Page 6 - The Staunch Test

THE STAUNCH TEST

2. Introduction

The fact that women are so frequently depicted as victims of physical and sexual
violence on screen has come under increasing criticism in recent years. But what
are the effects on audiences of showing violence meted out to a particular group
of people — in this case women — night after night, week after week, year after
year? Given its prevalence, should we be concerned about how this level of
exposure affects individual viewers? Shouldn’t we also consider its impact on

the way women are viewed and treated in society, and how it might
unintentionally contribute to the unconscious bias women face when seeking
justice for violent physical, psychological and sexual assaults?

In the UK, as in most of the world, reports of rape have never been higher, while
prosecutions and convictions are at an all-time low. School children and older

students — especially girls — are reporting daily incidents of sexual harassment,
assault and rape through sites such as Everyone’s Invited. We are in the middle
of a growing crisis of male violence targeting women and girls.

It is also widely recognised that violence against women (VAW) is one of the
most serious challenges to health and social inclusion for women and girls
worldwide, with UN Women among the global organisations taking a lead in
the drive to highlight and combat the issues.

But until now, no one seems to be asking why women are singled out to be
casually exploited as interchangeable, dispensable, two-dimensional characters,
depicted over and over as victims of violent men in films and TV dramas, with
their brutalisation used to bolster lazy and unoriginal storytelling.

Just why is violence against women still considered such a great subject for

entertainment? And does it matter if it is? The team behind The Staunch Test
thinks it does.

As with over-exposure to anything, the endless depiction of violence towards
women on screen desensitises audiences (which is pretty much all of us) to
seeing them portrayed this way. It normalises the idea of women being
physically, psychologically and sexually abused, terrified and killed as, or within,
forms of entertainment.