Discourse Analysis of Indigenous Women's Sexuality in News Media

Abstract

Indigenous women’s deaths are routinely underreported by mainstream media. “Discourse Analysis of Indigenous Women’s Sexuality in News Media” finds that The Globe and Mail, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, Winnipeg Free Press, and Toronto Star rely on stereotypes steeped in settler colonialism to report on the deaths of Helen Betty Osborne, Pamela George, Cindy Gladue, and Tina Fontaine. “Discourse Analysis of Indigenous Women’s Sexuality in News Media” also finds that mainstream media does not contextualise violence against Indigenous women within colonialism in Canada, ignores the voices of the victims’ families, and engages settler moves to innocence when reporting on the perpetrators who have been accused or convicted of murdering Helen Betty Osborne, Pamela George, Cindy Gladue, and Tina Fontaine. Finally, “Discourse Analysis of Indigenous Women’s Sexuality in News Media” proposes that Indigenous journalists are best equipped to report on Indigenous sexuality because of their more nuanced understanding of Indigenous women and sexuality. Furthermore, Indigenous people authoring stories about Indigenous sexuality is to reclaim a suppressed way of being. It also counters the singular narrative of Indigenous women as hypersexual people who are victims of sex-murder and redefines Indigenous women as fulsome people who experience the world’s pleasures including gender expression, the pleasures of sex, and sexual expression. This thesis uses Indigenous feminism and intersectionality as theoretical concepts and critical discourse analysis as a methodology, following the ethic of suspending damage.