‘Family violence happens to everybody’: gender, mental health and violence in Australian media representations of filicide 2010–2014

Abstract

This discussion of three cases of filicide reported and reviewed extensively by the Australian news media between 2010 and 2014 is concerned with the politics of representation and its links to material violence. Moving through the architecture of the coverage rather than focusing on it this article observes popular, if mostly tacit, assumptions about masculinity and femininity in representing ‘family violence’. It locates coverage patterns to illustrate perceptions of violence against women and children and inaccurate stereotyping of such family violence as the extraordinary consequences of mental illness, which are mostly reproduced by the Australian media. It is suggested that such media representations are part of a downplaying of family violence as a public issue of urgency.Note – It is acknowledged that those who have survived violent crimes or have personal experience with the trauma and loss associated with such crimes might read this article. While every effort has been made to reproduce media reporting of the cases discussed here with sensitivity and mindfulness, it is advised that some readers might find some of the content of this article distressing.I joined the ranks of the mother who had her three children driven into a lake. I joined the ranks of the mum whose little girl was thrown over the Westgate Bridge. I'm one of those worst things that have ever happened.2