“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 drink-spiking discourse, which constructs drink-spiking as individual behaviour rather than a culturally embedded issue. Such ideology perpetuates victim blaming and rape myths. We argue for critical and thoughtful reporting on AODFSV.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• sexual violence
• violence against women
• feminism
• media

“Drink spiking” is the popular term for “alcohol and other drug-facilitated sexual violence” (AODFSV), “drug-facilitated sexual assault” or similar terminology. AODFSV is the administration of alcohol and/or other drugs to someone without their knowledge or consent, with the intention to harm them (Parliament Of Victoria 1966). Not all instances of administering someone alcohol and other drugs involves sexual violence. Administering alcohol and/or other drugs can result in the victim’s inability to consent to sexual activity as they may be too inebriated or unconscious to consent proactively. Some commonly known drugs include gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), or other benzodiazepines. However, available evidence indicates that the most common substance used is likely alcohol (Laura Jane Anderson, Asher Flynn, and Jennifer Lucinda Pilgrim 2017). Administering alcohol can include adding additional alcohol to a victim’s drink (e.g., getting them a double shot) or encouraging an intoxicated person to continue drinking alcohol. Yet alcohol used in AODFSV garners little attention as popular narratives of drink spiking centre on the use of drugs other than alcohol (Finch Emily, and Vanessa E. Munro 2007).

Instead of the phrase “drink spiking,” we prefer AODFSV as it encompasses a wide range of perpetration tactics. However, much of the public discourse favours the term drink spiking. Therefore, throughout this paper, we use AODFSV when talking about this issue to shift the public usage away from drink spiking, yet we inevitably must use drink spiking, as it is the term used throughout the media reporting.

One in five women has experienced sexual violence in Australia since the age of 15 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017). However, these statistics do not paint the whole picture as someone may face intersecting inequality, such as racism or ableism, which can result in a higher likelihood of experiencing sexual violence (Natalie Townsend, Deborah Loxton, Nicholas Egan, Isabelle Barnes, Emma Byrnes, and Peta Forder 2022). While there is evidence of sexual violence, the recent Australian National Community Attitudes Survey showed that there is a widespread mistrust of women and a belief that women make false claims about sexual assault (Christine Coumarelos, Nicole Weeks, Shireen Bernstein, Natalie Roberts, Nikki Honey, Kate Minter, and Erin Carlisle 2023).

The widespread disbelief extends to limited understanding of perpetration. Most perpetrators are male and known to the victim, often an intimate partner or family member (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020). However, it is difficult to accurately determine the prevalence of sexual violence for various reasons, such as victims’ fears of not being believed, distrust of police, or stigma (Holly Johnson 2017; Lindsay M Orchowski., Lauren Grocott, Katie W. Bogen, Aderonke Ilegbusi, Ananda B. Amstadter, and Nicole R Nugent 2022). Further, sexual violence is often individualised and the onus of reporting falls to the victim rather than considering how sexual violence is culturally embedded, which is often referred to as “rape culture” (Nicole Johnson, and Dawn Johnson 2021).

In terms of AODFSV, there is also considerable underreporting (Pablo Prego-Meleiro, Gemma Montalvo, Óscar Quintela-Jorge, and Carmen Garcia-Ruiz 2020). When victims do report, they may face barriers from healthcare professionals, police and the criminal justice system (Kathleen Daly, and Brigitte Bouhours 2010; Johnson 2017) such as sexism, discrimination or not being believed. If a victim does receive a toxicology test, they can be unreliable, for example, some drugs can only be detected for a short period after administration (Francesco P Busardò., and Alan W. Jones 2015).

Most victims of AODFSV are women and the perpetrators are men (Anderson, Flynn, and Lucinda Pilgrim 2017). However, it is important to note that current research on AODFSV is limited and may not reflect AODFSV in, for example, LGBTQIA+ communities. There is also little research on the perpetrators, such as their socio-demographic data or their intentions. Therefore, it is difficult to understand exactly how and why perpetration occurs.

Critiques of media reporting on sexual violence

Feminist critiques since the 1970s (Jenny Kitzinger 2004) have demonstrated that media reporting can broadly affect people’s perceptions and attitudes towards violence against women (Kellie E Palazzolo, and Anthony J Roberto 2011; Georgina Sutherland, Patricia Easteal, Kate Holland, and Cathy Vaughan 2019). However, whilst feminist advocacy has influenced media representations of sexual violence (Kitzinger 2004), the uptake by the media has been slow (Sujata Moorti 2002). Reporting has changed since the increase of widely available media via the internet, including readers now having more ability to contribute to the conversation (Margaret Simons and Jenny Morgan 2018), and ability to speak about their experiences, particularly in light of #MeToo, which brought awareness of sexual violence to the public consciousness (Rachel Loney-Howes 2020).

