This textual analysis ofthe newspaper coverage ofthe murder ? f a battered uwman by her husband shous how myths and stt'reot-ypes combine to blame the. uictimJor her own death. It also demonstrutes the interconnection qf gender, raccj, and class i n the representation of violence ugainst women.In 1974, Erin Pizzey published Scream Quietly or the 1Veighhor.s W i l l Hear, the first book about battered wives. Released in England, this pioneering effort helped ignite the battered women's movement 'on both sides of the Atlantic by increasing awareness o f the problem as well as efforts to establish shelters for battered women and their children.'Two decades later, an estimated 3 to 4 million American women are battered by their husbands and boyfriends each year (Stark et al., 1981). Some estimate that as many as 50% of all women will be hattered at some point in their lives (Mahoney, 1991, p. 3; Walker, 1979, p. ix). Among all female victims o f murders in 1989, the FBI (1990) reports, 28% were believed slain by husbands o r boyfriends (p. 12). However, getting o u t of an abusive relationship is often more dangerous than remaining inside one. Separated o r divorced women were 14 times more likely than married women t o report having heen a victim o f violence by a spouse or ex-spouse, accounting for 75% o f reported spousal violence (Harlow, 1991, p. 5).Given the epidemic proportions of the problem, onle may well ask how the news media have represented battering in the years since Pizzey named wife abuse as a serious social problem.' Unfortunately, the answer 1 Tcrtns such :is,fawzz(y uiolctzce a n d dotnc~stic z/iolerice ot)scure t h e relationship b e t w e e n g e n d e r and p o w e r by failing t o define t h e perpetrators a n d victims. Although Bograd (19x8) prefers ui+t ahzrse, this ignores violence in dating, which may h e as prevalent as in marriage (C;tte, Henton. Koval, Christopher, & Lloyd, 1982; Makepeace, 1981 ). I'harr (1991) suggests sexist / / i <~l~i c~~ twrause it indicates "that it has societal roots, and is n o t just any violence o r hatred that occurs" (p. 2 ) .Marian Meyers is a n assistant professor in t h e I k p a r t m c n t o f Communication a t Georgia State [Jniversity in At1ant;i. T h e a u t h o r wishes to thank Cassandra Atnesley a n d Mary Ellen Brown for helpful c o m m e n t s o n a n earlier draft o f this article, and Dick Bathrick a n d Gus Kaufman for their valual~le insights a b o u t news coverage o f Wanda Walters's murder.Copyright 0 1994 Jozrrriul c!/CiJrnmitnicMlion 4 4 ( 2 ) , Spring. 0021~9916/9/t/$i.O0
47
