The Presence of Rape Myths in the Virtual World: A Qualitative Textual Analysis of the Steubenville Sexual Assault Case

Abstract

The power of social media may be best captured in high-profile criminal cases where the court of public opinion can comment, often anonymously, and instantly re-share case information. In a poignant example of how social media can generate national and international attention on criminal behavior, this research explores the 2012 Steubenville, Ohio sexual assault case. Using qualitative textual analysis, news articles and social media content were coded to assess how existing rape myth narratives were depicted in the Steubenville case. Emphasis is placed on how reporting and social media responses characterized the victim, perpetrators, and the rape itself. The study found that depictions included both legitimizing rape myths and subverting myths through social media and news coverage. Implications for how social media materials were used as evidence in the Steubenville case are also discussed.

Introduction

On August 11, 2012 a photo of young girl who looked unresponsive lofted by her wrists and ankles between two Steubenville High School Football players, Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond surfaced. The story behind this photo would reveal the sexual assault of “Jane Doe,” a 16-year-old in Steubenville, Ohio, by two 16-year-old males, Mays and Richmond, while other teenagers looked on. What perhaps no one who witnessed, documented, uploaded, shared, and commented on the videos, tweets, texts, and photos from that evening knew is that they were providing evidence that would later be used in the criminal trial of Mays and Richmond. This evidence would garner attention from bloggers, reporters, Internet sites, and online groups such as Anonymous. In a very real way, this case occurred online with the world acting as judge and jury of the victim and perpetrator. Literature on rape myths and rape culture illustrates that such narratives of sexual violence are not unusual (Krahé 2016; Stevenson 2000). What is unusual about the Steubenville case is how much of the narrative that unfolded online was captured and preserved making it possible for researchers to examine this narrative long after the assault occurred.

Journalism scholars report that the hypervisible documentation of one's self through social media is worthy of inquiry, especially among younger generations that are living their lives online (Dodge 2016; Pennington and Birthisel 2016). Of interest is how the consistent documentation of one's life through these new platforms creates space for instant feedback, validation, and as a mechanism to air grievances. In addition, social media establishes a new outlet for framing, reporting, and addressing behavior, including sexual violence (Dodge 2016; Gutsche and Salkin 2016; Pennington and Birthisel 2016).

The popularity of social media has created an alarming trend of rapes going viral. Pictures and videos of assaults have been publicly distributed with ease in a number of rape cases (Boux and Daum 2015; Dodge 2016; Williams 2015). While it is true that such viral pieces of evidence could help prosecutors reconstruct events and challenge rape myths in the courtroom (Boux and Daum 2015), viral photos and videos are also extremely humiliating and traumatizing for a victim and can be used to frame an assault as humorous or deserved (Dodge 2016; Williams 2015). Ultimately, social media can both help and harm victims of sexual assault in significant ways.

Unsurprisingly, sites like Twitter or the comment sections of online newspaper articles can serve as stages where people can publicly discuss, endorse, and disseminate rape myths (Ash et al. 2017; Savoia 2016; Zaleski et al. 2016). Comments that are supportive of rape myths are particularly problematic as victim blaming has severe consequences for a victim's mental health (Campbell et al. 2009; Franiuk et al. 2008; Ullman and Peter-Hagene 2014).

Still, there are also undeniable benefits to social media as it relates to cases of sexual assault. Social media allows women to share their personal narratives publicly to challenge dominant rape culture narratives and claim a place as voices of authority on the issue of sexual assault (Rentschler 2014; Salter 2013; Williams 2015; Zaleski et al. 2016). Social media can serve as a platform to document cases and expose rapists, even or especially when an institution like a university or institution such as the criminal justice system has failed them (Boux and Daum 2015; Rentshcler 2014; Salter 2013). Social media therefore has the potential to operate as a powerful tool for the empowerment and support of victims of sexual assault.

These factors make it important to analyze how rape culture unfolds online. In relation to this, the authors ask two related questions. First, how did media representations of the Steubenville case support rape myths? Second, how did online news reports and social media coverage of the Steubenville case subvert rape myths? To answer these questions, a qualitative textual analysis of online news stories and embedded social media content on the Steubenville case was analyzed. Before explaining how this qualitative textual analysis took place, the authors will first discuss their selection of the Steubenville case and then review the main categories and types of rape myths.

