tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/megyn-kelly-24286/articlesMegyn Kelly – The Conversation2018-10-25T23:14:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1056202018-10-25T23:14:17Z2018-10-25T23:14:17ZIf you’re thinking of doing blackface for Halloween, just don’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242377/original/file-20181025-71032-a0i93m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Megyn Kelly appears on the set of her show, 'Megyn Kelly Today' at NBC Studios in New York on September 21, 2017. Kelly questioned why dressing up in blackface is wrong. Kelly now says she understands that she needs to be more sensitive. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Invision - Charles Sykes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once again, another racist incident about blackface has made headlines. This time it surrounds NBC host Megyn Kelly, who apologized both on air and in a memo to colleagues after her <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/media/megyn-kelly-blackface-al-roker/index.html">on-air comments defending racist Halloween costumes.</a></p>
<p>During a round-table discussion about costumes on the <em>Today</em> show, Kelly said it was OK for white people use blackface to dress up as Black people. She defended a reality star who portrayed Diana Ross last year. “But what is racist?” Kelly asked. “ …Back when I was a kid that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.” </p>
<p>It now seems <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/megyn-kelly-will-not-return-today-n924911">NBC will fire Kelly</a> as a result of this incident, undoubtedly raising questions about whether such a response is an over-reaction. </p>
<p>Black journalists like <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/don-lemon-megyn-kelly-blackface-chris-cuomo_us_5bd0284ae4b055bc94865ebd">CNN’s Don Lemon</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/media/megyn-kelly-blackface-al-roker/index.html">NBC’s Al Roker have publicly indicted Kelly’s statements</a>. </p>
<p>Many claim the offensive element of blackface dates back from a long time ago, and doesn’t have anything to do with today. They claim blackface costumes, especially at Halloween, are just innocent fun. What could be the harm?</p>
<h2>What is blackface?</h2>
<p>Blackface is the practice in which non-Black people darken their skin to deliberately impersonate, and usually to ridicule, Black people. It’s popular right now on university campuses, often <a href="https://www.theroot.com/iowa-teacher-under-investigation-for-wearing-blackface-1829997389">during Halloween</a> and at <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/blackface-stunt-backfires-at-universite-de-montreal-1.697757">campus events for students</a>. </p>
<p>Blackface costumes often include other paraphernalia such as wigs, fake dreadlocks or stuffed bosoms or behinds to further parody Black people. They also occasionally <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2010/11/03/kkk_costume_wins_first_prize_at_legion_halloween_party.html">celebrate violence against Black people</a>. </p>
<p>Though blackface is likely as old as transatlantic slavery, its use is most often associated with minstrel shows, a form of <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/blackface-birth-american-stereotype">racist white entertainment in the United States</a> that emerged in the 1820s. </p>
<p>The minstrels in these shows were white performers pretending to be Black. They painted their skin black with burnt cork or shoe polish, leaving wide areas around the mouth uncovered or painted red or white giving the appearance of oversized lips. </p>
<p>Minstrel performers would then use ungainly movement, exaggerated accents, malapropisms and garish attire to further ridicule Black people. Blackface was a deliberate attempt to represent Black people as bizarre and deviant, while appropriating their cultural forms for profit and to get a laugh.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/aapr/blackface-canada">My research</a> has found that when used in the present, blackface still intensifies feelings of racial pleasure for those who wear it, and for their audiences. But humour is a funny thing. </p>
<p>What is it that makes blackface “funny” in the first place? Why are we motivated to put on costumes that appropriate other people’s bodies, experiences and lives?</p>
<h2>Humour and racism</h2>
<p>While we imagine that we each have individual tastes in humour, this is only to a degree. Our humour depends integrally upon the contexts in which it occurs. We rely on prevailing ways of thinking and common understandings of what things mean. These <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07256868.1997.9963447?casa_token=rRKdlukpz1cAAAAA:aeB2aKhwNYd72VYB5VY7YCnsyKr5F4uXOQ828H2ZEkmHUD0tdgX5eN5_CWJOA9MjRMfMgzia_04">“shared ideas”</a> make us fairly certain that others will find our jokes funny. No one wants to laugh alone. </p>
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<span class="caption">Megyn Kelly defended a white reality TV star who dressed up as Diana Ross, calling her a ‘character.’ Here Ross and her family are seen at the 2012 Clive Davis pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Smith/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The United States and Canada have several distinctive ways of thinking about racialized people — both historically and in the present. <a href="https://theconversation.com/media-portrays-indigenous-and-muslim-youth-as-savages-and-barbarians-79153">Ongoing settler-colonial relationships continue to define us</a>.</p>
<p>These are relationships where settlers <a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-the-plains-continues-with-the-acquittal-of-gerald-stanley-91628">perpetuate ideas that Indigenous peoples are dead or dying out</a>. This makes them a part of history, but not the present, and helps to justify settler access to Indigenous land.</p>
<p>Similar relationships portray non-Black racialized groups as perpetually foreign, and culturally inferior, <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-style-deportation-is-happening-in-canada-94634">never able to belong to the nation</a>. </p>
