Renée Penney, a Doctoral student in the School of Journalism and Communication, has been published in a special edition of Feminist Media Studies titled “Intergenerational Feminist Media Studies: Conflicts and Connectivities.” Penney’s article “The Rhetoric of the Mistake in Adult Narratives of Youth Sexuality: The Case of Amanda Todd” centres on a survey of news media coverage surrounding the suicide death of Amanda Todd. She focuses her analysis on coverage in which Todd’s choice to flash her breasts online is framed as a ‘mistake’ and identified as the catalyst for her downfall.
Penney argues that while the rhetoric of the mistake has protectionist overtones, it can also be viewed as a form of containment, and a continuation of the public shaming Todd experienced when she was alive. Throughout the coverage studied, youth are situated along a sliding scale of innocence and stupidity, exposing intergenerational conflicts at the core of the case. To offer a counterpoint, Penney undertakes a close analysis of Todd’s YouTube video and provides an alternate reading that challenges the dominant narrative that circulates about Todd. She contends that understanding the impact of this rhetoric, and the significance of the public articulation of it, may shed light on the paradoxical status of incentives designed to protect children and youth that ultimately make them more vulnerable and exploitable.
Feminist Media Studies is a refereed journal that publishes six issues per year. It provides a transdisciplinary, transnational forum for researchers pursuing feminist approaches to the field of media and communication studies with attention to the historical, philosophical, cultural, social, political, and economic dimensions, and analysis of print and electronic media, film and the arts, and new media technologies. This special edition was published in June 2016.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 in Communication News, News
Share: Twitter, Facebook
