“Supposedly spellbound”: About women, gender violence and Mexican Tabloid News

Abstract

The Tabloid News have been a problem addressed in the field of communication studies. Based on discourse analysis and also using critical theoretical aspects these specialists have examined the characteristics of these notes to determine their scope and limitations in “journalistic genre”. From the perspective of gender studies and feminist anthropology, there are other aspects that are important to analyze. Sensationalist journalism and the police section are clearly prone to the use and overexploitation of generic Manichaean stereotypes. The notes contained in this section of the newspapers are erected and spread an ideology that legitimizes and naturalizes violence against women. In this document I propose to approach this problem.

For feminist anthropology, reflection on gender stereotypes is a central problem. Understanding the ideological aspects that justify misogyny and that tolerate gender violence is fundamental to gender equity. I propose the approach to journalistic notes that establish a causal relationship between beliefs about witchcraft and sexual abuse. Through the analysis of the rhetorical strategies adopted in these documents I want to show that an asymmetric gender ideology supports the development of stories that exalt and legitimize sexual violence.