Remember Women: A Study on the Media's Degradation of Marginalized Women Victims of Serial Killers

(Hardback)

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This book analyzes the specific language used to describe women victims of five different serial killers to provide insight into how the media treats women, especially Black women, in serial killer cases.

Through qualitative archival research and a feminist social constructionist lens, language and word/phrase choices in 126 articles from the Los Angeles Times dating from 1985 to 2020 were examined for the use of synecdoche, derogatory language, and negatively connotative language when referring to the fifty-one women. In addition, use of the victims names, use of the killers names, and use of killer-friendly language were examined.

Using critical discourse analysis and grounded theory, the author argues that harmful narratives and dehumanization of the women were perpetuated through the underuse of victims names combined with overused combinations of synecdoche, derogatory, and/or negatively connotative words/phrases. Digital media of today, including streaming services, podcasts, and YouTube videos, were also examined, and perpetuation or disruption of the harmful narratives and dehumanization varied.

Author Bio

Laura Leigh Menard is an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, USA.