Media Coverage of Intimate Partner Violence Incidents in Russia Amid the Conservative Turn

Abstract

In the literature, the period 2017–2018 has been identified as a time when feminist discourse emerged in the Russian media, with the topic of domestic violence (DV) as one of the main sub-discourses. This suggests that mainstream media can act as an agent of positive social change in relation to gender issues, even amid a broader ‘conservative turn’. This study interrogates this argument by examining changes in representations of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Russian media during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when increased attention was given to the global ‘shadow pandemic’ of violence in the home.