Selection and Discussion of Case

When selecting the case to analyze how rape myths are supported and subverted in online spaces, there was a strong rationale for focusing on Steubenville. Not only did the rape itself appear online through the perpetrators posting pictures of the victims, witnesses tweeted and posted YouTube videos about their take on the event. Likely the occurrence that really spurred the social media frenzy around this case was the archiving of the social media components by blogger and former Steubenville resident, Alexandria Goddard, who captured the tweets, photos, and videos and released them on August 11th, 2012 (Goddard 2012). On December 16th, 2012 the New York Times published the first news story on the incident (Macur and Schweber 2012). By December 29th, 2012, Anonymous members had organized an Occupy Steubenville protest in the Ohio city (Kushner 2013). The year that followed included the conviction and sentencing of Mays and Richmond, all while social media and Internet platforms allowed people around the world weigh in on the behavior of the teens and the events recorded on that August evening in 2012.

Beyond discussions of the event occurring on social media, these tweets, photos, videos, and even text messages between parties were integral to the investigation and adjudication of Mays and Richmond. Law enforcement and prosecutors used these social media posts to establish a timeline and ascertain the events of the evening. As prosecutor, Jane Halin said “let's look at their Twitter accounts, let's see if we can piece together who they are talking to. And that gives us the road map of who to begin interviewing” (Levy 2013). The use of tweets, pictures, and text messages in court again fueled the sharing of this information on social media. The result was a blurring of social media with evidence and the reporting on the case. Newspapers like the New York Times treated social media posts as a topic for reporting, evidence about what happened in the rape itself, and as a source, blurring the line between news media and social media to an extreme degree.

A virtual pandora's box opened in response to the Steubenville case as hacktivists and activists began paying attention to the case as it was blogged, tweeted, and shared. Alexandria Goddard, the blogger who initially captured the social media evidence on that night in August 2012, received threats for her coverage of the case. One post in response to Goddard's coverage hoped that Goddard and her friends “get AIDS and die a slow death” (Levy 2013). This comment, reported as news in The New Yorker, is indicative of the social media exchanges which make this case interesting to examine for how rape myths play out in social media. Not only is the original threat captured and reported, so too is a response which attempts to subvert rape myths in the form of a tweet in response to witness Michael Nodiano's twitter handle. The response to Nodiano's stated, “non-consensual sex is rape” (AlexHuff 2012). In the real-time nature of social media, what makes this case special is that the continued response is also recorded as another person replies to the subverting comments with, “I would keep my mouth closed bang bang” (YoungReckless 2012).

After the December 2012 New York Times article was published, Anonymous, a self-proclaimed hacktivist group organized a protest in Steubenville. A similar organization KnightSec became involved and released a video in which they threatened to release the names and private information of perpetrators, witnesses who shared the photos and videos, coaches and school officials believed to be covering up the case, and criminal justice personnel who were characterized by the organization as part of a system of cronyism and cover-ups (Kushner 2013). The video began with “Greetings, citizens of the world. The town of Steubenville has been good at keeping this quiet and their star football team protected.” The effort to hold people accountable was called “Operation Roll Red Roll” and was cast as “online vigilante justice” by some because of the “serious legal limits to the strategy.” During “Operation Roll Red Roll” threats were made to the prosecuting attorney and members of law enforcement investigating the case which resulted in outrage posted online toward both the hacktivist organization and the local Steubenville officials spearheading the investigation and subsequent trial.

For the reasons above, the Steubenville case became a flashpoint—with one contingent upholding rape culture and another seeking to delegitimize it through bring attention on the town. With the debate raging both in-person, in the media, and online, it is a fit selection for the analysis of how rape myths are supported and subverted in social media. The next section will discuss the construction and components of rape myths.

Rape Myths

Burt (1980) defines rape myths as “prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists” (p. 217). According to Lonsway and Fizgerald (1994) these beliefs are “widely and persistently held” and generally “serve to deny and justify male aggression against women” (p. 133). Because of the pervasiveness of these beliefs, some scholars and feminists use the term “rape culture” to describe the presence of rape myths in media and public discourse, as well as the general acceptance of these myths in general society (Whisnant 2009). While it should be noted that sexual assault can happen to and be perpetrated by people of any gender, the nature of the Steubenville case means that this article will focus on the rape of female victims by male perpetrators.

