Group Submission on the SABC Editorial Policy

Story telling has an intrinsic role in the African psyche as an important methodology in education, identity formation and the imparting of information. Overwhelmingly, the stories mass media tell about men and women are narrow and stereotypical. Men are primarily portrayed as aggressive, strong, independent and violent. In contrast, despite the gender movement occasionally presenting a diverse portrayal of women on television shows and in movies, female characters are still valued for their appearance (with extremely narrow definitions of beauty), their sexuality, and their passivity. When these stories are internalised and interact in real-life relationships - a dominant, aggressive man paired with a woman who believes she should look pretty and keep her opinions to herself - it promotes the dangerous dynamics that are common in violent and other abusive relationships and social interactions.

In the South African context, remembering of course that we are not a country at war, we yet have the highest statistics of cases of gender-based violence. Extensive legislation has been passed mandating the mainstreaming of gender sensitivity throughout our policy. However, we find that the implementation of these values is not pursued with the candour that these issues demand.

It is commonly accepted that gender-based violence intervention programs must address the cultural factors that encourage violence, specifically those involving limited definitions of gender as are portrayed in the media. But where should we begin? Should we be passive when looking at the media that we consume, of the images of violence that are constantly flashed across our screens in our homes or should we be looking to the media for information that can shape our understanding of these socially constructed roles?

To answer this question, we must be aware that when we bring mass media into our homes, it becomes the dominant storyteller by virtue of its ability to reach more people simultaneously. Children between the ages of 2 and 17 watch an annual average of 15-18,000 hours of television, and it is estimated that the average child sees more than 20,000 commercials every year, which works out to be at least 55 commercials per day. Children and young adults often learn what it means to be men and women - and how to have sexual relationships - from movies, television shows and magazines.

Media, however, goes beyond just portraying the gender roles in passive stereotypical ways. Women and girls are frequently depicted in the media as victims of explicit violence; often, the violence is sexualised. Scenes of violent assaults against women are used continually in films for entertainment purposes, and some companies use violent images in their advertising campaigns for shock and aesthetic value to help sell their products. For example, the jeans company who used painfully thin women mutilating their bodies with a pair scissors …. When these images are portrayed without serious commentary we become desensitised to the damage these depictions convey. Unfortunately this can also be seen in our local content programming.

Many anecdotal reports have described instances in which television and film violence immediately led to violent behaviour in individual children, but scientific studies of this relationship draw a more complex and qualified picture. Most of the relevant research has focused on how watching dramatic violence on television and film affects aggressive thoughts and emotions, as well as aggressive behaviour. Some important studies address violence as well.

Despite growing consensus among experts, lay people remain unaware that press and media violence contributes to a more violent society. Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman demonstrated that despite the accumulation of scientific evidence linking media violence to aggression, there have been no known news reports conveying this fact. Rather reports on the effects of media violence continue to imply erroneously that there is little evidence for such a conclusion.

As the dominant storytellers in our daily lives and because of its powerful influence on our understanding of our world, and ourselves, it is imperative that we take the stories they tell, and the notions they purport, seriously. Women's empowerment groups, particularly those who raise awareness on the issues of sexual violence whose work directly addresses cultural definitions of gender, are in a unique position to bring awareness to the persuasive role media play in our lives and our relationships.

The issue is this - how do we determine the means to mitigate the trivialisation of men's violence and domination of women in the media? There are three stakeholders to this debate - the public, media and gender activists; and the media producers. Media activists who try to raise awareness of damaging issues and those media producers who have control over the content of media output, must communicate and create an avenue for important discussions which offer the public a means to develop a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of their media perception.

This can be achieved by a variety of means, for example, dialogue can take place in the format of panel discussions with phone in facilities and audience participation. Alternatively, educational and entertainment programmes covering gender sensitive issues which include positive alternative constructions of roles of men and women in society. In terms of providing new angles and sources of information to stories and news broadcasts, we suggest that the news editors and journalists make use of the Commission for Gender Equality's database, which lists a number of women experts who are willing to supply important facts and information as a means of substantiating reports and provide a distinctly gender perspective. This list is by no means exhaustive.

What we are saying is not new, there have been numerous studies undertaken and reports produced showing the veracity of our position. For example, research done by Women'sNet: Engendering Broadcast Legislation - Commissioned by the Department of Communications outlined concrete policy in this area, we detail key issues below:

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

· Broadcast Policy and legislation

Clarifying the difference between sex and gender
Current broadcast policy makes no distinction between the difference between employment equity for women and how broadcast industry may impact on social relations of power between men and women. The policy documents need to "deconstruct" the meaning of "gender" and include a clear differentiation between sex and gender.

Mainstreaming gender in broadcast policy and legislation
Policy intentions to operationalise a more active role for the broadcasters to advance transformation in gender relations in society should be mainstreamed in all aspects of broadcasting policy and regulations, including policy relating to training and skills development, content, commissioning procedures, local content quotas, and language use

Define programming with the potential to advance gender justice
Include in the local content regulation an additional programming category that compels broadcasters to produce and air a quota of programming with the potential to disrupt existing gender role ascription and with the potential to advance more just and equal relations between men and women in South African society. This regulation should sit alongside current definitions of local content obligations, as specified by the IBA, for children's programming (clause 2.2), current affairs (clause 3.3), informal knowledge building (clause 2.9), and South African drama (clause 2.6). Gender programmes could be defined as "programmes that have a transformational potential that advances human rights within society, that is within interest to both women and men and that deconstructs gender stereotypes."

Furthermore, it is recommended that the policy compels broadcasters to develop a unit focused on the commissioning and/or production of programmes with the potential to advance gender transformation. Briefs for independent writers and producers must refer to the media organisation's gender programming goals."

We trust that this submission, given that this represents a diversity of organisations and interests, will assist you in the mainstreaming of gender in your policies. We welcome the opportunity to present our submission to your panel and at this point we will be able to supply case studies and concrete examples from which we can learn how the media can positively portray gender.

Bibliography
Kendra Olson (Media Education and Preventing Sexual Violence)
Craig A Anderson and Brad J Bushman (Department of Psychology, Iowa State University)
Women'sNet 1999 - Engendering Broadcast Legislation

This submission is endorsed by the following organisations:
Commission for Gender Equality
Southern African Media and Gender Institute
Women's Media Watch
Rape Crisis Cape Town
Transformative Human Rights Unit (Thru)
Western Cape Network on Violence Against Women
Every Six Days Campaign
Anti-Privatisation Forum
Youth For Work
Anti-Eviction Campaign
Saartjie Baartman Centre
United Sanctuary Against Abuse
Department of Journalism - Stellenbosch University
Gender Equity Unit University Western Cape
Gender Advocacy Project