“Paralysed and powerless”: a feminist critical discourse analysis of ‘Drink spiking’ in Australian news media

ABSTRACT: Alcohol and Other Drug Facilitated Sexual Violence (AODFSV), known as “drink-spiking,” is the administration of alcohol or other drugs to someone without their consent, with the intent to harm them. Investigation into portrayals of AODFSV in the Australian news media is needed. Using feminist critical discourse analysis, this paper investigated the portrayal of AODFSV in the Australian news media in the past ten years. 226 articles were included for analysis and three themes were identified. Firstly, “how the media constructs the drink spiking narrative,” uses the “cautionary tale” that warns women about the dangers of the night-time economy and reinforces and perpetuates victim-blaming and rape myths. Secondly, “how the media normalises the drink spiking discourse” focuses on the substances used in drink spiking, the settings, the construction of the perpetrator and the victim as well as the depictions of sexual violence. Thirdly, “how the media shapes responses from emergency services” including police and hospital staff. This paper highlights the way the media creates and reinforces drinkspiking discourse, which constructs drink-spiking as individual behaviour rather than a culturally embedded issue. Such ideology perpetuates victim blaming and rape my