Rape myths function to excuse the rape of women by male perpetrators through the delegitimization of claims of rape by attacking components of the rape itself (it was not really a rape), the victim (she did something to invite the rape or is lying), or the perpetrator (he did not know what he was doing or is not someone who would actually rape) (Burt 1980). At the core, these myths indicate that consent was actually given (Freedman 2013). To assess how online reporting of the Steubenville case supported or subverted these myths, the authors first reviewed the literature on each of these three categories. The purpose was to not only understand how rape myths operate but also the authors utilized this review to create their framework for their qualitative textual analysis. It is important to note that while the authors separate these three components out for analysis, they are mutually constitutive.

Real rape

When asked to describe a typical rape situation, many people are likely to conjure up an attack by a stranger or an unsuspecting victim in an outdoor location, involving the use or threat of force by the assailant and active physical resistance by the victim” (Temkin and Krahé 2008, p. 31). This is the “real rape” stereotype. Inherent in this construction is the idea that if a woman knew the perpetrator, she likely consented (Stevenson 2000). A main element of this construction is the belief that there needs to be violence where the victim fights back and sustains injury as evidence of their resistance (Larcombe 2002). The reasons for the need of physical proof of a rape are complex, but include both the idea that women's bodies naturally consent to penetration and therefore rape is not traumatic (Chenelles 2009; Edwards et al. 2011). Rape is thus seen as something women can get over easily (Stevenson 2000). As such, the authors included three subcategories for the “real rape” category (Table 1): (1) sexual violence against women is normal, expected, or not a big deal; (2) injury is needed to prove rape; and (3) comments about whether perpetrators and victims were strangers or knew each other.

Table 1.

Social Media Data Collected

References to social media	80
Links to social media	24
Type of social media
Text messages	33
General	23
Twitter	21
YouTube	13
Blog	10
Facebook	5
Article	4
Video (general)	4
Cell phone images	3
Instagram	3
Google video	1

Characterization of victims

Contemporary research on sexual assault indicates that viewing individuals as legitimate victims is largely dependent on the frames surrounding the assault. Research suggests that the existing narrative surrounding legitimizing victims is based on the false premise that victims can prevent sexual assault (Allison and Wrightsman 1993; Stevenson 2000) and similarly that they provoke sexual assault through clothing, drinking, or so-called risky behaviors such as walking alone (Stevenson 2000). To be cast as the “perfect” rape victim, or a victim who is seen as blameless, a woman has to be what Stevenson (2000) calls an “unequivocal victim.” Such a victim is usually nonsexual, pure, moral, young, white, and avoids any behavior that could be seen as “asking for it” (Burt 1980; Clark 1987; Freedman 2013; Lonsway and Fitzgerald, 1994; Stevenson, 2000; Whisnant, 2009). She should appear distressed, report her assault right away, and have witnesses to corroborate her story and distress (Pererson & Muehlenhard 2004; Stevenson 2000).

Within the rape mythology, there are a number of other ways women can “ask for” their victimization and in doing so imply consent (Burt 1980; Whisnant 2009). Generally, women who put themselves in dangerous situations by going somewhere or doing something they are not supposed to do are seen as inviting rape (Peterseon & Muehlenhard 2004; Stevenson 2000). Drinking is one such way a woman can put herself in danger (Peterson and Muehlenhard 2004; Stevenson 2000). Women who are highly promiscuous, and especially women who have been intimate with their rapist, are “leading men on” and have therefore invited their own rape (Burt 1980; Cuklanz 2000; Freedman 2013; Johnson et al. 1997; Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994; Peterson and Muehlenhard 2004; Stevenson 2000). Women can also lead men on with their appearance, especially by dressing provocatively (Brownmiller 1975; Burt 1980; Field 1978; Peterson and Muehlenhard 2004).

Finally, many rape victims are accused of “crying rape,” thanks to the myth that women frequently make false rape allegations (Allison and Wrightsman 1993; Boux and Daum 2015; Brownmiller 1975; Burt 1980; Cuklanz 2000; Edwards et al. 2011; Freedman 2013; Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994; Stevenson 2000). These false accusations may be attempts to get revenge, cover up an affair, or reframe a consensual experience the woman regrets (Burt 1980; Cuklanz 2000; Stevenson 2000). This myth can be especially harmful when it creates a perceived need to defend innocent men from false accusations, causing people to dismiss the victim's claims out of hand (Stevenson 2000). The review of this literature leads us to examine three subcategories as part of the “characterization of victims,” which included the following (Table 2): (1) comments about how she should have done more to prevent the assault; (2) her behavior somehow “asked” for the assault; and (3) that she was promiscuous.

