Popular media, like TV shows and movies, has the power to influence societal perspectives on domestic violence.
Amber Rutledge, author of a study titled “Violence Against Women on Netflix” said that within comedy, acts of violence are often used as physical comedic relief. Depictions of domestic violence within both comedy and romance media tend to have “no long-lasting effects on the characters who were victims of the violence.”
The framing of dating and domestic violence within the genre of romance normalizes dangerous behaviors in the eyes of both victims and victimizers.
“There’s this long history in television and movies of romanticizing the man who just won’t take no for an answer,” Prohaska said.
Prohaska said this idea is taken to the extreme in movies like “Beauty and The Beast” and “365 Days,” where captors transform into romantic interests. Prohaska said these depictions create a kind of Stockholm syndrome situation “that takes away the woman’s agency and being able to choose a partner, to choose where she lives, to choose having her own life.”
These depictions can normalize persistent tendencies in victimizers that can in turn lead to harassment, stalking and violence. Prohaska also said that an unwillingness to accept that “no means no” can lead to the removal of a victim’s agency.
An estimated 37.5% of women and 29.5% of men in Alabama experience intimate partner violence, according to Disarm Domestic Violence. The report stated, “Among female victims in Alabama who experienced [intimate partner violence] in their lifetime, 74.2% were concerned for safety, 36.2% were injured, 28.9% needed medical care, and 22.9% needed legal services.”
We usually think of extreme cases of violence, but smaller acts of mental and physical degradation are also cases of intimate partner violence, Prohaska said.
As an example of these smaller acts of violence, Prohaska said that the show “Kevin Can F**k Himself” depicts how these smaller acts can develop into dangerous situations.
The show also presents a victim who does not fit into the role of a “perfect victim,” which, Prohaska said, is a person who acts “submissive” and “nurturing” in abusive situations.
The victim in “Kevin Can F**k Himself,” Allison, fantasizes about killing her abuser, Kevin, which seems absurd to a viewer until later episodes reveal the true levels of abuse she experiences.
This depiction of a non-“perfect victim” and her struggle in feeling that she is incapable of escape is a somewhat more realistic depiction of domestic and dating violence, providing viewers with a more sympathetic attitude toward real victims whose actions they once would have viewed as extreme, said Prohaska.
“So many [victims] do not report for many different reasons,” Prohaska said, including concerns of economic independence, abuser threats to take or hurt children, and fear that they will not be believed.
More than fictional representations, documentaries are able to show victim’s lived experiences, and, Prohaska said, may be the best way to depict this kind of violence in the media. However, the process of sharing one’s victimization in this way can be extremely difficult and open up victims to further social scrutiny.
“Depicting women overcoming their victimization [could] spread awareness about violence against women and present effective coping and exit strategies,” Rutledge said. “Some media messages may influence attitudes about violence against women, the consequences of the crime committed, and increase aggressive behaviors in viewers.”
The media’s depiction of dating and domestic violence has the ability to impact the actions and perspectives of victims, victimizers and society as a whole.
“They’re not just entertainment,” Prohaska said. “They teach us about our social lives.”