<p>Many racially charged Halloween costumes are fuelled by these ways of thinking. Costumes that appropriate Indigenous culture, portray them as part of the past, or, worse, in <a href="https://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/outrage-grows-over-racist-cowboys-and-indians-party-hosted-at-toronto-bar">“cowboy and Indian” scenes</a>, reflect settler ideas that Indigenous people no longer exist. <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-mouth-and-no-ears-settlers-with-opinions-83338">If they no longer exist, they cannot contest settlers’ claims to the land</a>. </p>
<p>Costumes of sheiks, geishas or Mexicans in sombreros emphasize the foreign-ness and ostensible absurdity of non-Black racialized groups. </p>
<p>The “humour” and allure of these costumes flow directly from investment in settler-colonial relationships. It matters little whether those who engage in this kind of costuming understand the implications, or say that they wear them as tribute. Racist humour pushes the limits of acceptable racial discourse. </p>
<h2>Blackface, settler-colonialism and slavery</h2>
<p>Settler-colonial relationships and the history of slavery also influence how Black people are regarded today. These relationships attempt to place Black life outside the realm of the human. <a href="http://carmenkynard.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/No-Humans-Involved-An-Open-Letter-to-My-Colleagues-by-SYLVIA-WYNTER.pdf">Philosopher Sylvia Wynter argues</a> Black folk are construed as property — unworthy of human dignity. These <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">ideas are normalized and impact the way Black people are treated </a> with disregard and profound violence. </p>
<p>Blackface costumes play on these historical relationships. They make the Black body property to be appropriated and discarded. They portray Black people <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fairfield-university-ghetto-party">as thugs</a>, <a href="https://www.colorlines.com/articles/these-men-dressed-trayvon-martin-and-george-zimmerman-halloween">as worthy of death</a> or make <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/639531/Outrage-disgraceful-tennis-fan-wears-blackface-watch-Serena-Williams-match">Black people’s bodies into spectacle</a>. They celebrate the dehumanization of and disregard for Black people. </p>
<p>Heightening this effect is the way in which blackface is practised despite Black objection. Even if they claim not to know about minstrel shows, very few people who wear blackface nowadays are unaware of the fact that it is a racially edgy form of costuming, or that many Black people object to it. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Megyn Kelly sat down with Roland Martin and Amy Holmes to discuss her comments about blackface.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In wearing blackface, they, like Kelly, defend it despite these objections instead of trying to find out why Black people find it offensive. Doing so dismisses Black people’s perspectives and insists instead that their interpretations prevail. </p>
<p>Worse yet, this kind of racist expression is <a href="https://newsone.com/3814760/blackface-purdue-university-lisa-stillman/">frequently defended as free speech</a>. What is accomplished by defending the ostensible humour and fun of blackface?</p>
<p>Humour has always been a vehicle for expressing racism. While minstrel shows did so overtly, humour has currently become an important tool for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.12411">covertly expressing racism when overt racism is, at least officially, frowned upon</a>.</p>
<p>Those engaging in racist humour propagate racist ideas at the same time as they deny the racism by saying: “Lighten up! We’re only joking.” We saw this frequently with internet memes and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714413.2014.958379?casa_token=mhXEjMCYVBcAAAAA:IvYoz5A3f50t8Z9i7AdLVriwCH3zxoe15wvQh8L_Ff-n7uwTCwZP6E1cqyYsYbilhnLf52KdzT0">political cartooning directed against Barack Obama</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, in recent years, the far right has become quite adept at using <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/23/alt-right-online-humor-as-a-weapon-facism">racist humour to air racist ideas</a>. This makes claims that “I was not aware” largely irrelevant, if not suspicious. </p>
<p>Even when apologies follow, the damage has been done. It is much like removing a nail from a piece of wood. It never repairs the damage. </p>
<p>The circulation of these ideas bolsters the increasing <a href="https://theconversation.com/stephen-bannons-world-dangerous-minds-in-dangerous-times-100373">global racial nationalism of our day</a>. So it is actually a much larger issue than people failing to be sensitive because Black people cannot get over the past. </p>
<p>Rather, the issue is the denial and furthering of racist relationships in the present. Efforts to defend blackface and justify other racist expressions erase the racism of the past and, crucially, protect the racism of the present. </p>
<p>They also serve to delegitimize Black opinion, and anyone who objects to racist humour. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/12/09/donald-trump-says-were-all-too-politically-correct-but-is-that-also-a-way-to-limit-speech/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.aec554e47870">These “jokers” label dissenters as oversensitive and politically correct</a>. This plays into the same disregard of Blackness that blackface represents. These effects must be taken seriously if we wish to push back against the ways in which racist narratives and practices are becoming increasingly normalized in our day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip S. S. Howard has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the research that made this article possible. </span></em></p>Many claim the offensive part about blackface is from a long time ago and claim blackface costumes, especially at Halloween, are innocent fun. What could be the harm?Philip S. S. Howard, Assistant Professor of Education, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814552017-07-31T19:53:41Z2017-07-31T19:53:41ZSpilling blood in art, a tale of tampons, Trump and taboos<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180284/original/file-20170731-9675-1idv67s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Part of Jordan Eagles's Blood Equality – Illuminations, 2017, an installation that uses imaged blood on plexiglass.
