Words and narratives in the writing about violence against women in early twentieth-century Italian newspapers

Through the analysis of five case studies, this article investigates how early twentieth-century Italian newspapers reported violence against women. The descriptions of the circumstances, of the people involved, of their emotions, and of the use of specific words are loaded with stereotypes and prejudices, and contribute to manipulating events, making violence something predictable, understandable, or even acceptable. Consequently, perpetrators are portrayed sympathetically, while victims are subjected to scrutiny and blame. By a close examination of the interaction between language and ideology, this work demonstrates that the press, far from being a neutral observer, is an active participant in the reproduction and enforcement of the patriarchal order. This article was published open access under a CC BY-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ .