The national press has recently lavished coverage on several major sex-related scandals: the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings, the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, and the Mike Tyson case. With each event came lurid stories pitting either a loose or a virginal woman against an unwilling or monstrous man. Such extreme coverage, argues Helen Benedict, perpetuates myths that are harmful to the victims of these crimes (and sometimes to the accused). With the rise in reported rapes, more such myth-mongering stories are bound to be seen in the future. In Virgin or Vamp, Benedict addresses the press's tendency to misrepresent rape, denigrate victims, and invade the privacy of its subjects, while also pointing out the press's critical role in informing and educating the public. In this timely book, Benedict draws on her experience as a reporter and professor of journalism to examine the print press's treatment of four prominent sex crimes from the past decade--the Rideout marital rape trial in Oregon, the Big Dan's pool table gang rape in New Bedford , Massachusetts, the "Preppy Murder" in New York, and the Central Park jogger rape. By analyzing the language of the original news stories and interviewing the original reporters, Benedict identifies the press's tendency to label victims as either virgins or vamps, a practice she condemns as misleading and harmful. For example, she finds that the press worked so hard at portraying Jennifer Levin, the victim of the "Preppy Murder," as a man-chasing vamp that it made her seem as responsible for her death as was her killer, Robert Chambers. Likewise, Benedict shows how the press depicted Greta Rideout as a hysterical wife who accused her husband of rape for revenge, rather than as a victim of domestic battery who eventually escaped--the truth of the case. Benedict also looks at other factors that perpetuate the misunderstanding of rape. For instance, she shows how the New York press presented the Central Park jogger rape case as motivated by racism because of its unwillingness to consider rape an issue of gender. She also addresses our inherent language bias (more positive words exist to describe men than women), the press's tendency to use sexually suggestive language to describe crime victims, and its preference for crimes against whites. In her conclusion, Benedict analyzes the William Kennedy Smith rape case, and argues that the debate over naming victims is misconceived in light of the press's current lack of understanding about rape. More than a critique about the way the print press covers sex crimes, Virgin or Vamp also reveals the roots of rape coverage in the days of lynching, and shows how deep traditionalist views of women still run. Benedict concludes with both practical and radical suggestions of how reporters can challenge such views by covering these increasingly common crimes without further harming the victims, the defendants, or public understanding.

Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes

Politics & Social Sciences

Benedict, Helen

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

In the last few years, the national press has lavished coverage on several major sex-related scandals: the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings, the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, and the Mike Tyson case. With each event came lurid stories pitting either a loose or virginal woman against an unwilling or monstrous man. Such extreme coverage, argues Helen Benedict, perpetuates myths that are harmful to victims of these crimes (and sometimes to the accused). In Virgin or Vamp Benedict examines the press's treatment of four notorious sex crimes from the past decade--the Rideout marital rape trial in Oregon, the Big Dan's pool table gang rape in Massachusetts, the "Preppy Murder" in New York City, and the Central Park jogger case--and shows how victims are labelled either as virgins or vamps, a practice she condemns as misleading and harmful. Benedict also looks at other factors that perpetuate the misunderstanding of rape. For instance, she shows how the New York press presented the Central Park jogger rape case as motivated by racism because of its unwillingness to consider rape an issue of gender. She also addresses our inherent language bias, the press's tendency to use sexually suggestive language to describe crime victims, and its preference for crimes against whites. In conclusion, Benedict offers a number of solutions that will help reporters cover these increasingly common crimes without further harming the victims, the defendants, or public understanding.

The journalistic profile is one of the most popular, widely read types of magazine feature writing. Helen Benedict, a master of the genre, has collected for Portraits in Print nine of her best pieces, and provided a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the art of portrait journalism. Among the persons profiled here are Joseph Brodsky, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Susan Sontag, Paule Marshall, Bernard Malamud, and Beverly Sills. In a general introduction and in lively discussions after each profile, Helen Benedict describes how she selected the subjects, got them to agree to be interviewed, convinced the magazines' editor's to assign her the pieces, prepared for the interviews, and set about writing each one after the research and interviewing were complete. Benedict also discusses how much confidence to betray, how personal to get, what to leave out, and the writer's power over the profile subject. This is fascinating reading, especially for aspiring writers who hope to learn more about the skills and practices of this popular genre. Portraits in Print concludes with an Afterward by the famous muckraker and author of The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford. Mitford takes the opposite tack, in an amusing essay about what it is like to be an interviewee.

Portraits in Print: A Collection of Profiles and the Stories Behind Them

Biographies & Memoirs

Reference & Collections

Columbia University Press

Professionals & Academics

Recovery

This guide offers the survivors of rape and their friends and relatives a body of knowledge drawn from social workers and social scientists on the short-and long-term effects of rape. It includes details of AIDS, date rape, rape crisis programmes, rape shelters and other social resources.

This guide offers the survivors of rape and their friends and relatives a body of knowledge drawn from social workers and social scientists on the short-and long-term effects of rape. It includes details of AIDS, date rape, rape crisis programmes, rape shelters and other social resources.

Self-Help

Section titles include "Who Would Hurt You and Why," "Your Sexual Rights and Responsibilities," "Protecting Yourself Inside," "Self-defense," and "Getting Help." Includes an appendix for parents.

Safe, Strong & Streetwise

Teen & Young Adult

Little,Brown & Co

Safe, Strong and Streetwise: The Teenager's Guide to Preventing Sexual Assualt

Little. Brown and Company

DOUBLEDAY

Fleeing an unhappy past in England, penniless Lucy Snowe starts life anew at a boarding school in cosmopolitan Villette, a stand-in for Brussels. The mystery, jealousy, and love that she finds there give Charlotte Brontë’s final novel much of the Gothic tone and psychological incisiveness that prompted George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and others to call Villette her finest work. Based on Brontë’s own experiences in Brussels and her attachment to a brilliant teacher with a strong and eccentric personality, this superb romantic novel is an exceptional example of how a great writer transforms the ordinary events of her life into vivid and exciting art. Villette represents the inimitable Brontë genius by giving us a masterful portrait of Lucy Snowe, who belongs beside the great nineteenth-century literary heroines—and who will strongly appeal to modern readers. With a New Introduction by Adriana Trigiani and an Afterword by Helen Benedict

Villette (Signet Classics)

Literature & Fiction

BRONTЁ, CHARLOTTE

United States

Signet

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Benedict, Helen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Benedict, Helen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Benedict, Helen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes

Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes

Portraits in Print: A Collection of Profiles and the Stories Behind Them

Portraits in Print: A Collection of Profiles and the Stories Behind Them

Recovery

Recovery

Safe, Strong & Streetwise

Safe, Strong and Streetwise: The Teenager's Guide to Preventing Sexual Assualt

Recovery

Villette (Signet Classics)