Celebrities, gender-based violence and women’s rights: towards a transformation of the framework of recognition?

María José Gámez Fuentes (Jaume I University, Spain), Emma Gómez Nicolau (University of Valencia, Spain) and Rebeca Maseda García (University of Alaska Anchorage, United States) co-author “Celebrities, violencia de género y derechos de las mujeres: ¿hacia una transformación del marco de reconocimiento?” (“Celebrities, gender violence and women’s rights: towards a transformation of the recognition framework?”). This article, published by the Revista Latina de Comunicación Social (“Latin Journal of Social Communication”), takes as a point of reference a media context in which representations of rape, domestic violence, sexual abuse and many other expressions of women’s vulnerability are omnipresent. The authors argue that these narratives construe a victim-subject of violence identified primarily with women, and omit the capacity for resistance along with feminist struggles for the attainment of rights and the promotion of freedoms.

In light of these popular culture expressions, the article analyses how celebrities have used their privileged position and their media influence to reclaim the feminist struggle, defend the rights of women and the end of gender-based violence. However, the authors of the work conclude that even though such actions enable the destabilisation of the narrative fixed upon violence, their character as “out of the ordinary” figures hinders the understanding of the shared character of vulnerability and, therefore, the re-signification of the hegemonic victimization framework is impeded insofar as it is dissociated from collective struggle.

Links to the full article in Spanish and in English.