Citation

Storer HL, Mitchell B, Willey-Sthapit C. Violence Against Women 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778012221150277

PMID

36659859

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated incidences of domestic violence (DV). The framing of DV within media sources contributes to the public's understanding of DV. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), this paper explores representations of safety within newspapers' reporting of DV during the pandemic. The sample included newspaper articles (n = 31) from U.S. newspapers. The analysis involved multiple rounds of coding and employing "structured questions." These articles depicted limited courses of action for DV survivors and represented safety as unattainable. Safety was constructed in four ways: homes are unsafe, social services are overburdened, government failures, and the elusiveness of safety. These discursive formations provide insight regarding "idealized" social responses to DV.

Language: en

Keywords

safety; COVID-19 pandemic; critical discourse analysis; intimate partner violence; social service responses