Whose Weapons? Representations of Rape in the Print Media of Modern Vietnam

The intersection of assumptions, stereotypes and social notions embedded within cultural understandings of gender, class, age, and other signifiers of inequality both shapes and delimits how a particular incident of rape is portrayed in the Vietnamese print media. One-sided and insensitive ways of reporting unwittingly exacerbate the suffering of victims, turning them into objects of criticism in local opinion. The activism shown by some quarters of the media has had a positive effect in encouraging rape victims and their families to come forward and use newspapers to air their grievances and seek justice by working within and sometimes around institutional structures.