Media representations of femicide. A systematic review of literature in English and Spanish

ABSTRACT

Research on media representations of gender-based violence GBV murders from multiple social contexts is available, but no literature review study. This work assesses this gap by examining 213 studies that analysed empirical evidence from 45 countries. Our mixed methodology provides a mapping of the literature in a scientific and transparent process. Our results show that the representation depends on the media type and not the country. The most analysed are news, finding victim-blaming, perpetrator-justification, and otherization narratives, but these were also found in other media. Social media, literature, and artistic materials help increase the visibility of activists and victims, can convey the context of GBV help to social awareness, or reproduce stereotypes that minimize, naturalize, and legitimize GBV.

KEYWORDS:

• Femicide
• feminicide
• honour killing
• dowry death
• intimate partner murder
• family murder
• media representation

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Data. The data are openly accessible at.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).