Final Submission of Accepted Manuscript (Media Rape article).pdf (293.06 kB)
Sadistic scopophilia in contemporary rape culture: I Spit On Your Grave (2010) and the practice of “media rape"
This article revisits earlier theorisations of cinematic voyeurism and gender-based violence in considering the cross-media connections between cinema and non-consensual pornography online. In particular, it looks at how the remake of a significant rape-revenge film, I Spit On Your Grave (1978/2010), explores the role of technology in the perpetuation of female victimisation. By making a visible connection between the female character’s physical rape and the violation of her subjectivity performed through filming her without her consent, the film raises a larger social/media issue, which I call media rape. In offering a theorisation of this phenomenon, the article analyses the operation of the website creepshots.com, which distributes non-consensual photos of women. The comparison between these two texts promotes an understanding of the visual and discursive continuities between cinema and online spaces in relation to media rape and rape culture more generally. At a time when the distinction between the creators of and audiences for media content is less straightforward within the context of online media, sadistic scopophilia needs to be reconsidered in relation to medium specificity. Although it is already problematic in the cinematic context, when it extends to online media sadistic scopophilia becomes a human rights violation.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Feminist Media StudiesISSN
1468-0777Publisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
18Page range
397-410Department affiliated with
- Media and Film Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2019-07-09First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-07-17First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2019-07-17Usage metrics
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