Feminists have levelled a range of critiques against media reporting and how it perpetuates rape culture. For example, Kitzinger (2004) and Patricia Easteal, Kate Holland, and Keziah Judd (2014) argued that media reporting focuses on high-profile cases such as homicide or vicious sexual violence. Similarly, Lisa Cucklanz (1996) examined the reporting of these types of high-profile rape trials and argued that reporting utilises “rape myths” as a tool to negate rape that is not stereotypical “real rape.” Initially conceptualised by Martha M R Burt (1980), rape myths are those narratives of rape and sexual violence that perpetuate false narratives, for example, a predatory stranger in a dark alleyway raping an innocent woman. The perpetrator of most sexual violence is known to the victim, likely in their home or other familiar setting (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020). However, the persistence of “rape myths” obscures this reality, leading people to believe that rape can only happen under certain circumstances, such as being alone and outside at night and that women are to blame for their own victimisation (Rebecca A Dibennardo 2018).

Reporting has also tended to use sensationalised language that is “voyeuristic and misogynistic” (Eileen Berrington and Helen Jones 2002) in combination with these rape myths (Renae Franiuk, Jennifer L Seefelt, Sandy L Cepress, and Joseph A Vandello 2008). Alongside the use of rape myths, some of the issues raised in feminist media analysis include the media’s use of “events framed” (Kitzinger 2004) reporting, which reports on a single event rather than the issue at large. This type of reporting perpetuates victim-blaming through a focus on the victim’s behaviour rather than the perpetrator (Easteal, Holland, and Judd 2014) and individualises the issue. The media can also focus on issues such as the apparent risk for women being out in the night-time economy (Berrington and Jones 2002). All of these issues with reporting are heightened when a woman or women face other forms of inequality. For example, there has been significant critique of how the media rarely reports on violence against Indigenous women (Kylie Cripps 2021). When there is reporting, it tends to remove grievability from victims (Chelsea Hart, and Amanda Gilbertson 2018) and reinforces colonial and racist narratives which can both reinforce and create stereotypes and power imbalances (Jean M Allen, and Toni Bruce 2017).

Media discourse of drink spiking

There has been some analysis of the media reporting on drink spiking. For example, Berrington and Jones (2002) analysed media reporting of “drug-assisted rape” and argued that the media has created a moral panic around the issue. Sarah E H Moore, and Royal Holloway (2009) looked at the British media’s cultural construction of “drug-facilitated sexual assault” and argued that it becomes a “cautionary tale.” A cautionary tale:

Require[s] a threat that seems deserving of precautionary behaviour. It must recommend or reinforce certain behaviour and urge vigilance among potential victims (“watch your drink,” [“never accept a drink from a stranger”]). It might be outrageous and inventive in its detail but can also be a generic message of warning. It has an urgent, “pass-it-on” quality and also draws upon motifs and ideas that are culturally embedded.

(316)

One of the insidious aspects of this cautionary tale is that it places the blame on the victim—usually women—or at least attributes some responsibility to them.

Laura Sheard (2011) looked at how reports of AODFSV impacted women, arguing that “The media attention which the concept of ‘drink spiking’ has received is extensive and disproportionate to the extent of the problem in real terms” (622). Further, Sheard argues that the focus on drugs put in someone’s drink obscures the reality that alcohol is the most common substance used. Alexandra Neame (2003, 1) contends that the media had shifted from portraying drink spiking as an “epidemic” to an “urban myth” where women are simply making it up or being dramatic, “crying rape,” or “lying about consensual sex that they later regret.” Where the “epidemic of drink spiking” relied on the narrative of the ideal victim, the “urban myth” now could contribute to rape myths which assert that women lie about sexual violence.

The media analysis of “drink spiking” is limited to the early 2000s. Therefore, this research sought to investigate whether these reporting trends on so-called “drink spiking” have changed in the last ten years.

Methods

Feminist critical discourse analysis

This project uses a qualitative approach (Pranee Liamputtong 2020) and a feminist critical discourse analysis methodological framework. Critical discourse analysis broadly is a way of exploring and explaining how discourse perpetuates and maintains social inequalities (Dianna R Mullet 2018). Further, feminist critical discourse analysis explores how power, ideology and language are used to influence readers and analyses the implicit messages communicated to readers within news discourse. It explores how these power and ideology sources are maintained and sustained within hierarchical, gendered social structures (Michelle M Lazar 2007; Qin Xie 2018).

