Inbetween ironies and debaucheries: women violence representations in the Jornal de Montes Claros in the 70´S

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reflect on discourses and representations of written media about female violence, the construction processes of aggressive women image by the media. The data are 119 news of 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1979 from the Diário de Montes Claros, a northern Minas Gerais newspaper. The collected news depict women as agents of various forms of violence: murder, attempted murder, bodily injury, infanticide and abortion. We argue that the news portray them in an ambiguous way: sometimes they are accused of being cold and extremely rational, and at other times they are excused of their crimes on account of the understanding of their naivety. Since they are just women, it is not their nature to commit acts of violence; they should be docile and nurturing, say the common sense. When men are the victims, the media focus on the character of the abnormality of the situation. Mockery, laughter and jocosity are the main discourse strategies to produce meanings and disqualify the violence committed by women.