The portrayals of femicide victims in Mexican media : a comparison between newspaper coverage and feminist sources

This thesis aims to identify and compare the portrayals of femicide victims between mainstream and feminist sources in Mexican Context. Femicide is viewed in this thesis as linked with structural inequalities between women and men, as well as the patriarchal ideas, which come along with gendered violence, a mechanism that is reproduced in order to oppress women. This is significant to highlight the power struggles that arise from these dynamics. Furthermore, the purpose of this thesis is to point out the social problematic that arises from the first set of discourses (mainstream media) which draws upon hegemonic views of women’s morality. simultaneously I am looking for a comparison with counter portrayals that arise from progressive and challenging discourses within feminist media. Foucauldian discourse analysis is utilized with the attempt of unravelling this power struggle, to approach discourses and identify subject positions of femicide victims and perpetrators, and lastly, in order to determine cultural and historical shifts in the discourses. The research questions are: RQ1) How have the Mexican media constructed the image of femicide victims and femicide perpetrators during 2017-2020? RQ2) How have feminist actors portrayed the image of femicide victims and femicide perpetrators in Mexico during 2017-2020? and RQ3) What are the similarities or differences between the portrayals made by the media and feminist actors during this period (2017-2020)? In total 48 articles, collected from the online portal of the newspaper “Reforma”, and the feminist sources of Latfem.org and vocesfeministas.mx were analyzed. The range of publishing date comprises January 2017 - December 2020. As a result, this thesis identifies four different discourses within the mainstream newspapers coverage: Empty vessels, Noteworthy and salient members of society, Innocent victims of the circumstances, and Self-inflicted violence as a result of her own wrong choices. The identified subject positions for the victims are: one more number, unanimated object or body, the beautiful woman, empowered woman, respected woman, good woman, good mother, pure child, neglected kid, innocent child, the sex-worker, irresponsible woman, blameworthy and immoral. Also, three discourses are identified within the media with feminist scope: Femicides are a preventable and a broader social issue, The failures committed by the State, and Non- binary community, invisible femicides discourse. The identified subject positions available for the victims are: neglected woman, multiply marginalized, neglected by the State and revictimized victim, invisible woman and non-binary. The analysis showed that mainstream media did not take into account structural influences, which in turn were highlighted by feminist portrayals. Derived from the presented results, this study provides future directions to reporters in general, for them to understand their role in this issue. I enlist a series of recommendations, partly my conclusions and finalizing with Marzabal’s ideas (2015). I conclude that it is imperative to break with the hegemonic narratives and also with the competition between the different mainstream sources, who seek exclusivity and news value by exposing and utilizing the femicide victims in different manners, instead of informing objectively the population about femicide and its causes. This thesis contributes to critical social psychology and gender studies. It shows how the feminist discourses disrupt the historically continuous hegemony of mainstream discourses. It also makes a contribution to feminist studies of gendered violence, and portrayals of femicide victims in the feminist media