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/08/politics/donald-trump-cnn-megyn-kelly-comment/index.html">Donald Trump said of journalist Megyn Kelly</a>, “you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever”, the American artist Sarah Levy responded by painting a <a href="https://www.sarahlevyart.com/#/bloodytrump/">portrait of him</a> using her own menstrual blood.</p>
<p>Setting aside, (as if one could), the overt misogyny implicit in Trump’s comments, his views amplify the anxiety the open body creates – the destabilisation of the intact body of the viewer, a momentary collapse of self.</p>
<p>Artistic freedom is given so as to encourage such exploration. Art operates as a laboratory for ideas, it can be radical, political and sometimes deeply confronting; no more so than when art confronts audiences with bodily fluids most often hidden from view. To paint with menstrual blood is a provocation. It asks that we see things differently, and presents us with what is usually unseen.</p>
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<p>But not all blood is equal. When blood is spilled it is generally presumed to be male, frequently in the name of the nation, and spent in some heroic act or another - largely on foreign shores, commemorated but rarely seen. Blood has its place – contained, controlled and out of view. </p>
<p>When blood escapes the body or laboratory, it is particularly disturbing and unruly. We speak of spilt blood as contaminated, infected, impure. Controlled blood-letting is a symbol of masculinity; menstruation a sign of abjection, and gay men’s blood is to be feared, to say nothing of the anxiety of intermingling blood between people, races and species. To work with blood can raise ethical issues, but is equally an opportunity to shed light on the source of many prejudices and misconceptions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-actually-in-our-blood-75066">Explainer: what's actually in our blood?</a>
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<p>The feminist art movement of the 1960s and 1970s took aim at these entrenched religious and societal norms, and presented audiences with menstrual blood: both as the subject of art works and the material with which artists worked. Feminist artworks that included blood acquired their potency because of its taboo status. Blood was dangerously out of place. </p>
<p>Before Tracey Emin’s blood soaked tampon appeared in her Turner Prize nominated work My Bed, Judy Chicago produced <a href="https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/2403">Menstruation Bathroom</a> as part of Womenshouse (Los Angeles, 1972) an iconic feminist art installation. The bathroom contained a rubbish bin with bloodstained sanitary pads and tampons as “unmistakeable marks of our animality”. Carolee Schneeman’s <a href="http://feministlibrary.tumblr.com/post/116368435045/carolee-schneemann-blood-work-diary-detail">Blood Work Diary</a> (New York, 1972) consisted of a series of bloodstained tissues blotted with blood from one menstrual cycle, as a response to a male partner’s revulsion at the sight of menstrual blood.</p>
<p>These artists sought to make visible the quotidian blood spilling of which we do not speak, enacting the mantra of the feminist movement of the time: “the personal is political”. As Germaine Greer famously said: “If you think you are emancipated, you might consider the idea of tasting your own menstrual blood - if it makes you sick, you’ve got a long way to go, baby”. As we see from Levy’s portrait of Trump, societies’ taboos continue to imbue art using menstrual blood with threatening power.</p>
<h2>A destabilising of self</h2>
<p>The ability of the presence of blood and the open body to destabilise one’s sense of self is often utilised by male artists to instil a sense of vulnerability. Franko B’s performance work I Miss You, in the Tate’s Turbine Hall (London, 2003), saw him naked with blood flowing from cuts to his arms and seeping into a canvas covered runway. Largely because of our long standing gendered perceptions of bodies and blood, when male artists bleed, both they and their work tend to be queered, as if “real men” do not bleed. </p>
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<p>And so it was that the HIV-AIDS epidemic in western gay communities produced its own form of gendered crisis and diverse cultural and artistic expressions. The blood borne virus also fundamentally changed the way blood was viewed. If women’s menstrual blood was considered taboo, gay men’s blood was considered lethal.</p>
<p>Suddenly the metaphors of blood, pure and impure, clean and unclean, became frightening literal. The spectre of HIV-positive blood pervaded political and social conversations, and the mere sight of blood in association with the gay community set off hysterical reactions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/restricting-gay-men-from-donating-blood-is-discriminatory-61021">Restricting gay men from donating blood is discriminatory</a>
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<p>The spectre of blood was ubiquitous during this period, yet ill-informed anxieties around the infection ensured that blood itself was largely absent in art. One exception was Ron Athey’s performance piece, Four Scenes in a Harsh Life, performed at the Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis USA 1994). </p>
<p>Completely fictionalised accounts of the event circulated, with one report describing HIV-positive blood being thrown at the audience. Athey is HIV+, and blood did flow, but it was that of his HIV negative collaborator, Darryl Carlton—aka Divinity Fudge. The erroneous media reactions fuelled the psychic transmission of the virus, if not literally infecting others, at the very least, creating a fear that bodies might silently and secretly be contaminated by mere proximity. </p>
<p>Such fears persist, in spite of scientific knowledge that the virus can only be transmitted intravenously, through sharing needles or blood transfusions, and unprotected sex. It is these phobias that the German artist Basse Stittgen addresses when he creates objects and vessels out of blood products. He challenges audiences to consider whether they would drink out of, or even hold these objects if they were made of blood from HIV or Hepatitis positive donors.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180282/original/file-20170731-19115-dwyx32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Blood Objects, Basse Stittgen (The Netherlands, Germany) Objects made from animal and human blood, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist</span></span>
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<p>Mixing bodily fluids is also taboo: Andres Serrano’s photographs of semen and blood most notably made this connection between life and death in his Bodily Fluids series in the late 1980s.</p>