Table 2.

Rape Myth Themes Explored

Real Rape: characterized by stereotypes associated with rape, including that a “real” rape involves violence where a victim fights back and as a result sustains injuries as evidence of the incident.

Subthemes coded

Sexual violence against women is normal, expected, or not a big deal

Injury is needed to prove rape

Perpetrator and victim were strangers

Characterization of Victims: focuses on the false narrative that victims can prevent their sexual assault and therefore emphasizes behaviors perceived as risky in creating a narrative of legitimizing victims.

Subthemes coded

Should have prevented their own rape

Asked for it (e.g., out late, drinking/substance use, flirting, clothing)

Promiscuity

Characterization of Perpetrators: often emphasize ways to mitigate culpability for the perpetrator.

Subthemes coded

Adolescent males don't know better

Good guys who make a mistake shouldn't be penalized/penalized heavily

A conviction ruins men's lives for an innocent mistake

Characterization of perpetrators

Rape myths about rapists frequently function to lessen the rapist's guilt. For example, general male sexual aggression may be viewed as normal on the grounds that men are entitled to sex or unable to control their sexual urges (Field 1978; Johnson et al. 1997; Whisnant 2009). Given that a related myth states that rape is purely motivated by a desire for sex (Field 1978), this myth serves to lessen a perpetrator's culpability. Another way culpability can be limited is with the myth that rapists are insane or deviant and, therefore, either not culpable for their actions or not representative of men generally (Brownmiller 1975; Burt 1980). Consistent with this would be the notion that these boys did not know what they were doing or could not control themselves.

Yet in this study, as with victims of rape, race plays a role. Black men have historically been portrayed as oversexed and savage rapists who are particularly dangerous to white women, creating a stereotype of the black rapist (Freedman 2013; Whisnant 2009). Key to this way of excusing the event or categorizing it as “not rape” is the idea that women are always consenting to men who are deemed socially attractive (Freedman 2013). What is interesting in this case is that while the young men in question are black, they are also high status (and thus attractive) within their community as they are football players. To the extent that their society argues that this rape is understandable (with a victim who asked for it and a perpetrator who could not help himself), the outcome is that concern for the rape can be moved from the victim to the perpetrator. The conversation becomes about what being found guilty of the rape will cost the perpetrators rather than how the rape affected the victim (Stevenson 2000). Again, “characterization of perpetrators” was analyzed through inclusion of three subcategories. In this study, these included the following: (1) adolescent males don't know better; (2) good guys who make a mistake should not be penalized or penalized heavily; and (3) a conviction would ruin their lives.

Materials & Methods

Data selection & coding technique

This study covered online news articles and social media responses surrounding the events of the Steubenville, Ohio sexual assault case that “went viral” in August 2012. Social media information is difficult to find and catalog as it can be difficult to find and is easily deleted. To gather their data set the authors chose to gather news media articles about the case that included discussion of social media content. As noted above, the Steubenville case was one in which social media became a part of the story with news outlets publishing screenshots and quotes of social media content. While it is possible that this resulted in us missing some of the social media content relevant to this analysis, it did provide a consistent and reliable means of gathering data for analysis.

To accurately address the research questions and capture the online and social media narratives surrounding the incident, data collection spanned from August 11th, 2012 to October 1st, 2013. This timeline allowed all relevant material to be pulled beginning the day before the assault was captured on social media (ensuring nothing was missed) through the sentencing of the two juvenile perpetrators in September 2013.

In a two-pronged approach, news articles covering the sexual assault were first pulled from a LexisNexis search with the established time frame. Additional search criteria included setting the articles to a 500-word minimum and use of established search terms, for example, “Steubenville and sexual assault,” or “Steubenville and rape.” Search terms also included the names of the juvenile perpetrators, coaching staff that spoke out on the sexual assault, and individuals who had reposted the assault or reported on the assault. This resulted in 44 articles that related to the Steubenville assault. A total of 4 articles were deemed as duplicates or were not relevant and were removed for a final sample of 40 news articles (n = 40) on the case.

