Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This study explores contemporary representations of intra-gender violence -a possible neologism for intimate partner violence in gay and lesbian couples- appearing in Spanish media. Despite official recommendations by public agencies as well as professional associations (such as audiovisual councils and deontological committees) regarding the treatment of gendered/domestic violence, media tend to sensationalize these pieces of news. By analyzing intra-gender violence specifically, and in comparison with the treatment of this violence in heterosexual couples, this paper unpacks the interactions that gender and sexuality have with violence and the ideological discourses around it. Furthermore, we can also see how this news uses race and ethnicity to scapegoat this sort of violence onto foreign cultures/people, enacting discourses of homonationalism.