t%ng The case received meticulous attention from the local press for more than a year, from +arch 19'( to 2pril 19'9. 2lan -evin, of Standard Times, stumbled across the $an$ rape at *i$ 7an8s while $oin$ throu$h his routine chec% of daily record of reported crimes. 6is article described the crime usin$ words such as =cheerin$ crowd,> =lurid,> and =fren3y.> This helped to attract other newspapers to the story. The followin$ day, the tabloid +oston Herald ran an enormous headline, =*2" ."#:7 .6??"< 2< :#+2) 5< "20?7.> 5t was the cheerin$ crowd, more than the actual rape, that inspired public horror. #nce the public learned that that the four suspects had been released on a bail of I1000 each, the outra$e rose even hi$her. -ocal feminist $roups were stirred to action. The 0ortu$uese element. *ecause the victim and suspects were 0ortu$uese and because *i$ 7an8s location in a 0ortu$uese section in )ew *edford, most newspaper articles included mentions of the 0ortu$uese aspect of the case. The 0ortu$uese community ob1ected to this. The bac%lash a$ainst the victim, already stron$ in the community by then, received a boost when two of the suspects were interviewed by the +oston Herald. The victim8s credibility was called into question when they said that she was seen hu$$in$ and %issin$ with one of the suspects that ni$ht. +ore versions of the rape came out, most of which are antivictim. The versions claimed that the cheerin$ did not happen. The 0ortu$uese attac% the media E *ecause of the arrests of two of the suspects and the flurry over the interviews, the local 0ortu$uese were or$ani3ed. The 0ortu$uese 2mericans Dnited A02DB issued a statement declarin$ that the media attention had created =a psycholo$ical state of sie$e toward a particular ethnic $roup.> The trials be$in E Hebruary 4(, 19'9 and lasted a little over a month.

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Dse of =squirmed free> rather than stru$$led, escaped, or bro%e free& na%ed from the waist down& =brunette,> =bubbly,> =hysterical,> and =unwed mother of two> in the news Jictim was said to be a prostitute, a liar and a fa%e for relyin$ on food stamps when she had income, was flirtin$ with the suspects, was as%in$ for it Heminists v. 0ortu$uese The verdict - The 1ury had decided to believe the victim despite the slurs a$ainst her and the lawyers8 efforts to discredit her. The 1ury opted for a$$ravated rape. 6owever, this triumph was a thin one because the crowd outside the courtroom exploded and the anta$onism a$ainst the victim increased. #nly three days after the trial, the victim was hounded out of town by threats to her home and family. 6owever, most of these events were not covered by the press. #n 7ecember 19, 19',, +aria *ianco was %illed in a car crash in Hlorida, where she had fled after the rape.

/%s&uss%!n +aria *ianco attracted so much hostility because of the biasin$ elements a$ainst herC <he %new the assailants& no weapon was used& she was of the same race, class, and ethnic $roup as the assailants& she was youn$& she was attractive& and she deviated from the norm of the =$ood woman.> #nce the defense attorneys and the suspects pulled out the rape myths to discredit the victim, the press fell in line and perpetuated those myths in the newspapers, enhancin$ them by the use of her name coupled with the $raphic description of her sexual assault. The press was indirectly responsible for the 0ortu$uese turnin$ a$ainst the victim. H!$ .enn%#e" &!u"te eath: The )*,6 7%ll%ng !# .enn%#e" 8e'%n

The &ase "obert .hambers, 19, was drin%in$ in an ?ast <ide bar, 7orrian8s "ed 6and, on the evenin$ of 2u$ust 4;, where he had arran$ed to meet with his current $irlfriend. 6e was apparently in a $loomy frame of mind, had been late for the meetin$, and then had i$nored his $irlfriend after he arrived. They ended up quarrelin$ and she was overheard tellin$ him to find someone else. .hambers said later that he was upset that ni$ht because he had heard of a death of a friend. !ennifer -evin, 1', arrived at 7orrian8s after .hambers. <he came with three friends with whom she 1ust had dinner, and was by all reports in a happy, celebratory mood because she was about to $o off to colle$e that wee%. <he and .hambers %new many of the people in the bar. -evin and .hambers had dated three times before, and had slept to$ether. Jarious reports had -evin sayin$ she did not particularly care for .hambers8 personality, but thou$ht that he was a $ood lover. #ther reports su$$ested she had a crush on him. .hambers, meanwhile, was said to have at first really li%ed -evin, and later to have lost interest in her as he became involved with someone else. 2t one point in the evenin$, a friend of -evin8s later said that in the trial, -evin approached .hambers for a possible flirtation or liaison. 2t first .hambers was not interested, but later he spent several hours tal%in$ to her alone at a table. The two of them eventually left the bar to$ether at 9C(0 a.m. They went into a poc%et of .entral 0ar% behind the +etropolitan +useum of 2rt, and all that is %nown for sure is that .hambers then stran$led -evin to death. The "ep!"t%ng The =0reppie +urder,> as -evin8s %illin$ came to be called, was covered by proportionally more men than women compared to the other three cases. This may have contributed to the bias a$ainst -evin. ?very reporter8s dream E $or$eous, rich, and upper class. lamori3ation of .hambers E when a suspect is attractive, he receives more sympathy re$ardin$ his innocence. .hambers was intelli$ent, -evin was only bri$ht. .hambers was a star athlete, while -evin was bubbly. .hambers was %nown as .hambers, while -evin was 1ust !enny.