There are three reasons why feminist discourse analysis was chosen as the appropriate framework. The first is that feminist critical discourse analysis, with its focus on social justice, aims to challenge discourses that establish social norms (Lazar 2007). The second is that through investigating and challenging these discourses, feminist critical discourse analysis can have both subjective and practical impacts on those affected by the issue investigated (Lazar 2007). The third is that feminist critical discourse analysis enables an intersectional approach, where, using a “matrix mindset,” historical and ongoing oppression is acknowledged (Vivian M May 2015, 6), whilst looking towards the future to a “feminist political imagination” (Vicki Bell 1999, 27) that continually challenges the patriarchy.

Through examination and analysis of the Australian news media, common narratives, themes, and stereotypes can be identified and critically analysed. Critical analysis of these themes and narratives reveals the prominent discourses surrounding drink spiking in the news media. As the identification and analysis of discourse is interpretive, the claims made in this analysis may not be generalisable or transferable to other research.

Procedure

This analysis included a systematic five-step process.

Step 1: Using the database Factiva, we searched for the term “drink spik*,” and limited findings to Australian-only news sources. We used the terminology “drink spiking” because this is the popular terminology for AODFSV. The date range was 01/01/2012–03/03/2022. The search identified 796 articles (with 137 duplicates). Therefore, 659 articles were imported into Endnote.

Step 2: Author one assessed the 659 articles using simple inclusion criteria (drink spiking in title/body). There were 196 articles included, and 80 were deemed unsure. There were a further 80 duplicates, and the remaining were rejected based on exclusion criteria where articles were not relevant at all, articles that included children under the age of 16, articles that described methanol poisoning (not drink spiking), as well as articles which may have briefly mentioned drink spiking, but where this was not the focus of the article. A total of 383 articles were rejected.

Step 3: Author two cross-checked the 276 articles categorised as included and unsure, rejecting an additional 50 items and keeping 226. All articles are cited in Appendix 1.

Step 4: Authors one and two read each of the 226 articles and met to discuss the themes that emerged following feminist discourse analysis (Lazar 2007; Xie 2018). The authors then sorted these into three overarching themes: “how the media constructs the drink spiking narrative,” “how the media normalised the drink spiking discourse” and “how the media shapes the response from services.” Under each of these were sub themes which directly questioned how the articles shaped the discourse of drink spiking and how such discourse was used in the production of ideology. Author one uploaded the final articles into Nvivo (QSR International 2013).

Step 5: Author one deductively coded the articles to the three themes, and author two cross-checked a random selection of articles.

Findings

There were distinct overarching trends in the news reporting. First, most drink spiking victims were women. In 113 (50%) articles, the victim was female, and in 23 (10%) articles, there were multiple female victims. In contrast, seven (3%) articles reported on a male victim and four (1.8%) articles reported on multiple male victims. There were no articles on trans, gender diverse or non-binary people. Additionally, drink spiking was portrayed as a reprehensible crime across all articles, yet there was little focus on the perpetrator of the offense.

“Innocent night out with friends:” how the media constructs the drink spiking narrative

Across the articles, the media constructed a drink spiking narrative. We identified four themes to highlight this construction: the “cautionary tale narrative,” followed by articles that provided warnings about drink spiking and described safety tips, articles that described potential solutions to drink spiking, and articles that claimed drink spiking is a myth.

The cautionary tale narrative

Notably, out of the 226 articles analysed, 55 (24%) followed the same narrative structure: a young woman and her friends go out to a bar or nightclub, where the article describes them as having an “innocent night out with friends” (“Watch that drink, spikers are about” 2012), or “drinking with friends” (Melissa Davey 2012). Next, the article details a gruesome depiction of how she was physically affected after the drink spiking. Many victims interviewed in the articles spoke about a range of physical experiences, describing that “things became a bit fuzzy” (“It felt like a regular night out” 2017), to having “no control over my body” (Katrina Condie 2013), to being “completely frozen.”

Many of the descriptions in the articles were accompanied by the victim describing the fear they experienced, describing how it was “terrifying” (Melissa Koob and Simone Fox 2021) and “the scariest night of [their] whole life” (Condie 2013). These descriptions create a discourse of a weak victim which is likely to elicit an emotional response from the reader.