<p>After his son Lucas’s birth, meanwhile, <a href="http://marcquinn.com/artworks/single/lucas">artist Mark Quinn created a sculpture </a>out of the mother Georgia Byng’s placenta. The work challenges us to consider where the mother and child separate, where bodies begin and end. Stelarc and Nina Sellers asked similar questions with their work <a href="http://stelarc.org/?catID=20245">Blender</a>, which mixed both their blood and extracted fat.</p>
<p>But what of interspecies blood mingling? May the Horse Live in Me!, a collaborative project by Marion Laval-Jeantet and Benoît Mangin presents us with this very provocation. Over time, Laval-Jeantet built up an immunity to horse blood, sufficient to enable her to be injected with horse blood plasma as part of an experiment that they describe as a “foray into human/animal ‘blood-sisterhood’.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180283/original/file-20170731-19115-14m6a1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">May the Horse Live in Me! Art Orienté Objet; Marion Laval-Jeantet & Benoît Mangin (France)
Film and relics of original performance, 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artists</span></span>
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<p>This work can also be seen as a response to the hubris of the anthropocene, the implicit assumption that humans are something other than animal. Ultimately this seems to be the common thread in these artworks: each asks questions of the ways in which humans are gendered, categorised and deemed separate from animals and from each other.</p>
<p>An exhibition at <a href="https://melbourne.sciencegallery.com/">the Science Gallery</a> at the University of Melbourne, Blood: Attract and Repel, addresses our ambivalent attitudes to blood. Laval-Jeantet and Mangin’s work is represented in it, as is Stittgen’s Blood Objects. </p>
<p>The Hotham Street Ladies (a collective based in Australia, UK and Berlin) present in the show what might be considered as an hysterical homage to Chicago’s Menstruation Bathroom. Vivid icing and confectionary is used to create menstrual murals in two toilet cubicles. There is no real blood this time but perhaps the work is all the more abject through its excess.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180280/original/file-20170730-15340-zepu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You Beaut, Hotham Street Ladies, (Australia, UK and Germany) Installation, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Blood is also absent in Irish artist John O’Shea’s <a href="https://www.prote.in/journal/articles/black-market-pudding">Black Market Pudding</a>. He had hoped to produce a sausage using blood drawn from a living pig, but at the time of writing this is apparently a step too far for Australia, with no farmer willing to provide a pig to be bled. </p>
<p>The work has been produced elsewhere - highlighting how our industrial, legal and ethical frameworks make it easier to slaughter an animal than bleed one, but keep it alive. </p>
<p><em>Blood: Attract and Repel opens on August 2 and runs until October 5 <a href="https://melbourne.sciencegallery.com/">at the Science Gallery</a> at University of Melbourne.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate MacNeill works for the University of Melbourne with which the Science Gallery is affiliated. She has received fundng from the Office of Learning and Teaching. </span></em></p>Contemporary artists from Judy Chicago to Stelarc have made art from blood. And an exhibition at Melbourne’s new Science Gallery addresses our ambivalent attitudes to this life-giving fluid.Kate MacNeill, Head of Art History, and Arts and Cultural Management, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/673582016-11-16T01:17:58Z2016-11-16T01:17:58ZHow common are sexual harassment and rape in the United States?<blockquote>
<p>“I have moved in the world as a woman and a man. I never realized the absence of fear, and the feeling of invulnerability until I lived as a man.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These were activist Max Beck’s parting words to my Psychology of Women course in 2005. Beck, born <a href="http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex">intersexed</a>, lived in a body manipulated by medical intervention to be a girl and then a woman. In adulthood, having learned that when he was born, his sex was unclear, he chose to live the last years of his life as a married and devoted father. </p>
<p>Max spoke about an invisible, ever-present sense of vulnerability that for many women is palpable. The fear of sexual harassment and assault – terms that encompass everything from unwanted touching, grabbing and kissing to rape and attempted rape – is <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/S0275-495920160000034002">all too common</a> among women <a href="http://www.westerncriminology.org/documents/WCR/v04n3/article_pdfs/scott.pdf">in the U.S.</a> and <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-016-0654-6">around the world</a>. A student at the University of Alabama <a href="http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/news/sexual-assault-college-campuses-stanford-brock-turner-baylor-alabama-fear-women-data-stats/axbwf027fvuf1fg4c0l3gl42y">poignantly wrote</a>, “Something that’s always in the back of my mind: One day, one of these victims could be me.” </p>
<p>But is this sense of vulnerability grounded in data? Are women really at high risk? </p>
<p>This week Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/accusing-roger-ailes-sexual-harassment-career-suicide-mission/story?id=43545806">has talked about</a> her allegations of sexually predatory behavior by her former boss Roger Ailes. This comes in the wake of similar allegations against <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/07/bill-cosbys-accusers-speak-out.html">Bill Cosby</a> and President-elect <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/all-the-women-accusing-trump-of-rape-sexual-assault.html">Donald Trump</a>. </p>
<p>Each time these stories hit the headlines, the public is appalled and shocked. Yet, years of social science data underscore the pervasive scope of sexual violation in women’s lives. I have been conducting research on violence against women for a quarter-century. The sad truth is that despite public outrage, sexual harassment and assault continue to be as widespread a problem today as they were 25 years ago. </p>
<h2>The experience on campus</h2>
<p>The practical, methodological and ethical challenges to conducting scientific research on sexual harassment and assault are many. Harassment and assault usually occur in private, the experiences are highly stigmatized and victims feel such shame that they rarely make a report to authorities. Yet, researchers began to attempt to understand women’s experiences of assault nearly 60 years ago.</p>
