Prevalence of Violence Against Women in Televised Dramas of Pakistan and its pro-social effects
Abstract
Abstract Views: 0
Dr Bakht Rawan[1]
Muhammad Amjad[2]
ABSTRACT:
Mass media, irrespective of its type and content, is also heavily loaded with violence against women (VAW) and ubiquity of this phenomenon has prompted researchers to investigate the effects of such mediated violence on society. Nevertheless, the focus of such investigations is restricted largely to negative effects. The present study deviates from the previous investigations by focusing on the prosocial effects of media violence against. For this purpose, the researchers analysed the prevalence of violence against women in prime-time television dramas of Pakistan and investigated its prosocial effects.. The study hypothesized that VAW would prevail equally in prime-time television dramas of the leading entertainment channels of Pakistan. It assumed that female audience of these dramas would have more prosocial effects of exposure to dramatized VAW than their male counterparts. The study also hypothesized that higher exposure to VAW in Pakistani television dramas would have more prosocial effects on the audience. The researchers used content analysis as well as survey methods. The construct “violence” was categorized into physical violence, verbal violence, symbolic violence, sexual violence, economic violence, and psychological violence, and each type of violence was operationalized. Similarly, prosocial effects were categorized into empathy, altruism, volunteerism, advice, and avoidance/prevention. Each effect (prosocial) was operationalized by using different questionnaire items. It was found that all sampled entertainment television channels (ARY Digital, Hum TV and Har Pal Geo) contained violence against women in all most all episodes of the selected dramas but at varying degrees. Verbal and psychological violences were more prevalent as compared to sexual, economic, physical, and symbolic violences. It was also found that there was no significance difference among male and female audience in terms of prosocial effects. However, the extent of viewing television dramas had significant positive relationships with empathy, altruism, volunteerism, and avoidance.
[1] Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Email: [email protected]
[2] Researcher and journalist
Downloads
References
Abdullah, K. F., Shahzad, M., Riaz, F., Shakeel, M., & Abbasi, I. (2015). Causes, forms and levels of violence against women in Muzaffarabad: Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The Explorer: Journal of Social Sciences, 1(3), 88–93.
Ahmed, W. (2022, October 20). Sharp rise in violence against women: Gang rapes, ‘honour killing’, ‘stove burns’ reported. The Express Tribune. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2382568/sharp-rise-in-violence-against-women
Ali, A. & Ayesha. (2015). Violence against women in Pakistani feature films. International Journal of Academic Research and Reflection, 3(2), 68–76.
Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L. R., Johnson, J. D., Linz, D., Malamuth, N. M., & Wartella, E. (2003). The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 81–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2003.pspi_1433.x
Asif, M. (2010). Violence against women in Pakistan: Role of police and media. Social Sciences Review of Pakistan, 1(1), 13–21.
Awais, J., Yasin, Z., Waheed, A., Honey, S., & Awais, Z. B. (2021). Media portrayal of violence against women: A case study of top-rated TV channels. Journal of Xi'an Shiyou University, Natural Sciences Edition, Article E27–43. https://doi.org/1673-064X-xsdx-v64-i05-2021.546415
Bhatti, M. A., & Hassan, A. A. U. (2014). Psychological effects of tv news violence on youth: A case study of the students of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 34(1), 295–309.
Cuklanz, L. M., & Moorti, S. (2006). Television’s “New” feminism: Prime-time representations of women and victimization. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 23(4), 302–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393180600933121
Custers, K., & Bulck, J. V. (2012). The cultivation of fear of sexual violence in women. Communication Research, 40(1), 96–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212440444
Das, R. (2012). Representation of violence against women in Indian print media: A comparative analysis. Global Media Journal, 3(1), 1–24.
Dutta, S., & Gangopadhyay, S. (2011). Portrayal of women in internet advertising. Media Watch, 2(2), 24–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0976091120110204
Faiz, R., Khalid, S., & Mahmood, T. (2020). Promotion of anti-social and anti-cultural behaviour by private television dramas in Pakistan. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies. 6(2), 761–780. https://doi.org/10.26710/jbsee.v6i2.1220
Huesmann, L. R., & Taylor, L. D. (2006). The role of media violence in violent behavior. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 393–415. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144640.
