A Landscape Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Narratives in Entertainment & News Media

Misunderstood, taboo, yet hidden all around us, the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the United States remains a complex social issue spanning farther and deeper than headlines about the Catholic Church and Hollywood scandals. Even as 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys becomes a victim of sexual abuse before the age of 18, the narratives prevailing across media platforms often fail to represent the reality of abuse in the United States today. This is true of television, film, audio, and documentary content. It is also true of different news angles and outlets, from local news to current events and crime; from tabloid scandals to a critic’s review of the film or documentary in the meta cycle of narratives we consume.

The issue of child sexual abuse (CSA) comes up in these mediums when there is something ‘newsworthy,’ like a sensationally high-profile arrest or the release of a film featuring a related plotline. Not only does the selective reporting of these narratives skew the cultural conversation around an already complex issue, but how the reporting is published often misrepresents the overarching issue entirely.

Before we can understand the relationship between portrayals of CSA in entertainment media and the narratives that get passed along to newsrooms and critics' desks, we must first establish a standard understanding of what the concept of 'CSA' represents and how the issue is known to manifest and thrive within our culture—outside of the media sphere. The issue at hand has many subcategories, manifestations, testimonies, and data sets. However, this is an overview of the studies done already in academic and research-oriented institutions, government agencies and departments, and advocacy groups for social and political influence surrounding CSA.

According to government and nonprofit organizations alike, the broad understanding of CSA is any involvement of children or adolescents in sexual activities to which consent and comprehension cannot be given. It is widely understood that no child can legitimately consent to any form of sexual activity, as they cannot fully comprehend the nature of sexual behavior. Full stop. CSA as a term is a label to categorize all manifestations of sexual abuse and violence involving children in both physical and digital spaces.

There is a backlog of research and reports published and supported across organizations, including the Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), and more, all of which outline and analyze statistics of CSA based on different variables, including reporting, disclosure, prosecution, conviction, testimony, and other data.

What we need to know for a broad understanding of CSA in the U.S. is that 20% of adult women and 5–10% of adult men recall at least one instance of sexual abuse or assault in their childhood and that 90–95% of perpetrators are known by victims before abuse occurs, be it family members, caretakers, teachers, acquaintances in a community, or other familiar individuals.

This is seen commonly in popular media, with the rise of true crime a genre of entertainment rather than journalism and research. Naturally, stories of CSA are told within this genre. But these stories almost always focus on one type of narrative: the sensationalized pedophile that seems too sinister to be true or dramatic enough to be a Hollywood blockbuster. On the fictional side of entertainment, there is more balance between representations of abuse depending on genre and emotional draw. Still, there is also more liberty taken in works of fiction than in documentary works with selective true crime topics.

CSA is not one story or one type of narrative, but the terminology and framing used by the majority of media professionals today cannot adequately describe the range of actions and behaviors involved. CSA is a sensitive topic. Its reality is that it can be difficult to consume and intimidating to produce. Yet, certain narratives continue to find their way into the pool of content across film and television. This content could include a responsibly handled coming-of-age story or a dramatized portrayal of CSA as a student-teacher romance, but either way, a narrative about CSA is being released to an audience.

For entertainment and culture reporters, including film and television critics, there is another element at play. When reporters and critics produce additional content based on the latest entertainment-side source material, they have the power to affect how the narratives are further distributed. If a movie fails to consider the calls of researchers, advocates, and survivors for more intentional reporting, journalists can call it out and correct it through their coverage of the media. They also have the opportunity to continue telling stories that don't reflect the realities of those who have experienced or will experience CSA.

The problems outlined here cannot be blamed entirely on journalists, though. At the time of writing, there is no widely accepted standard or style guide for reporters and content creators to reference when writing about the topic. So, how does a journalist who specializes in film, television, or other forms of media, culture, and entertainment know how to handle narratives involving CSA with care? With many other questions of taste, inclusivity, and sensitive subject matter, they would refer to a style guide like that of the Associated Press or their media organization’s internal standards and guidelines.