<p>In 1957, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2773906?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">sociologist Eugene Kanin</a> found that 62 percent of a sample of college freshmen women had experienced “offensive and displeasing attempts at necking, petting above… [and] below the waist, sexual intercourse, and/or a more violent attempt at sexual intercourse accompanied by menacing threats or coercive infliction of physical pain.” Kanin’s language may sound strange to young people today, but the questions he asked clearly describe experiences that today we would label nonconsensual sexual contact to attempted rape.</p>
<p>The results of Kanin’s study, however, remained hidden in scholarly journals. </p>
<p>It was only 30 years later, in 1987, that <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/55/2/162/">nationally representative data</a> on the nature and scope of sexual aggression on college campuses were disseminated widely through the popular book <a href="http://www.robinwarshaw.com/i_never_called_it_rape__the_ms__report_on_recognizing__fighting_and_surviving_da_92309.htm">“I Never Called It Rape”</a> by Robin Warshaw.</p>
<p>Warshaw’s book translated psychologist Mary Koss and colleagues’ groundbreaking scholarly study of date and acquaintance rape for the general public. This study is the source for the famous “one in four” statistic: that about a quarter of college women report experiences equivalent to rape, that few label their experiences as rape and even fewer report their experiences to authorities. </p>
<p>Two methodologically similar studies conducted <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/67/2/252/">between 1995</a> and <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf">1997</a> confirmed the findings of the 1987 study. </p>
<p>And when a broader range of nonconsensual sexual acts are considered (for example, groping or unwanted kissing), many more women on campus are affected. </p>
<p>In Koss’ study, 28 percent of women reported having experienced such episodes when they were as young as 14. <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf">In a separate study 10 years later,</a> nearly 10 percent of college women reported unwanted and attempted unwanted sexual contact within a single academic year. </p>
<p>Recently, researchers at the University of Oregon responding to the White House Task Force’s call for information were surprised to find that <a href="http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/04/25/0361684316644838.full">nearly 60 percent of women graduate students</a> reported experiences of sexual harassment.</p>
<h2>Women at risk everywhere</h2>
<p>Other groups of women face similar or higher risk. </p>
<p>Data from the National Crime Victimization Study, analyzed by criminologists Callie Rennison and Lynn Addington, show that economically disadvantaged women are at <a href="http://tva.sagepub.com/content/15/3/159.abstract">slightly higher risk of being raped than college women</a>. In 2010 the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> estimated that 20 percent of American women overall have experienced rape. Women who identify as bisexual report far more rape, as do multiracial and Alaskan/American Indian women. Others, such as lesbian and Latina women, report far less. </p>
<p>Similar nationally representative data on women’s experiences of sexual harassment do not exist, but an analysis of different studies of women in academia, government, the private sector and the military (86,000 women in all) documented that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2003.tb00752.x/abstract">58 percent</a> said they had experienced at least one instance of sexually harassing behavior.</p>
<p>Whether perpetrators target specific groups of women, whether some groups of women underreport assault more than others or whether other factors are responsible for some women being at higher risk than others continue to be unanswered questions. </p>
<h2>How many men perpetrate harassment or assault?</h2>
<p>So what do the data say about the number of men who perpetrate sexual harassment and assault? </p>
<p>In his 1969 study on men, Kanin concluded that – based on his study at one academic institution – about <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3811495">25 percent of men</a> reported committing at least one “sexually aggressive episode” since entering college. Kanin noted that these episodes would “usually not be sufficient violent to be thought of as rape attempts” although “these aggressions involved forceful attempts at removing clothing and forceful attempts to maneuver the female into a physically advantageous position for sexual access.” These episodes clearly meet the FBI definition of attempted rape.</p>
<p>Nearly 20 years after Kanin’s study, in the first nationally representative study of its kind, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/55/2/162/">8 percent of men</a> reported having raped or attempted rape. When the scope was broadened to all forms of sexual assault, the percent of men who reported nonsexual contact increased to <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/55/2/162/">25</a>.</p>
<p>Since 1987, however, no national studies on how often rape and other forms of sexual assault or harassment are perpetrated have been federally funded or conducted privately. </p>
<p>One source of available data on sexual harassment is the military.</p>
<p>The Navy is making some progress to understand sexual harassment – <a href="http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a434586.pdf">67 percent</a> of just over 1,000 U.S. Navy men in their first year of service reported that they had sexual harassed women. This included giving unwanted attention to women and making “crude sexual remarks either publicly or privately,” as well as “threatening women with some sort of retaliation for not being sexually cooperative.”</p>
<p>The relative dearth of data on harassment and assault perpetration is perplexing, given the widespread <a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-assault-on-campuses-what-to-do-33773">calls to prevent this behavior</a>. To know whether prevention strategies work, we must have accurate and current knowledge of how often such behavior occurs.</p>
<p>The fact is that despite decades of raising awareness and providing education, rape and other forms of sexual assault and harassment <a href="http://sax.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/09/02/1079063216667917.refs">remain pervasive threats</a> in women’s and men’s lives. They are akin to normal and expected aspects of the feminine and masculine experience.</p>
