How passive voice makes men invisible in reference to sexual assault and domestic violence

[CousinIT]

[CrispyQ]

1. Very powerful.

Thanks for posting.

[milestogo]

2. "She got herself pregnant".

I remember hearing that when I was younger and thinking "How did she do that?"

[fierywoman]

11. Even worse: "She got knocked up."

[niyad]

3. and the WAR ON WOMEN continues apace. Would you consider cross-posting this in

Women's Rights And Issues? Thanks in advance.

[Guilded Lilly]

4. Never.Ending.(primal scream)

[MineralMan]

5. Excellent! Language Usage Matters.

[treestar]

6. Why does that happen?

It focuses on the victim, at least. "Violence against women" would have been coined by feminists/activists. They are blaming it on society that way, as opposed to "men" which will get them responses that not all men are guilty, which is true. If 100 women were raped, it may have been not 100 men, but 6 men who did all 100. I don't think this way of speaking of it was meant to pardon anyone.

[wnylib]

17. Interesting perspective.

Using the word "men" instead of a neutral term like "domestic violence" would have caused a defensive backlash that could have prevented progress on women's issues.

But other terms and expressions are longstanding ones that reflect social attitudes and put the responsibility for violence and pregnancy solely on women.

"What was she wearing?" (When a woman or girl was raped). Also, "Why was she out alone?" Or, "She was asking for it." That line conveniently doubles for both rape and "domestic violence."

"She shouldn't have made him mad." (To explain why a husband beat the shit out of his wife.)

Those are not passive expressions, though. They actively put the blame on women for rape and beatings.

[Backseat Driver]

20. Here's what I heard from the parents

I got a tongue-lashing when she discovered I had shaved my hairy legs at age 12.

"Every date is a potential mate" at age 15. No pre-game mixers or co-ed pizza after games, etc...No dates at all until age 16. "No matter how crooked the pot, there's always a lid to fit it." Who was crooked was unclear.

The dog would chew up my sanitary napkins/tampons; you would think a sturdy covered trash can would be the discrete solution - Nope - wrap and drag it through living areas to kitchen trashcan. When I asked to go to doctors because of serious period pain issues; she asked if I had something to tell her? She arranged no visit to long-time family physician or GYN.

When I had to come up with the funds to pay car insurance if I wanted to drive, I got a PT job. One day I bought a pair of shoes. Black patent sandals - lowish thin heels with bows front and back. She told me they were "whore shoes." I just thought they were very feminine and might wear them on a movie date.

Dad yelled to go wash away the slutty eye make-up (liner and shadow) after just fooling around in my room, and I sure wasn't planning to go out seducing anyone. Cleopatra was the big movie in the theater.

[wnylib]

22. They sound a bit strict and prudish.

I remember getting warnings that it was a girl's responsibility to set the rules with boys, which to some extent was true in that a girl or woman has the right to say no. But it was impressed on me that if anything went "too far" it would be my fault for allowing it or for acting or dressing in ways that provoked it. This was not just from my mother, but from teachers in girls' health and gym classes and from Girl Scout troop leaders.

As my brothers gained more freedoms and independence in their teens, I got less because I was warned that life was more dangerous for me as I matured. More restrictions were necessary to protect me. In reality, it was true because of society's predatory attitudes toward women and adoledcent girls. But it made me reluctant to ask for advice or discuss difficult situations for fear of being blamed for whatever the problem was.

For example, there was a male librarian at my junior high who took advantage of opportunities (and sometimes set them up) to brush his fingertips across a girl's breasts or lean against her with the excuse that he was reaching for something nearby. All of the girls talked about it among ourselves and gave warnings and tips to each other on how to avoid him. None of us even considered reporting him to a teacher, the principal, or our parents. We had absorbed the social attitude that that's just how men were and that it was our responsibility to handle it.

That sounds incredible today, but that's just how it was. We feared not being believed, or being accused of acting or dressing inappropriately to cause his behavior. We were supposed to be responsible for male behavior toward us as well as for our own behavior.

[3catwoman3]

30. I was in high school from 1966-69. It was ABSOLUTELY the girl's job...

…to be responsible for both her own sexual behavior AND that of the boys. According to my mother, it was cruel to behave in such a way as to cause male arousal because unreleased arousal was agonizingly painful for males. Never sit on a guy’s lap - that was too suggestive, and males could just not help themselves.

[wnylib]

32. I was in high school around the

same time, from 1964 to 1967.

[treestar]

37. that's true, so activists may have seen

"she was raped" as at least putting it on the men/rapists in the passive voice, but taking the blame away from her (or him, as some rape victims are).

Maybe the way to phrase it could be - A rapist raped her - in theory, it is not necessarily a man, though it's rare, but a woman can be guilty of rape either as accessory or even as the rapist. It usually is, but there'd need to be some expression that it might not be, or the right wingnuts can distract (their usual M.O.)

[Leghorn21]

7. OMG

I just walked through the looking glass

OMG

[BComplex]

8. You weren't alone.

[Fla Dem]

9. Powerful!

Had to look up who this man is. Fantastic insight.

Jackson T. Katz is an American educator, filmmaker, and author. He has created a gender violence prevention and education program entitled 'Mentors in Violence Prevention', which is used by U.S. military and various sporting organizations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Katz

[Ohio Joe]

10. K & R - nt

[3catwoman3]

12. Very interesting point.

I will think of it this way from now on.

