Från offer till utsatt : En kritisk diskursanalys av medias rapportering kring våldtäkt före och efter Metoo

Abstract The purpose of this study was to study the media's portrayal of rape based on how, andwhether, the use of language has changed in the media discourse before and after Metoo. Theaim was to shed light on the consequences that the use of language in the media could havewhen it comes to reproducing unequal power structures. A qualitative approach with scritical discourse analysis was used as a method. The material is based on articles from two ofSweden's largest newspapers, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter, where ten articles wereselected from 2015 and 2019 from each newspaper. As a theoretical framework, criticaldiscourse analysis and an intersectional perspective were used. The results of the study andanalysis showed that there are some changes in the language used after Metoo in the mediaarticles reporting incidents on rape. One result showed that a woman is described as beingvulnerable instead of being a victim. Another result is that the discourse about rape hassomewhat broadened and the problems around human trafficking, prostitution and thepurchasing of sex are beginning to be discussed within this discourse. A third change is anincreased credibility both for the crime and for the woman, and that there has been a partialshift in the burden of responsibility from the woman to the man. A fourth change is thediscussion about the man's exercise of power. Despite these changes, the study shows thatunequal power structures continue to be reproduced in the media discourse on rape, where itis mainly about patriarchal power structures. These power structures are seen in a systematicway that benefits men, and in particular white men, while at the same time it disfavourswomen as well as people with a foreign background. Keywords: intersectionality, critical discourse analysis, media discourse, Metoo, rap