Les agressions sexuelles dans les téléséries québécoises : une analyse des normes sexuelles et de genre contemporaines

Abstract

The main goal of this article is to analyze representations of sexual violence against women in Quebec mainstream television series, to question the sexual and gender norms. By mobilizing the theory of sexual scripts of Simon and Gagnon, the following questions were studied: which kind of scripts can we observe in these representations and what does the presence (and coexistence) of these scripts tell us about contemporary sexual and gender norms. A thematic analysis of television data was done (from three television productions: Fugueuse, Les Simone and Le monster). Our research has shown that some scripts mobilizing rape myths (SM) are no longer present, while others extend and coexist with scripts different from SM within the same narrative. The analysis shed light on the presence of alternative narratives moving away from archetypal rape stories. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily imply a paradigm shift in the popular understanding of gender-based violence. This coexistence of scripts could be explained by the structural ambivalence of TV series, but could also constitute an ideological breach linked to the context of feminist demands in recent years.

Keywords

• sexual scripts
• gender norms
• sexual violence against women
• technologies of gender
• television series
• sexual norms