L'impact de la couverture médiatique des violences sexuelles sur les taux d'agressions sexuelles au Québec entre 1974 et 2006

Abstract

In Quebec, the rate of sexual assault has risen since the 1980s, while the rate of aggravated (more serious) sexual assault has abated. How can these contradictory tendencies be explained? This study examines the empirical merits of the hypothesis that the increased rate of simple sexual assault is a result of more frequent denunciations of these offences in the period observed. The empirical corpus of this study is made up of 461 articles about sexual assault that appeared in the Journal de Montréal between 1974 and 2006. The results suggest that the increase in simple sexual assault in Quebec is an artificial phenomenon, attributable, in the main, to a higher level of denunciation of sexual assault, which has been encouraged by an increase in media coverage of sexual violence and the enactment of legislation in 1983. The secondary hypothesis that this denunciation has had a dissuasive effect is also examined.