The Culture of Rape in the Newspaper

06/15/2016 - 12h14

"I cried when I saw the video, says grandmother of girl who asserts she was raped" was the headline on the story which was posted on the digital version of Folha on Thursday, May 26.

It carried an account about the gang rape case, occurring in a slum on the west side of Rio de Janeiro, which shocked the country.

It only became public due to release of a video which had so much gloom as to be unmistakable: a nude girl appears unconscious, with her genital organs exposed and injured, in an environment in which a group of men laughs, mocks and touches her in a humiliating way.

The headline, which attributed the assertion of having been raped to the victim without the newspaper's seal of approval, revolted readers.

"The girl did not 'say she had been raped.' There were no doubts. The girl was raped," complained reader Natália Machiaveli in a Letter to the Editor. "It is atrocious insensitivity," Renato Janine Ribeiro, professor of ethics and political philosophy told the ombudsman.

For the newsroom, writing that the girl had been raped is not dealing with an error, but a factual description for which there is no doubt about the rape itself. I disagree. It sounds like cowardice by the newspaper, disguised through distance.

On the previous day (May 25), for about two hours, the newspaper published a text on its Internet site which spoke of "supposed rape." That was a serious error.

The editor for daily news, Eduardo Scolese, explained: "When we saw the video, there was no doubt: the girl had been raped. We were the first to assert this, citing the law of 2009" which considers libidinous acts to be the crime of rape.

As the bureau chief in Rio, Marco Aurélio Canônico wrote: "Nobody who has seen the video in which the unconscious girl is molested by a man, while at least one other records the scene and a third one watches, could have any doubt that she was raped."

Folha was slow at dealing with the problem in the correct proportion. The edition on Saturday (May 28) did not carry investments such as analytical interviews or construction of a portrait of rape in this country, with numbers.

On Sunday (May 29), in wider coverage, it sketched a portrait of the region where the rape occurred, citing an interesting campaign in the United States and interviewed a representative at the United Nations dedicated to women's rights. But it was too little.

What should the newspaper's role be in such a case?

Investigate in a meticulous manner and narrate its findings soberly. Concern about the social angle and public policy. Recount the details, without losing perspective of the example in general. Provoke discussion with wide-ranging and deep debate.

Are there doubts and inconsistencies in the account from the moment the girl left her home until the video was released on social media?

Reporters have an obligation to reconstruct this story. Untangling such inconsistencies does not mean doubting what was recounted by the girl. The responses that arose from there could not justify rape, the path taken by the chief investigator in this case who was relieved of duties.

For Renato Janine, it's easier to embrace a discussion to condemn than stimulate reflection in which he tries to explain what happened.

The most common reaction in the social and political context follows a lack of passion in shocking cases. Proposing a toughening of the law or increasing penalties without questioning the causes nor such changes would bring consequences.

Rio's interim governor, Francisco Dornelles, remarked that if it were up to him, the rape would be punished with the death penalty. Interim President Michel Temer said he was irate and launched a national plan to combat violence against women. Generic, without time lines or funding, he pointed out a good report in Folha. A reader suggested castration of the rapists.

The case is one among thousands which happen every year. The newspaper should untangle these numbers and discuss their causes. It's necessary to contact educators and anthropologists. Where are the thoughts of psychologists and psychoanalysts who deal with questions about sexuality?

The fight against "the culture of rape" sent hundreds into the streets. Messages from readers questioned the rape and even blamed the victim. What does this mean? The responses came more in columns, occupied mostly by men.

Psychoanalyst Contardo Calligaris was assertive in a column in the arts and entertainment section: "I believe that yes, there is a culture of rape. I would like to ask how it originates and how it authorizes rapists."

The U.N. section on the rights of women issued a communiqué in which it summarized what is being debated: "Culture of rape is a term used to approach the ways in which society blames the victims for sexual assault and normalizes violent sexual behavior by men."

Columnist Reinaldo Azevedo prefers to outline the objective fact to point out "rape is an ideological banner." The plurality of the newspaper, sometimes, demands this price.

Rape is a violent topic for readers. No argument should, in any instance, normalize or justify barbaric criminal acts. Journalistic culture needs to create mechanisms to reverse the inequality of genders in its internal workings if it wants to fight wrongs such as the culture of rape.

Translated by JOHN WRIGHT

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