A Moral Panic? The Problematization of Forced Marriage in British Newspapers

Abstract

This article examines the British media's construction of forced marriage (FM) as an urgent social problem in a context where other forms of violence against women are not similarly problematized. A detailed analysis of four British newspapers over a 10-year period demonstrates that media reporting of FM constitutes a moral panic in that it is constructed as a cultural problem that threatens Britain's social order rather than as a specific form of violence against women. Thus, the current problematization of FM restricts discursive spaces for policy debates and hinders attempts to respond to this problem as part of broader efforts to tackle violence against women.forced marriage immigration policy moral panic problematization violence against women

A Profile of Gender-Based Violence Research in Europe: Findings From a Focused Mapping Review and Synthesis

“…From the 32 articles, 16 reported the use of quantitative methodologies (including three trials, three self-report questionnaires and three surveys) and there were 12 articles reporting on qualitative study types. There was also one documentary analysis (Anitha & Gill, 2015), two mixed-method studies (Holt, 2015; Schneider, Banholzer, & Albarracin, 2015) and one systematic review (Ali, Naylor, Croot, & O’Cathain, 2015). These findings reflect what can be considered a “healthy mix” of methodologies being used in the field of GBV research in Europe.…”

Intimate partner violence and abuse against Nigerian women resident in England, UK: a cross- sectional qualitative study

“…1). The way a phenomenon is problematized also influences policy and practice responses in tackling such a phenomenon [ 47 , 48 ]. Thus, in the context of this paper, the phenomenon under investigation is the problematization of culture in IPV involving women from ethnic minority populations.…”

“…Evidence exists which suggest culture is problematized as a construct affecting only women from ethnic minority populations [ 39 , 44 , 47 , 49 – 52 ]. E Burman, SL Smailes and K Chantler [ 44 ] suggests that culture discourse in the incidence of IPV against ethnic minority women is often critically examined and analysed (i.e.…”

“…A core concept in this homogenised absence/pathologised presence dichotomy is culture blaming [ 44 , 47 , 50 , 51 ]. Not only does culture blaming affect IPV service provision, it also significantly affects the utilisation of such services [ 42 , 50 ].…”

“The Mosques Are the Biggest Problem We’ve Got Right Now”: Key Agent and Survivor Accounts of Engaging Mosques With Domestic and Honor-Based Violence in the United Kingdom

“…Furthermore, the so-called 'honour killings' of Heshu Yones; Banaz Mahmod and Shafilea Ahmed link HBV and forced marriages to Muslim communities and to Islam. As Desai and Haffajee note, this is 'hugely problematic in that the lens of religion seems to be exclusively applied to Muslims with the intent to vilify Islam, while similar crimes committed against non-Muslim women in the West are often quickly forgotten and/or erased from the collective memory' (Desai & Haffajee, 2011: 129-130; see also Anitha & Gill, 2015). Being a Muslim in post 9/11 Britain becomes racialised, where religion (negatively) becomes the defining factor of the person (Desai & Haffajee, 2011: 130).…”