Otherwise, journalists may do their research. But, without a standard for how to frame, discuss, and address topics under the umbrella of CSA, individuals can easily find varied information depending on the time and resources put towards doing this additional work, if they think to do it at all.

The rhetoric in mainstream culture, society, and the media does not reflect a comprehensive understanding of what CSA is or how the narratives within fictional entertainment media impact the progress of prevention, awareness, and safety efforts.

When posing the inquiry about the media landscape surrounding this dynamic, one might ask: What are the dominant narratives featured in film and television, and how does the media coverage of that content further or hinder those narratives from gaining momentum? What is the relationship between these two spheres of media, and what is their impact on their audiences? What is being done to make journalistic coverage of CSA in entertainment more ethically and responsibly standardized, and where is that work left to be done? How do these compare to experts in research, awareness, prevention, and advocacy? For this landscape analysis, the primary question remains: Which of these questions have been asked and which have been answered?

‘The News’ shares stories and events, thoughts and opinions, critics, and calls to action. As content is increasingly accessible to produce and publish, the sharing of every genre and every thought pattern is made possible. In traditional journalism and reporting, a standard of ethics and style has the final say over the parts of writing and reporting that may otherwise be debated. Most famous for this authority is The Associated Press, or AP, as it is usually referred to in the context of its canonical style guide. Though the AP Style Guide is evergreen and updated to reflect the cultural landscape in which it serves, it has failed to address the gap between consistency, journalistic ethics, and CSA. The same is true for large media institutions that develop in-house style guides as further reference material.

These guides lack a comprehensive explanation of CSA, its several manifestations and classifications, and specifically, guidelines on how to report stories related to CSA with a journalistic approach. The news media lacks an understanding of the intricacies and actualities of CSA, which is evident in how reporters, columnists, and critics address the matter. News coverage of CSA often sensationalizes the issue by emphasizing fear, shock, and a sense of remoteness. They frequently emphasize vivid details to elicit emotional responses from the audience, often resulting in increased dread and anxiety rather than promoting awareness and prevention. News coverage often portrays victims in ways that advocates would disagree with, while depicting perpetrators as passive participants in instances of abuse.

Additionally, most studies are centered around either CSA in entertainment media or in press coverage and reporting— never the interaction between the two. This research often analyzes specific sub-categories of CSA, like the history of abuse within the Catholic Church or the sensationalized crime reporting seen across newspapers, streaming platforms, and the like. Others focus on fictional narratives from scripted film and television, with a focus on the impacts on viewers and survivors of childhood sexual abuse. There is less reporting and research at the intersection of both approaches.

On the rare occasion that a story about CSA makes it to the mainstream news media and doesn’t feel like an episode of Nightline, the content creators fail to address elements and situations of CSA appropriately. The lack of standard vocabulary across the industry can be reflected in the inconsistent telling of CSA narratives, whether factual or fiction. When discussing a teacher’s abuse of a middle-school-aged student, reporters may use terminology like having sex with or being sexually involved, rather than acknowledge the power of language when discussing a serious issue with little true awareness. In considering the calls from organizations like the National Children’s Alliance, reporters would instead frame narratives with the terminology outlined in CSA expert style guides, such as sexual abuse, grooming, and repeated sexual assault.

There is space in the existing pool of research, reporting, and analysis of CSA in entertainment media. The same is true for narratives throughout journalism. With continued evolution in technology and communication, the consumption and discourse of entertainment media and narratives open access to the furthered narratives once reserved for established film critics and Hollywood reporters. Where traditional media lacks the ability and responsibility to address themes of CSA in popular culture with responsible, ethical standards of narrative and rhetoric, the rest of society follows suit.

There is a pipeline of narratives moving from entertainment media to news media coverage, and there is a cycle of narratives between the media and culture. Yet, there is little research or reporting on this ecosystem. There must be a way to further analyze the links between each realm of media, the institutions behind them, and the people in society that are affected by the narratives they produce and pass along. The chain has not been analyzed, but doing so might unlock new insight for narrative change

throughout.      

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References

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