Ibrahim, K., Amin, S., & Rehman, H. (2019). Portrayal of women as a victim in Pakistani private TV channels: perception of women of twin cities of Pakistan. Journal of Peace Development & Communication, 3(2), 62–75.
Karim, L. N. (2008). Violence portrayed by PTV exploring the socio-cultural profile of characters involved in violence acts against women [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Karachi, Pakistan.
Khan, M. A., Rawan, B., & Ullah, A. (2020). Growing up with media violence and psychological trauma among youth in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Criminology, 12(1), 79–88.
Khan, N. (2021). Representation of domestic violence in Pakistani Urdu drama serials: a feminist textual analysis [Doctoral dissertation, Flinders University]. College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. https://tinyurl.com/2hsjb6f5
Lampman, C., Rolfe-Maloney, B., David, E.J., Yan. M., Mecdermott. N., Winters. S., Davis. J., & Lathrop. R., (2002). Messages about sex in the workplace: A content analysis of primetime television. Sexuality and Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 6(4), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02719213
Latif, F., Abid, S., & Adnan, M. (2020). Media violence and siblings’ aggressive behaviour: Parents’ perception in Pakistan. Pakistan Social Sciences Review, 4(2), 203–217. https://doi.org/10.35484/pssr.2020(4-II)17
Levy, T. (2017, September 5). How violence affects children’s violent behaviour. Evergreen Psychotherapy Centre. https://evergreenpsychotherapycenter.com/violence-media-affects-childrens-behavior/
Naveed, B. (2019, March). Violence against women in Pakistan. http://www.humanrights.asia/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Violence-against-women-in-Pakistan.pdf
Phillips, M., Mostofian, F., Jetly, R., Puthukudy, N., Madden, K., & Bhandari, M. (2015). Media coverage of violence against women in India: A systematic study of a high profile rape case. BMC Women’s Health, 15, Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-015-0161-x
Potter, W. J., & Smith, S. (2000). The context of graphic portrayals of television violence. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 301–323. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4402_9
Qadir, M., & Jullandhry, S. (2019). Relationship between television violence and social aggression a study conducted on youth of rural areas of Punjab. Journal of Peace, Development & Communication, 3(1), 59–84. https://doi.org/10.36968/JPDC.0301.02.
Raza, S. H., & Hussain, S. S. (2016). News coverage of physical violence against women: Where do we position? Journal of Culture, Society and Development, 19, 75–81.
Roshan, R., Parvez, M. A., & Siraj, S.A. (2009). Portrayal of violence against women in PTV dramatized programs. Global Media Journal, 2(1), 143–157
Saleem, N., Sadiq, S., & Parveen, K. (2021). Representation of psychological violence against women in TV dramas: Perception of young females. Journal of Media & Communication, 2(2), 143–157.
Sapolsky, B. S., & Kaye B. K. (2005). The use of offensive language by men and women in prime time television entertainment. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 13(4), 292–303. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15456889ajc1304_5
Shumaila, A. (2014). Violence against women: Media representation of violent issues in the perspective of Pakistan. Science International, 26(1), 367–371. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.3951.5923
Sultana, I., Latif, F., & Noureen, A. (2021). Impact of forced marriages in TV dramas: A case study of female university students. Jahan-e-Tahqeeq, 4(4), 89–100.
UN Women. (2023, September 21). Facts and figures: Ending violence against women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures#:~:text=Globally%2C%20an%20estimated%20736%20million,does%20not%20include%20sexual%20harassment
United Nations. (2020, November 25). Frequently asked questions: Types of violence against women and girls. https://iran.un.org/en/102394-frequently-asked-questions-types-violence-against-women-and-girls
Zaheer, A. (2020). Women, labour and television: A critical analysis of women portrayed in Pakistani drama serials [Master thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland]. Memorial University Libraries. https://research.library.mun.ca/14730/
Zainab, M. L., Jabeen, S., & Noureen, A. (2021). Effects of Pakistani TV dramas on social behavior of women. Journal of Peace, Development and Communication, 5(2), 154–166.
Copyright (c) 2024 Dr. Bakht Rawan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