<p>High-profile incidents, such as Donald Trump’s blatant description of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html">his behavior</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/opinion/sunday/gretchen-carlson-my-fight-against-sexual-harassment.html?_r=0">Gretchen Carlson’s</a> and Megyn Kelly’s allegations of Roger Ailes’ sexual harassment of network staff, stimulate public discussion. </p>
<p>These debates come at a terrible cost to the women who come forward publicly. Their motivations are questioned. Their experiences diminished. But if they continue, they have the chance to see social norms change. And the dialogue is present on a scale never before seen. </p>
<p>Those who insist that the number of women who are victimized is overstated, or that the experiences are far less traumatic than portrayed, or that women make false accusations, will always exist. </p>
<p>But what has changed is that an increasing number of men are opposing victim-blaming, calling out reprehensible behavior and seeking justice for victims, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/10/i-am-filled-with-furious-anger-vice-president-biden-writes-letter-to-stanford-sexual-assault-victim/">Vice President Joe Biden</a> did after Brock Turner was sentenced to six months for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. During this election season, the discussion included new voices, with many expressing outrage because they were husbands, fathers, brothers of women. Prominent commentators, such as The New York Times’ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/opinion/daughters-and-trumps.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FColumnists&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=24&pgtype=collection">Frank Bruni</a>, went further, opposing outrage based on men’s relationships with women and arguing that all should speak out about assaults on all women.</p>
<p>This election season kept sexual harassment and assault in the national consciousness. Recent advances in preventive interventions focus not on potential perpetrators but on promoting community norms that counter attitudes and behaviors that <a href="http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/05/06/1077801211409727.abstract">support harassment and assault</a>.</p>
<p>This national discussion has moved us beyond <a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/01/its-on-us-celebrity-campaign-video">choreographed campaigns</a> where sports figures and other celebrities proclaim opposition to rape and sexual assault. We are seeing the opposition in real time through responses to Trump’s hot mic moment, language during debates and threats of harm through social media. Now that Trump is president-elect, his actions, past and present, will keep the issue top of mind. </p>
<p>Could this added focus mean the day is near when the ever-present and unnamed threat of harassment and assault leaves women’s lives?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah L. Cook has consulted with local and state level nonprofit organizations that address violence against women. Her research has been funded by National Institute of Justice and National Institute of Mental Health. She has consulted and contracted with the Centers for Disease Control. She is a professor and associate dean at Georgia State University.</span></em></p>Megyn Kelly’s account of Fox News Chief Roger Ailes’ sexually predatory behavior has put harassment back in headlines. Can public debate on this issue make a difference?Sarah L. Cook, Professor & Associate Dean, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/538812016-01-29T15:07:12Z2016-01-29T15:07:12ZTrump declares war on Fox News and wins<p>The Republican civil war reached a new level of intensity on Thursday night when Donald Trump shocked the political world by <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-donald-trump-versus-megyn-kelly-again-when-gop-candidates-face-off-thursday-20160126-story.html">boycotting the Fox News presidential debate</a>. Instead of joining his fellow GOP candidates on the debate stage in downtown Des Moines, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/politics/donald-trump-gop-debate.html">Trump hosted an event for veterans</a> at nearby Drake University.</p>
<p>Trump’s boycott represented a high-stakes gamble. In defiance of conventional wisdom, Trump threw caution to the wind by launching a frontal assault on Fox News, the conservative cable news channel. </p>
<p>Did Trump’s gamble pay off?</p>
<p>The answer is yes. Although we won’t know for sure until Iowans trek to their caucus precincts on Monday night, there is every reason to believe that Trump’s boycott achieved his goals. By taking on Fox News, Trump established himself as the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jan/28/donald-trump-fox-news-conservative-media-influence">ultimate anti-establishment candidate</a> in the GOP race. </p>
<h2>Trump’s fight with Fox News</h2>
<p>Trump’s boycott of the Fox debate did not happen overnight. </p>
<p>The billionaire candidate has had a hostile relationship with Fox News since the August 6 presidential debate, when Trump first sparred with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/07/who-is-megyn-kelly-the-woman-on-the-receiving-end-of-donald-trumps-ire/">Fox News host Megyn Kelly</a>. During the August debate, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/27/the-long-strange-history-of-the-donald-trump-megyn-kelly-feud/">Kelly confronted Trump</a> with his long history of misogynistic statements. Infuriated by Kelly’s tough but factually accurate questions, Trump personally attacked the Fox anchor, denigrating her credentials as a journalist and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/11791693/Donald-Trump-says-Megyn-Kellys-tough-questioning-was-due-to-menstruation.html">crudely insinuating</a> that her <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/us/politics/donald-trump-disinvited-from-conservative-event-over-remark-on-megyn-kelly.html">menstrual cycle</a> influenced her line of questioning. </p>
<p>Ironically, the billionaire’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/us/politics/donald-trump-disinvited-from-conservative-event-over-remark-on-megyn-kelly.html">vicious and demeaning insults</a> demonstrated precisely the type of misogynistic streak that Kelly had questioned Trump about in the first place.</p>
<p>Yet, despite the unseemly spectacle of Trump’s attack on Kelly, the billionaire’s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling/index.html">poll numbers soared</a> in the aftermath of the controversy. </p>
<h2>An uneventful debate in Des Moines</h2>
