VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN TIMES OF CONFLICT : A textual analysis of media representations of Yazidi women during ISIS conflict in Iraq and Syria

Sexual violence against women in the time of conflict is a problem that appeared in many cases during wartime. Despite that it is a common problem, media and especially Western media through its coverage of war and rape during war did not give this concept its focus but rather researcher argued that media focus’s in its coverage on its ideology and agendas. In this study, which focus on media coverage during ISIS war in Iraq and Syria, critical discourse analysis was carried out on Western media and Arab media in order to understand media representation for Yazidi women who been subject to sexual violence and the potential outcomes for their representation. The results of the analysis showed that Western media represented Yazidi women as victims, on the other hand Arab media represented them as survivors, Western media portray put Yazidi women in the box of being the “other”, while both Western and Arab media had specific ideologies in their coverage, Western media with a political agenda and Arab media in justifying Islam from ISIS actions. In both cases media did not took sexual violence against Yazidi women in the wartime rape discourse