"Man slutar tänka, man rycks med i någon slags gruppsykos"
En diskursanalys av massmedias diskussion kring våldtäkten i Bjästa 2009
Men?s violence against womenMediaOtheringDiscourse analysisSwedishnessWhitenessEthnicityCultural racism
The aim of this thesis is to analyze the media discussions of the rape in Bjästa 2009 and to reveal how stereotypical illusions of ethnicity, religion and gender affect how media understands and defines violence. The rape in Bjästa occurred in a ?Swedish context? but has been defined as honor related in other arenas outside media. This discussion occurred because the whole village turned against the woman that was raped and supported the perpetrator? a phenomena that speaks against the idea of an equal society and a behavior that is usually understood as honor related and something that the ?others? do. Therefore, I have chosen to investigate one case without comparing it to another, because the discussions of this particular case reflect how the debate about men?s violence against women and honor related violence generally is presented. I have argued that when a perpetrator practices men?s violence against women it is described and explained as something individual and as a result of psychological issues whereas honor related violence is explained as a collective action with cultural influences. I have examined 35 articles and 5 blog articles by using a critical analysis method and have specifically been interested in what explanations are used due to the fact that the involved were Swedish but were participating in a collective action of legitimating violence. The results show that the collective behavior is being explained by new explanations such as mass psychosis and collective cultures (that only occur in smaller cities). The strategy behind this is to separate and define the Bjästa case as something ?unswedish? so the Swedish nation can uphold an image as an equal and individual society ? and in the same time uphold the idea of honor related violence as something foreign and ?imported?.