<p>Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/15/the-single-most-stunning-poll-number-on-donald-trump-i-have-seen/">relentless rise in the polls</a> since the August debate emboldened him to challenge Fox News like no Republican has ever dared to in the past. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2015/07/09/donald-trump-the-master-of-self-promotion/">master of self-promotion</a>, Trump calculated that his boycott would drain the life out of the GOP’s Thursday night debate in Des Moines.</p>
<p>And that’s exactly what happened.</p>
<p>The Republican debate was predictably uneventful. Each of the Republican candidates retreated to the same talking points they’ve used for the past six months. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/politics/republican-debate.html">Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio</a> jousted over who would impose the strictest immigration policies. Rand Paul proposed auditing the Federal Reserve Board and paralyzing the NSA’s domestic surveillance capabilities. Cruz declared he would carpet-bomb terrorist bases in the Middle East. Chris Christie denied that he was responsible for Bridgegate, shifting the blame to his advisers. John Kasich and Jeb Bush presented themselves as authentically uncharismatic establishment conservatives. And Ben Carson once again struggled to show mastery of basic public policy details. </p>
<p>The bottom line was Thursday night’s GOP debate did not break new ground. Instead of using the opportunity to attack Trump, whose absence left him unable to defend himself, the other GOP candidates attacked one another like a circular firing squad. </p>
<h2>Trump’s joint appearance with Santorum and Huckabee</h2>
<p>As Trump’s rivals sparred on Fox News, the billionaire hosted a “veterans’” event that was as surreal as one might have expected. </p>
<p>Few veterans appeared on stage. Instead, Trump focused his energies on the media’s coverage of the made-for-television event. The GOP front-runner bragged that the news coverage of his Drake event was “<a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/01/29/donald_trump_mocks_the_gop_debate_compares_his_special_event_for_veterans_to_the_academy_awards/">like the Academy Awards</a>.” At one point he proudly announced “<a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/trump-iowa-veterans-event-how-much-money-did-debate-stunt-really-raise-2285093">we have more cameras</a>” than the Fox debate. </p>
<p>Trump was interrupted more than once by protesters. But he was unflappable. With a knowing wink, he declared, “I love the protesters!” </p>
<p>By far the most important development on Thursday night was the fact that Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/politics/donald-trump-gop-debate.html">joined Trump on stage</a>. </p>
<p>Santorum won Iowa’s GOP caucuses in 2012 and Huckabee won in 2008. The two arch-conservatives have credibility with evangelical voters, a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/gop-field-chases-iowa-evangelicals-2016-republicans-120323">critical demographic in the Iowa Republican Party</a>. By appearing alongside the GOP front-runner, Santorum and Huckabee offered a tacit if inadvertent endorsement of the billionaire’s candidacy. That likely generated as much attention from Iowa conservatives as anything said at the GOP debate.</p>
<p>By any measure, therefore, Trump prevailed in his battle with Fox News.</p>
<h2>What will happen on Monday night?</h2>
<p>But will Trump’s attack on Fox News pay dividends for the New York billionaire during the Iowa caucuses on Monday? </p>
<p>Trump himself put it best on Thursday night when he said: “<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-28/trump-to-test-ratings-supremacy-with-rally-pitted-against-fox-news-republican-debate">Who the hell knows</a>?”</p>
<p>If the polls are any indication, Trump has reason for confidence. Although Cruz began the month with a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/293729658/CBS-News-December-2015-Battleground-Tracker-Iowa">big lead in Iowa</a>, Trump now <a href="http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32212254770/32212254991/32212254992/32212254994/32212254995/30064771087/249a3e52-aa2b-43c7-a1f5-96e07f94480a.pdf">leads the latest Iowa polls</a> by about <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/NBC%20News_WSJ_Marist%20Poll_Iowa%20Annotated%20Questionnaire_January%2028%202016.pdf">seven points</a>. </p>
<p>Ultimately, Cruz has far more on the line in Iowa than Trump does. Iowa is one of the most socially conservative states on the GOP nomination calendar. If a social conservative candidate like Cruz can’t win Iowa, what state can he win?</p>
<p>In contrast, Trump has broad support within the GOP. Even if he loses Iowa on Feb. 1, he appears likely to win <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/NBC%20News_WSJ_Marist%20Poll_New%20Hampshire%20Annotated%20Questionnaire_January%2028%202016.pdf">New Hampshire on Feb. 9</a> and <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/HUB_NBCPolitics_Front/NBC%20News_WSJ_Marist%20Poll_South%20Carolina%20Annotated%20Questionnaire_January%202016.pdf">South Carolina on February 20</a>. </p>
<p>In short, Trump has everything to gain in Iowa and comparatively little to lose. If he wins the Iowa caucuses, he will take a major step toward capturing the GOP nomination. And if he comes in second in Iowa, the polls suggest he will probably rebound one week later in New Hampshire. </p>
<p>The bottom line is Trump is not going away. With the GOP voting process finally getting started, the billionaire is a clear favorite to secure his party’s nomination. If even Fox News can’t stop Trump’s momentum, it’s unlikely his rivals can.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony J. Gaughan is a registered independent. </span></em></p>Donald Trump’s decision to sit out Thursday’s GOP debate helped brand him as “anti-establishment.” The fact that Santorum and Huckabee attended his event may help him with Iowa’s evangelicals.Anthony J. Gaughan, Associate Professor of Law, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/522412016-01-27T15:41:59Z2016-01-27T15:41:59ZDear Media: Here are some tips for covering Donald Trump and the GOP campaign<p>The GOP candidates debate again tomorrow night. </p>
<p>Donald Trump reportedly won’t join them. His campaign has confirmed to various news outlets that he intends to skip the debate after losing a showdown with Fox News <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/26/fox-news-head-ill-let-donald-trump-walk-before-replacing-megyn-kelly-as-debate-moderator/">over Megyn Kelly’s role</a> as moderator. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean he won’t be drawing media attention with what he says and how he says it. This time, let’s hope the media gets its coverage of Trump right.</p>
