The Representation of Women Affected by Sexual Violence

Sexual violence remains a pervasive issue that affects millions of women worldwide and continues to raise urgent social, political, and cultural concerns. In raising the appropriate level of awareness, the media plays a crucial role in shaping the public's perceptions of sexual violence. Therefore, this study investigates how women affected by sexual violence are represented in two ideologically contrasting French news outlets: Le Monde, known for its center-left orientation, and Le Figaro, associated with a center-right positioning. Specifically, it focuses on the case of Gisèle Pelicot, a 72-year-old woman who filed charges against her husband for over two decades of marital rape and sexual abuse. Her public testimony and the subsequent trial generated significant national and international attention, making her a unique subject for examining evolving media narratives. Using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), this study examines 40 articles through a textual and visual analysis, allowing for an in-depth understanding of how semiotic tools work together to create meaning. The results of this study identify two main discourses through which Gisèle Pelicot is represented: a survivor discourse and a victim- blaming discourse. Ultimately, the survivor discourse portrays Gisèle Pelicot as a resilient and agentic figure who became a feminist icon. This aligns with broader shifts in media practices that increasingly portray women affected by sexual violence through empowering narratives. Conversely, the victim-blaming discourse reproduces more traditional and conservative narratives by portraying Gisèle Pelicot as complicit and unreliable, notably through the exposure and scrutiny of her sexuality. Ultimately, these representations demonstrate that while progress has been made in how women affected by sexual violence are portrayed, dominant cultural norms and institutional pressures continue to influence which stories are legitimized, how they are told, and whose voices are amplified by the media. Specifically, this study contributes to ongoing research on media representations of sexual violence by demonstrating that contradictory discourses often coexist. This challenges the tendency of previous research, which often treated such discourses as mutually exclusive. Additionally, it addresses a gap in empirical research by focusing on a recent case involving an ordinary French woman affected by domestic sexual violence, which contrasts with the dominant focus on Anglo-Saxon contexts and high-profile celebrity cases typically found in media representation studies. Finally, the findings offer practical implications for media professionals and advocacy groups, encouraging more cautious, accurate, and ethically responsible reporting on women affected by sexual violence.