Framing the Victim, Activating the Perpetrator: Gender and Media Representations of Female Rape Victims in Moroccan Online Newspapers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E6/2026-09Keywords:
feminist discourse analysis, gender representation, Moroccan media, rape reporting, critical discourse analysisAbstract
This study investigates the linguistic representation of female rape victims in Moroccan online newspapers, examining how journalist gender shapes discursive constructions of sexual violence. Drawing on means of Critical Discourse Analysis, employing Halliday’s Transitivity System and van Leeuwen’s Social Actor Framework, the study analyzes forty news articles authored by male and female journalists through a qualitative approach supported by quantitative findings. The analysis demonstrates that although male and female journalists differ in the frequency and stylistic use of linguistic structures, they ultimately converge ideologically in portraying female rape victims as passive, vulnerable, and subjected to violence. Both groups of journalists refute victim-blaming narratives and attribute agency and accountability to perpetrators rather than to victims. Female journalists tend to employ nomination, mental, and behavioral processes that humanize victims and emphasize emotional depth, while male journalists rely more on passivation and categorization that foreground factual distance. Overall, the findings reveal a shared ethical orientation toward empathetic and responsible reporting, reflecting a broader shift in Moroccan media discourse toward more gender-sensitive representations of sexual violence.
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Copyright (c) 2026 EL HOUSSINE EL FALLAKI (Author)
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