<p>By “get it right,” I mean more illumination of the candidate and his policies and less simple reflection of the heat he generates.</p>
<p>Journalists may find themselves challenged to find the light because of Trump’s politically aggressive approach and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/12/09/neutral-journalism-model-is-straining-under-pressure-from-donald-trump-tense-times/">inflammatory language</a>. He famously claimed Mexico sends <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/">rapists and criminals to the U.S.</a> He suggested <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/politics/donald-trump-muslim-ban-immigration/">Muslims</a> should <a href="https://theconversation.com/scholars-trumps-call-to-ban-muslims-is-un-american-52065">not be allowed</a> in the country, and that thousands of them <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/22/donald-trump/fact-checking-trumps-claim-thousands-new-jersey-ch/">cheered the attack on the World Trade Center</a> on 9/11. A Muslim woman was <a href="http://www.9news.com/story/news/2016/01/11/muslim-woman-talks-being-kicked-out-trump-rally/78653670/">recently ejected</a> from a Trump rally in South Carolina. </p>
<h2>Into the fray</h2>
<p>Trump targets journalists, too. His <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/26/here-are-the-megyn-kelly-questions-that-donald-trump-is-still-sore-about/">numerous disagreements</a> with Kelly started at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fox-news-debate-weak-on-race-sour-on-trump-45752">first GOP debate</a> back in August. He had <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/25/politics/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-iowa-rally/">Jorge Ramos of Univision thrown out</a> of a press conference, although he later let him back in. In a TV interview, he called New Hampshire Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid a “lowlife.” And he appeared to physically mock <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/new-york-times-slams-donald-trump-after-he-appears-mock-n470016">Serge Kovaleski</a> of The New York Times, who has a congenital joint disease.</p>
<p>Despite these attacks, it is critical in political campaigns that the public get information it can trust. How ethically journalists cover the news matters. As the Knight Chair of Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University who has taught ethics to professional journalists for a decade at the Poynter Institute, I see journalistic credibility as essential for a functioning democracy.</p>
<p>How can a journalist report the facts but also tell the truth? </p>
<p>What approach will enable the news media to convince its readers, listeners and viewers what matters is news – not views?</p>
<h2>A question of trust</h2>
<p>A good place to start is by critically examining the journalistic work being produced.</p>
<p>Trump’s caustic, often unproven, provocative statements and actions are prompting a number of those in the news media to reevaluate how to describe and label what he says. </p>
<p>Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith acknowledges that it is <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/shani/the-buzzfeed-editorial-standards-and-ethics-guide#.wb3YeKANm">a challenge to be fair</a> and not undermine his staff’s work, when it comes to covering Trump. Erik Wemple, the media critic at the Washington Post, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/12/09/neutral-journalism-model-is-straining-under-pressure-from-donald-trump-tense-times/">writes</a> that “neutral journalism” needs to be rethought when it comes to this candidate. </p>
<p>Smith’s and Wemple’s views challenge the “objective,” or even impartial, approach usually expected and followed by traditional journalists. For them, the journalistic tendency of just providing the facts may not be enough.</p>
<h2>Beyond stenography</h2>
<p>Defining a substantive news agenda is also important. </p>
<p>Plenty of news outlets will report on the horse race throughout the campaign to come. </p>
<p>What’s needed are more stories that provide a more thorough understanding of what would happen if Trump’s comments and policies became a reality. </p>
<p>The Washington Post did this harder kind of story when it looked at how Trump taps into the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/12/the-telling-way-white-americans-react-to-pictures-of-dark-skinned-immigrants/">antipathy some white Americans</a> have for immigrants. <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/could-trumps-muslim-ban-threaten-everyones-religious-freedom/">The National Catholic Register</a>, to choose another example, did a good job by examining what Trump’s ban on Muslims might have on the religious freedom of other religious groups.</p>
<h2>Look to history</h2>
<p>History provides some lessons on dealing with an accusatory candidate. </p>
<p>Salon writer Daniel Denvir penned an article headlined <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/12/08/why_donald_trump_is_the_second_coming_of_george_wallace/">“Donald Trump is the second coming of George Wallace.”</a> Wallace, like Trump, focused on those who feared for their safety, wrote Denvir.</p>
<p>In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy became famous, then infamous, for supposedly uncovering Communists in the U.S. government. In general, too many journalists failed to report on McCarthy with depth or scope. The press stuck <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0324/032402.html">to “narrow definitions of ‘objectivity’ (that) provided little of no background or analysis</a>, according to Edwin R. Bayley, who wrote <a href="http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0751.htm">a book</a> about McCarthy and the press.</p>
<p>Trump’s attacks matter, but they matter less than the news media’s need to decide what coverage is required, the accuracy of Trump’s messages and their impact. </p>
<p>By relying on journalistic codes and <a href="http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/1751/guiding-principles-for-the-journalist/">guiding principles</a>, journalists can position themselves to keep their focus off of themselves and centered on the implications and impact of Trump’s pronouncements. The key is to examine the why – and not just the what – of what Trump trumpets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aly Colón does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just ask Megyn Kelly of Fox News. Covering the Trump campaign is no picnic. But journalists have a duty to do more than write clickbait stories on the billionaire candidate.Aly Colón, Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics, Washington and Lee UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.