[Irish_Dem]

13. What if women were doing all these crimes against men all the time?

I bet the headlines would be different.

[Orrex]

14. That image is 100% true and accurate

And passive voice in this construction has the added "bonus" of making it easier to blame the victims while giving the rapists a free ride.

[ananda]

15. This is very enlightening.

Thanks

[keithbvadu2]

16. 1+

[central scrutinizer]

18. "Mistakes were made"

An infamous reply by St. Ronnie to a question about the arms for hostages scandal.

[FakeNoose]

19. This isn't a new concept

But maybe men are listening, now that it's being said by another man?
It's hard to say.....

[JudyM]

21. K&R

[Skittles]

23. rule to avoid rape address the behavior of women

many men get annoyed when they are told to adjust THEIR behavior

https://qz.com/368240/sarah-silvermans-rape-tips-for-men-really-annoyed-a-lot-of-men/

[crickets]

24. K&R for the post and the discussion.

[StClone]

25. Yes and how many men kill women with guns

Not domestic violence.

[leftstreet]

26. DURec

[Leghorn21]

27. Late-evening KICK

Great, great post, I sent this everywhere today

Thanks, Cousin

[live love laugh]

28. WOW

[BadgerMom]

29. K & R

[burrowowl]

31. EXCELLENT!

[boston bean]

33. Try doing that and the retort will be.

“Not All Men”. “You are a misandrist.”

[MrModerate]

34. Language matters -- but this silly twaddle doesn't help anything.

Passive voice is the least of our problems.

[Emrys]

35. It's known as the past exonerative tense

past exonerative

The notional past tense of non-apology apologies like "mistakes were made", in which a speaker uses the passive voice (and past tense) and careful wording to avoid imputing intent or blame for a failure.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/past_exonerative

Its use in the context of media reports about "police-involved shootings" is taken to absurd lengths in this brilliant blog post by Vijith Assar:

An Interactive Guide to Ambiguous Grammar

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-ambiguous-grammar

SPOILER:






“A police officer shot a black person.”

becomes

[rickyhall]

36. My friend knocked-up some poor and left town. Haven't seem him since.

That was 46 years ago.

[Mosby]

38. nothing new here, this is just one way journalists spin the news.

When a journalist presents all violence committed by Hamas in the passive voice – “Israel hit by rockets” – it leaves the impression that there was no perpetrator. When the same journalist uses the active voice – “Israel carries out strikes” – to describe Israel’s response, it attributes blame to Israel and portrays Israel as the aggressor. Headlining “Soldier dies from gunshot” omits the shooter and implies that no one pulled the trigger. Too many headlines and articles lack explicit reference to an actor unless the actor is Jewish/Israeli.

Sometimes the passive voice is useful when you don’t know who the agent is. The mayor was arrested. We don’t know the officer who arrested him, nor do we need to. However, it is clear to every journalist exactly who fired the weapons that targeted Israelis and who launched the burning kites that destroyed Israeli land and crops. They are just not saying who.

Culprits who use this technique frequently employ the passive voice to blunt criticism. A child with crumbs on his shirt may say, “All the cookies were eaten.” In the same spirit, a new company executive who has just fired a significant number of employees may hope to direct blame away from himself with, “The workforce has been downsized.” In Washington, a hundred million dollar misallocation of funds might be explained as “A mistake was made.” Using the passive voice seeks to evade accusation of responsibility. Political scientist William Schneider referred to this usage of the passive as the “past exonerative” tense. Informed readers should ask why some journalists are choosing language that exonerates Hamas terrorists.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/aggressive-passive-reporting-on-israel-563316

Passive voice and bias in Reuter headlines about Israelis and Palestinians

The organization Honest Reporting recently released a study of bias in Reuters news agency headlines about events in Israel and Palestine. The part of the study on "Verb selection" claims that the choice between active and passive voice is being used to make Israeli violence more overt and apparent and Palestinian violence less so. The report says:

Violent acts by Palestinians are described with "active voice" verbs in 33% of the headlines.

Violent acts by Israelis are described with "active voice" verbs in 100% of the headlines.

Unfortunately, whatever the validity of the data on which the claims are based, the accuracy of their linguistic analysis is wrong two-thirds of the time in the examples that they give.

Here are their three examples:

Example 1:

"Israeli Troops Shoot Dead Palestinian in W.Bank" (July 3)
Israel named as perpetrator; Palestinian named as victim; described in active voice .

vs.

"New West Bank Shooting Mars Truce" (July 1)
Palestinian not named as perpetrator; Israeli not named as victim; shooting described in passive voice.

Example 2:

"Israel Kills Three Militants; Gaza Deal Seen Close" (June 27)
Israel named as perpetrator; Palestinians ("Militants&quot named as victims; described in active voice.

vs.

"Bus Blows Up in Central Jerusalem" (June 11)
Palestinian not named as perpetrator; Israelis not named as victims; described in p assive voice.

Example 3:

"Israeli Tank Kills 3 Militants in Gaza - Witnesses" (June 22)
Israel named as perpetrator; Palestinians ("Militants&quot named as victims; described in active voice.

vs.

"Israeli Girl Killed, Fueling Cycle of Violence" (June 18)
Palestinian not named as perpetrator; killing described in passive voice.


http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000236.html

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/9-headlines-that-misrepresent-israeli-aggression-against-palestinians-46647