The article’s next section usually included perspectives from others close to the victim. They invoked the idea of the victim as “lucky” when they had good friends to take them home or a mother to look after them the following day. Many articles highlighted how some women were “thankful I wasn’t alone that night and that [my friends] were looking out for everyone” (Sarah Lawrence and James Findlay 2021), and another article described how “her friend followed and refused to leave her side, phoning her father” (“Drink spiking a bitter pill to swallow” 2013). Many articles also focused on the parent’s—particularly mothers’—perspective, with many mothers, expressing their distress at the “horror drink spiking experience” (Ally Foster 2019), how they were “worried sick” (Clare Quirk 2014b), and “it was the most heart-breaking thing to witness as a mum.” (Kristen Camp 2021). Following the drink spiking event was a quote from the victim where she “[Doesn’t] even want to go out anymore” (Catherine Botman 2012a) and “won’t be going out for a long time” (Xavier Mardling 2020).

Typically, the article ended with an authority figure, such as the police, who issued a warning to the reader with tips on how to stay safe on a night out; for example, many articles warned to “not take drinks from strangers” (Jack Paynter 2018c), “don’t put [your drink] down anywhere you can’t see it” (Warburton 2015), and “purchase or pour your drinks yourself” (Nicole Lee and Jarryd Bartle 2021).

Reflecting on Moore and Holloway (2009), we can see that the media constructs drink spiking as a “cautionary tale.” There is a threat (drink spiking) which is deserving of precautionary behaviour. There is often a very dramatized framing of the issue paired with the urgency to pass the message on to the reader. The drink spiking cautionary tale narrative creates the discourse that women should be scared to go out to licensed venues and implies that women are vulnerable to strange men if they do spend time outside in the night-time economy and therefore take precautionary measures to keep themselves safe. The reinforcement that women should use precautionary behaviour is similar to broader rape myths. However, an important difference in relation to drink spiking, as seen across the articles, is that the media reporting reinforces rape myth discourses and further creates fear because it seems as though there are many strangers waiting to place drugs in the drinks of innocent women. Such discourse solidifies the ideology of women as weak and vulnerable while refusing to place blame on the perpetrator. Such ideology can have a broader cultural impact that individualises the issue of sexual violence and drink spiking rather than considering how it is culturally embedded within rape culture.

The warning narrative

Three outlying article types did not fall under the cautionary tale narrative structure. Firstly, those which served as a warning to readers. Approximately 44 articles (19%) issued warnings to readers.

These articles typically included a list of suggestions on how to prevent drink spiking, accompanied by warnings urging women to be careful when going out and to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings accompanied by safety tips. For example, many articles describe how “pub patrons should be careful with their drinks” (Ashley Bolt 2018), “vigilant about their personal safety” (Davey 2012) and “police warn women to be wary of drink spiking” (“Street Watch” 2012). Following these warnings is often a list of symptoms associated with drink spiking, such as “feeling dizzy or faint” (Natalie Brown 2021), “disorientation” (Megan Mackander 2014), and that “you can die in your sleep” (Matthew Raggatt 2016).

The media discourse on drink spiking perpetuates the general rape myth that women should look after themselves. Additionally, the media discourse that offers warnings and safety tips on how to prevent drink spiking insinuates that one’s negligent behaviour is to blame for any drink spiking that occurs (Jericho M Hockett., Sara J Smith, Cathleen D Klausing, and Donald A Saucier 2016) and emphasises the individual responsibility of staying vigilant rather than identifying drink spiking as a social or cultural problem (Sarah E H Moore, 2011). Whilst listing simple, tangible actions that an individual can undertake to prevent drink spiking from happening may contribute to spreading awareness, it can have the effect of focusing on the victims’ actions rather than tackling the complex societal and cultural structures that influence perpetrators’ drink spiking behaviours. Therefore, even when a perpetrator targets women and the woman does not have capacity to consent, society still blames them for the drink spiking.

The “ingenious invention” narrative

The second type of outlying article describes “ingenious” inventions that the articles tout as having the potential to change the drink spiking landscape (David Crossland 2019). These types of articles highlight the usefulness of inventions such as wristbands (Crossland 2019), nail polish (Jamie First 2014) and straws that change colour in the presence of drugs (Emily Baker 2018), or a plastic cover specifically designed to fit over a cup (Lauren Henry 2012). To date, there has been no published evaluations of these inventions. However, looking at the trend in the articles, the onus is on women to stay safe and further than that, they are expected to do labour to remain safe (Bianca Fileborn 2016; Arlie Russell Hochschild 2012). Also, the emphasis on feminised inventions such as nail polish and wristbands perpetuate the idea that women need to adhere to certain beauty ideals and reinforces blaming women if they do not have the correct colour-changing tool with them.