Second, the authors coded all embedded social media content within the articles. Seventy-five percent or thirty (30) of the news articles had embedded material that was included in the evaluation of this study. The embedded materials included references (some with multiple references) to social media materials (e.g., photos, tweets, and videos) and direct links to social media content such as tweets, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, blog posts, and text messages that had been documented during the breaking of the case (Table 2). In the news articles, there were 80 references to social media content pertaining to the Steubenville case. There were also 24 embedded links to social media materials about the assault, some which appeared in multiple news articles. The most common embedded social media content within the news articles included text messages (33), general references to social media content (23), Twitter (21), YouTube (13), and blog posts (10). The articles interwove social media content as material for the article itself—frequently using it as a reference or how it was used in evidence in the trial—that the news story and the social media citation could not be meaningfully separated. As such, the news articles and social media content were analyzed together.

The coding protocol was created based on the existing rape myth literature (i.e., Burt 1980; Stevenson 2000) as reviewed above. Each article and social media content was coded for the three broad themes of real rape, characterization of victims, and characterization of perpetrators. The line-by-line coding allowed for sections of the data to be coded if they epitomize rape myths or subvert myths.

Data were coded for the theme of real rape when statements that support or challenged references to violence against women as expected or trivial, the need for injuries to the victim to prove resistance, and the relationship or lack of between the victim and perpetrator. Coding for the characterization of victims included language that supported or subverted victim blaming language that blamed the victim for the assault by pointing out perceived issues with her behavior (such as flirting, drinking, being out late, and dressing provocatively) or comments that indicate that the victim was lying. Finally, characterization of perpetrator included coding for statements that supported or challenged the myth that the young men didn't know better, (heavily) penalized, and statements about how the charges and/or criminal trial could ruin their lives. The coding protocol allowed two of the three researchers to independently code for the established themes using line-by-line coding. Results were compared by the two researchers to ensure consistency and accuracy of the coding scheme. The following section outlines the results within the three rape myth themes.

Results

All three themes were discovered within the news articles and social media content. Many rape myths were prevalent across both news articles and social media content. However, as Table 3 indicates, some of the prevalent rape myths (e.g., rape happens from strangers, and injury is needed to provide resistance) were not part of the narratives surrounding the Steubenville case. The most commonly referenced rape myth was that rape is expected, normal, or isn't a big deal which was found 60 times in the 40 articles and embedded social media content. Table 3 outlines the instances of each myth and category coded within the three themes across the data.

Table 3.

Instances Supporting or Challenging Rape Myths in the Articles and Social Media Content

Theme	Number of instances that supported the myth	Number of instances that challenged the myth
Real rape
Sexual violence against women is normal, expected, or not a big deal	60	37
Injury is needed to prove rape	0	0
Perpetrator and victim were strangers	0	0
Characterization of victims
Should have prevented their rape	8	0
Asked for it (e.g., out late, drinking/substance use, flirting, clothing)	19	1
Promiscuity	1	0
Characterization of perpetrators
Adolescent males don't know better	1	2
Good guys who make a mistake shouldn't be penalized/penalized heavily	8	5
A conviction ruins a man's life for an innocent mistake	5	1
Total across all three themes	102	46

Real rape

There were 97 references to the myth referencing what is a real rape. Of those 60 supported the rape myth that trivialized or normalized the sexual assault or rape in general. What was absent from the findings were examples of the real rape component in regard to the need for injury or the view that real rape occurs when the perpetrator and victim are strangers. Instead, the prominent narrative found primarily in the early conversations, comments, tweets, videos, and photos of the evening of August 11th, 2012 was the idea that rape is not a big deal. Perhaps the most illustrative example of this misconception is the 12-min YouTube video by Michael Nodianos, a partygoer and witness to the sexual assault, who in reference to the unconscious victim said, “is it really rape because you don't know if she wanted to or not?” (Adam RapeRapists, 2013). His viral video from the evening, often referred to as the “Noddy video,” later became important in Mays and Richmond's trial. Additional social media accounts referred to the incident as “blown out of proportion.” Trent May's texts to the victim were dismissive as he said “this is the most pointless thing. I'm going to get in trouble for something I should be getting thanked for taking care of you.” While early social media content supported the real rape stereotype, by the time the New York Times article broke in December 2012, social media had a surge of online reactions that challenged the established narrative.

Many of the articles in the sample had embedded material confronting the narrative that Steubenville was an incident “blown out of proportion” by the media. This may be best echoed by one individual who posted “it is unconscionable that anyone would treat another human being this way, be proud of such behavior, then post it online for anyone to see.” Comments discussing the seriousness of the assault and behavior of bystanders were common social media reactions. Further challenging the real rape myth, individuals called for discussions of how to respond and prevent such behavior. As one comment suggested “as parents, we owe it to ourselves and our children to look at the uncomfortable truths surrounding this case and figure out how to ensure it doesn't happen again.”

