مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Depiction of Honour Killings in the Media: A Study of Male Victims

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to show if the understanding of honour reinforced from different resources was reproduced by the media in news concerning male victims. It also aims to explore how male victims are presented in the news and if this news is presented differently from news about the female victims and the ways of justifying and normalizing this violence. The data for this study concerning news of honour killings came from two national daily newspapers (“Radikal” and “Posta”) between 2012 and 2014. From these reports, those concerning the male victims of honour killing were chosen and these news reports were analysed by the critical discourse analysis method. As a result of this analysis, it was found that the notion of honour is described through sexuality and the woman‟s body is similarly emphasized in news concerning both female and male victims. It further shows that honour is “cleansed” by the murder of those men who do not conform to this description. The murderers of men murdered in the name of honour can be those women whose honour is “blemished” or by the male relatives, fathers or brothers, while the murderers of those women killed in the name of honour are mostly men. One of the striking finds from this study is the news‟ reports repeated emphasis on the murderer‟s demand to regain his social respect by stating that he committed the crime on the basis of honour. This situation reproduces the sexist discourse about violence based on male hegemony. It was observed that words such as “honour” and “custom” are also employed in the headlines. It can therefore be said that this way of presenting these murders in news reports, itself contributes to the reflection of sexist ideology and sexual order stereotypes related to honour-based murders.