The Communicatioanal Dimension of Violence Against Women in Turkey in the Media News

Abstract

Violence, which is a widespread problem throughout the world, continues to manifest itself as a cultural, social and political problem. Studies on "violence against women" focus on traditional society and masculine culture. However, violence against women is also quite common in contemporary societies. In this context, in this study, especially the concept of violence against women will be analyzed on a discursive basis. This study will try to show how the cultural and social dimension of violence against women is related to the sexist perspective of the society in which women live. A look at the incidents of violence against women in Turkey shows that women who are subjected to violence are generally helpless in the face of violence.  In addition, women who do not know what to do in the face of violence are forced to face violence in a continuous manner. It is noteworthy that the news on violence against women generally continues with the chain of husband, lover, partner, father and brother. The phenomenon of domestic violence, on the other hand, is seen to continue with father, son, brother, sister, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law and other relatives. Almost every day in the media in Turkey, we come across several different news on violence against women. These news reports report murders and assaults with details. Research shows that one out of every three women in Turkey has been subjected to physical or sexual violence. In this context, understanding the dimensions of violence against women requires analyzing the gender inequality-based aspects of violence against women in Turkey. In addition to this, the evaluation of national and international legal regulations and comparisons on the manifestations of violence in different societies also gain importance. On a conceptual level, violence is seen to have a destructive content in the context of an attack on the physical existence and personality of a person. The physical and mental health of the person subjected to violence is deeply affected. This situation continues as a vicious cycle. In this context, in this study, news on violence against women in the media in terms of political communication will be analyzed by discourse analysis method. The concepts contained in the language used in the news on violence against women in the media will be analyzed within the framework of "traditional", "political" and "masculinity". Attention will be drawn to which concepts are used the most in the news language used in these news and the cultural references of these concepts. The concepts used will be shown with graphs.