The danger of the narrowed lens: how mainstream media transforms indigenous women into “unworthy”
Nowadays, popular media resembles “telescopes”. They provide quick and easy ways for people to gain perspective on events around the world with a closed-up, zoomed-in view. Yet our views are often confined within a narrowed frame, enabling audiences to see only what’s inside the frame, not what’s outside of it.
This phenomenon is particularly obvious when it comes to reporting homicide cases involving female victims. For example, last year when the media was in a frenzy to report the tragic disappearance and, ultimately, the death of the young “damsel in distress:'' Gabby Petitio, many were left wondering where did the attention go when an indigenous woman suffers the same kind of violence? It is thus true the narrow-lens of the media is able to generate massive attention on one particular individual, yet it also possesses the danger to silence minority victims.
Indigenous women are deemed as “unworthy” victims for various reasons, and one of the most prominent reasons is ingrained stereotypes. Studies have shown that women with darker skin, or those who are exposed to higher risks of sexual violence and poverty are less likely to receive coverage than white women. Combined with stereotypical thoughts, which have been around all the way since colonial eras, the media thus generates highly biased and racist messages depicting indigenous women as impure, dirty, or unworthy women legitimate of being abused. Media justify murders against indigenous women by depicting them as “vice girls.” In the case of Cynthia Frances Maas, who was found dead near the atrocious highway of tears in northern British Columbia, journalists frantically described her as an indigenous women with a “high risk lifestyle” and publicly labeled her as a “sex trade worker,” excusing her death as deserving.
However, Gabby Petito, perceived by many as the “damsel in distress,” the perfect American girl, gained the sympathy of people across the nation. News posted images and stories of her life, numerous social media accounts, posts, and tiktok videos were created along with memorial websites for Ms.Petito to remind the public of this heartbreaking tragedy.
The stereotypical lens of news reports to which people look through distorts the truth and imposes false perceptions on indigenous victims. Violent language referencing drugs, alcohol abuse, and prostitution are utilized by medias to blame the victims in order to make excuses for their perpetrators. Those victims, once lively with their distinct characters and personalities, once lived unique and exciting lives just like every single one of us, are now coated with a dehumanizing layer of racism and bias which compresses them into a stereotypical and shameful singularity. Thus, it is only when we can all remove the narrow lens placed in front of our eyes and see through the obscuring clouds of stereotypes, can we finally treat indigenous victims with the same level of dignity and equivocal respect.