This last comment also reveals a theme in subverting the real rape myth whereby social media was used to challenge existing narratives of the Steubenville case and dominant narratives around sexual violence and rape culture in general. Challenging the real rape myth was found 37 times within the data. For example, one person commented: “So while I will reframe the way rape is discussed in my house, I call on my fellow parents to do the same and more. And let's go beyond rape to discussing bystander culture with our children. Instruct them to listen to their guts when a situation feels wrong and to stand up for what is right. It won't be easy. Steubenville is a harsh reminder of the alternative.” Other commenters furthered the point that this case is just part of a larger systematic problem that needs to be discussed and solutions need to be found.

Characterization of victims

Rape myths create false narratives about what victims can or should do during an assault. Victim-blaming occurred at the onset of the Steubenville sexual assault case. The photos of the assault posted and re-shared were tagged with comments that referenced promiscuous behavior, intoxication, and referenced the claim that victims are “asking for it.” This was the most common representation of this theme in the data as 19 examples of “asking for it” were found in the data. Beginning with the “Noddy video” where he remarks that “some people deserve to get peed on”—referencing how Richmond and Mays urinated on Jane Doe's unconscious body. Many other tweets also highlight the victim blaming narrative, including:

“I'm not saying what they did isn't wrong but it's not rape…It's the girls fault.”

“Yeah, it's sad about what happened in Steubenville, but the boys aren't completely at fault. Don't get sloppy drunk homegirl.”

“Maybe if you don't want to get raped, don't blackout drunk. Just a thought.”

While the alcohol narrative is clear in the above comments, the tweet below captures both that drinking played a role in her behavior and that she lied about the assault:

“What else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that and after a night like that?”

The reactions on social media instantly were quick to judge the victim on how she was supposed to behave both at the party and after the assault. Online witnesses, Steubenville community members, and strangers on social media platforms attempted to discredit Jane Doe's story by referring to her as a liar. Some also accused her of trying to defame the Steubenville football team, of which both Mays and Richmond played. In fact, as the authors will discuss further below, Mays and Richmond's status as members of the football team became an important part of the narrative about whether they actually could be legitimate perpetrators of sexual violence.

Characterization of perpetrators

While most of the coverage focused on the victim of the sexual assault, Ma'lik Richmond and Trent Mays were in the spotlight for over a year as the Steubenville case unfolded and was well documented in social media platforms. They had character witnesses who would come to their aid, including coaches, friends, and family. Other supporters were outspoken on social media and in news articles. There were a total of 22 indicators for the theme characterizing the perpetrators in the data, and nearly half of those supported the theme trying to mitigate guilt or focus on how the incident had ruined their lives or football careers.

In keeping with existing research on rape myths and who is viewed as a legitimate perpetrator of sexual violence, Richmond and Mays status as all-star athletes was routinely mentioned online, in news stories, and during their trial. This is illustrated by the following newspaper quote: “As some initial gleeful Twitter responses from students to the alleged rape demonstrate, one reason rape continues is that communities not only don't hold perpetrators responsible, but close ranks to defend or even celebrate them.”

While on the one hand the football hero status was used to excuse the boys' behavior or call into question whether Jane Doe actually consented, on the other hand the myth was also subverted as the counter narrative emerged. This alternative narrative charged that the town and its institutions were working to protect the athletes and charged them with having to act. As one blogger was quoted as commenting about the football players: “No, you are not stars. You are criminals who are walking around right now on borrowed time.”

Discussion

This article analyzed newspaper coverage with a focus on social media content of a sexual assault case in Steubenville, Ohio. This analysis indicated that rape myths were prevalent and reinforced by social media users responding to the case. Online and social media forums created a real-time forum for people to tag, comment, post, tweet, and share their reactions to the events of that evening in August 2012. In this case, the authors found that social media provided a virtual, and frequently anonymous, environment for people to post comments that normalized sexual violence consistent with the three major categories of rape myths (Burt 1980).