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The Times8 series of articles on the lifestyle of the two preppies and their friends Jir$in phase of -evin E lovely little $irl, naive, and too trustin$ Dndera$e drin%in$ and ne$lectful parents =<he raped me,> !ennifer -evin8s sex diary, and more efforts to discredit her !anuary 9, 19'' E .hambers was brou$ht to trial and was char$ed with two counts of secondde$ree murder. .hambers as a reluctant "omeo but physical evidence and testimonies proved otherwise The plea bar$ain E .hambers pleaded $ulity to manslau$hter and bur$lary. .hambers was sent to 1ail.

/%s&uss%!n +ythsC -evin courted her death in a quest for wild sex. .hambers did not fit the preconceived narrative about sex crimes because he wasn8t poor and u$ly. The 9!gge" an the $!l#pa&7: The )*,*-)**: Cent"al Pa"7 .!gge" Case The &ase 2 $an$ of thirty-six youths, most of them teena$ers, some as youn$ as 1(, $athered at about 9 p.m. on 2pril 19, 19'9, in the northeast corner of .entral 0ar%. Their purpose, it seems, was to $o to into the par% loo%in$ for trouble, to mu$, rob, scare, chase, and beat any victim who crossed their path. 2t various times durin$ the evenin$, between 9 and 11 p.m., they robbed and beat up a homeless man, attempted but failed to accost a couple ridin$ a tandem bi%e, and assaulted two male 1o$$ers. <omewhere between 10 and 10C;;m they found their first lone female victimC a 1o$$er. They 1umped her, $rabbed at her, hit her, tore at her clothes, and sexually molested her as she fou$ht bac%. Dsin$ a lead pipe and nearby roc%s, they beat her to unconsciousness, crushin$ the bones around her face, and raped her. <ome of them cut her le$s with a %nife, others $rabbed at her body. They left her for dead. 6ours later she was found in a puddle at the bottom of the ravine. Hive of the youths were arrested on reports from the earlier victims and released. 2fter the 1o$$er was found, they were rearrested, alon$ with three other youths, and held for questionin$. #ut of that ni$ht of arrests came some of the most $ruesome and dramatic confessions the papers had laid their hands on for years. The youths confessed on videotape and in some cases also on paper to $rabbin$ the woman, fi$htin$ her, beatin$ her, rapin$ her, and they told the story apparently without remorse. -ater, the validity of some of these confessions came into question, but at the time they served to deepen the shoc% of the city and the public8s horror of the crime. ?ventually six youths were officially char$ed with rape, attempted murder, sodomy, and assault, and tried in three separate trials. The "ep!"t%ng The case became a national story overni$ht. "eporters E issue of whether there were more men than women, more whites than blac%s :hy 1o$ at ni$htK *eauty and the *east approach 4'-year-old investment ban%er& top business executive 2pril 44 E the new term =:ildin$> has surfaced on newspaper pa$es The *lac% population outra$ed& racism versus sexism an$ violence and rape E women are treated as ob1ects of prey ?fforts to discredit the victim E it was her boyfriend who raped herL /%s&uss%!n Dnli%e the three victims, the 1o$$er was treated with respect and dicretion. The press had been more sensitive than usual in its treatment of the rape victim, but the reason

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they spared her was not due to any feminist enli$htenment. They spared her because, she had the ma1ority of rape myths in her favor. Dse of fondlin$, explorin$ her body, and havin$ sex not appropriate for forcible rape

C!n&lus%!n: H!$ the p"ess sh!ul &!'e" se; &"%mes 5ndividual "eforms Jocabulary *alance .ontext .onsideration Hollow-ups 0olicy and trainin$ <ystemic "eforms -eave the victim out <top harassin$ families .hoose accuracy over speed 7iversify the room <top scape$oatin$ sources <top blamin$ the public <top disre$ardin$ feminism

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