Most frequently commenters painted the assault as not that big of a deal (Freedman 2013; Johnson et al. 1997; Peterson and Muehlenhard 2004; Stevenson 2000). Following this, there was a wealth of victim blaming comments made about the victim—particularly in terms of her consumption of alcohol (Pererson and Muehlenhard 2004; Stevenson 2000). Finally, there were few comments about how the perpetrators really were not at fault and/or should not have their lives ruined for this one-time mistake (Brownmiller 1975; Burt 1980).

The overall, initial social media response was aptly summarized in an op-ed published in the New York Times, “Many similar tweets came from other teenagers across the country who had no trouble placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of an unconscious girl, showing that what happened in Steubenville certainly did not happen in a vacuum.” These teenagers are living their lives online (Dodge 2016; Pennington and Birthisel 2016) making it essential to understand what they post, what they read, and what gets affirmed (e.g., via retweets and likes). Indeed, they are not tweeting in a vacuum. Instead, they are (re)creating rape myths in these online dialogs.

Yet, as discussed above, these rape culture narratives did not go unchallenged. These narratives reported through the news media captured the attention of hacktivists and activists who took action both online and in real life to challenge these online statements. As the story of what happened in Steubenville came to light, victims of crime took to social media to provide support for “Jane Doe” and try to reframe the conversation from one of victim blaming to one of empowerment and prevention. Anonymous held rallies which resulted in television coverage (not analyzed in this study) that contested rape myths. Social media also became a platform to subvert rape myths and call for national conversations and solutions to the structural inequality of gendered violence.

In this way, their analysis showed both a problem and a hope. First, that rape myths exist and are rampant in social media responses to sexual assaults. Second, that these platforms can also be utilized as a way to mobilize challenges to these rape myths. As such, it should be apparent that virtual platforms are important areas for social science inquiry. However, they also come with unique challenges. First, data on social media platforms frequently only appear for a limited amount of time. Indeed, some social media platforms (i.e., Snapchat) are designed to delete data after a specified amount of time has passed. Sensitive or offensive material may be taken down by managers of an online or social media platform. Finally, people remove their own social media content—deleting tweets or other posts after reconsidering them. This makes a real limitation for the analysis of social media—the access to the data itself.

Second, social media content can be difficult to find. Posts can occur across many different platforms and may not be tagged in a way that would allow researchers to find the posts. Without knowing the actors in a particular case, and thus what media they are likely to use and where they are likely to post, it can be nearly impossible to gather the relevant posts.

These two limitations are what make the Steubenville case unique. Much of the social media materials used to break the case and draw national attention were screen captured on the night of the assault by blogger Alexandra Goddard. The majority of this was later removed or deleted by the individuals who initially posted, tweeted, and recorded the assault or discussions of the assault. News media then relied on Goddard's archiving and any other social media they could find for their stories.

This is the primary limitation of their study. As researchers, the authors were not capturing these data in real time but relying on a blogger and the reporting of this information in news media. As such, it is likely that some relevant materials were missed for use in their analysis. This is the primary reason why news articles and social media content were analyzed together for this study. While they cannot report with certainty the extent that social media was utilized to subvert or support rape myths in this case (as the authors cannot be certain how much of that social media was captured), the authors are able to provide insight into this question in a way not possible in most sexual assault cases.

Despite challenges in using social media, social science research should continue to find ways to utilize these existing platforms to understand social phenomenon. Recently, sexual assault victims in cases like Steubenville have faced scrutiny online and on social media platforms. Understanding how such platforms shape the narrative of such violence may be increasingly important for scholars and practitioners alike. As images, videos, and discussions are shared, social media platforms may contribute to reinforcing rape myths and, therefore, normalizing sexual violence. A challenge for future research is to examine if and how these virtual platform narratives translate to specific actions outside of the virtual world, particularly when considering bystander intervention.

Given the changing nature of social media platforms (i.e., new ones continue to be created and changes in popularity and therefore use of the platforms), scholars will need to find new ways to access and document social media content. Perhaps appealing to social media providers that allow access to content for research grants could assist in mitigating the challenge of collecting social media data. Future research should also consider the use of social media content as evidence in criminal trials and explore the ways in which it is used in trials pertaining to sexual violence. Finally, given that this study found examples of narratives challenging rape myths, future research should continue to consider the role in which social media can create alternative narratives or possibly change existing narrative surrounding rape myths and the normalizing of violence in society. Understanding this in conjunction with how it impacts survivors of sexual violence could aid in creating a holistic understanding of social media's role in violent crimes and the way they are framed in society.

Footnotes

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

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