Dismissal of drink spiking and “false reports”

The third type of outlying article talks about women making “false” claims of drink spiking. While some articles reinforced the drink spiking narrative, some focused on whether drink spiking was an urban myth. For example, they talked about how women said “little white Russian lie[s],” or said “nothing but lies” about having their drink spiked and therefore they are taking up “so much time and so many resources wasted” (Amanda Blair 2014). One article suggested that women claim their drinks are spiked in order to cover up an affair (“Let’s wake up to the spiking myth” 2012). Additionally, several articles highlighted comments from venue owners who claimed that their patrons were “not particularly attractive” and that they were not “worth” being drink spiked (Nick Butterly 2019). Although these narratives were small in number, they also used the most attention-grabbing language, aiming to shock the reader and elicit outrage. For example, one article had the headline “I’ll be the door bitch at our crowded hospitals” (Blair 2014), and another headline, “Club owner on all-out attack over spiking” (Ben Graham 2019). The portrayal of drink spiking as a “myth” or “falsehood” (“Let’s wake up to the spiking myth” 2012) not only invalidates the experiences of those who have had their drinks spiked but, prevents drink spiking from being seen as a possible form of sexual violence. Such dismissal of women could be one explanation for why there is a lack of reporting to police (as is with all experiences of sexual violence). Further, the articles demonstrate that if women are believed about a drink spiking occurrence, they are likely to be blamed for their “inability to moderate their behaviour” (Blair 2014).

“A well-known date-rape drug:” how the media normalises the drink spiking discourse

Across the content of the articles, the media normalised the narrative of drink spiking. There was a focus on substances that perpetrators used, settings within the night-time economy, the construction of the perpetrator and the depictions of the sexual violence.

The substances featured

A total of 53 articles (23%) identified substances that were likely used to spike a victims’ drink. The most common substance reported was GHB, described as “a well-known date-rape drug” (Koob and Fox 2021), with 19 articles (8%) referring to GHB as the substance used to spike drinks—one article (Phil Hickey 2012) focused entirely on GHB as a date rape drug. Rohypnol was the second-most reported substance, with 17 articles (7.5%) reporting on Rohypnol and other benzodiazepines, and 16 articles (7%) reported alcohol as the substance used to spike drinks. Most articles only speculated that the perpetrator used GHB, Rohypnol or benzodiazepines. However, 11 of these articles (4.8%) highlighted that these drugs had appeared in toxicological reports.

The disproportionate reporting on GHB and other drugs contrasts with research showing that alcohol is likely the most common substance in AODFSV (Laura Jane Anderson Asher Flynn, Olaf Drummer, Dimitri Gerostamoulos, and Jennifer Lucinda Schumann 2019; Anderson, Flynn, and Lucinda Pilgrim 2017). This is perhaps to be expected, as the popular understanding of drink spiking is the administration of drugs to a victim. However, it is clear that the media also perpetuates the drink spiking narrative of illicit drugs used by a stranger in a licensed venue, thus contributing to the discourse that women are unsafe in public and should take precautionary behaviour.

The settings featured

111 articles (49%) reported that drink spiking occurred in licensed premises; 32 incidents occurred at a bar, 31 at a nightclub, 17 at a pub, 25 at a hotel, and six at other licensed venues such as casinos and festivals. Outside of public venues, 14 (6%) took place in the home, and just three (1.3%) cases reportedly occurred at a house party.

A study conducted by Anderson et al. (2019) on understanding the risk factors associated with “drug-facilitated sexual assault” examined the toxicological profile of 204 drug-facilitated sexual assault cases. They found that nearly half (48%) of drug-facilitated sexual assaults had occurred in private residences, 13% occurred in outdoor locations such as car parks or parks, 7% occurred in a hotel or motel, and 5% occurred in public venues. In addition, a report from the Australian Institute of Criminology (2022) found that 10% of women experienced drink spiking or AODFSV after meeting with someone from a dating app or website. There were no articles which looked at AODFSV facilitated by dating apps.

These statistics highlight the disparity between media stories and the reality captured in research. Drink spiking at public venues is reported more frequently than drink spiking in the home, inflating the public’s perception of drinking spiking as something that occurs in the night-time economy (particularly in bars and nightclubs). Such discourse on drink spiking is integral to the cultural narrative of drink spiking as a cautionary tale—if a woman chooses to go outside, she must take all appropriate precautions to protect herself.

The construction of the perpetrator

Very few articles discussed the perpetrator of drink spiking, and the articles tended to frame him within the cautionary tale narrative when they did. The perpetrator is usually a stranger in the articles, described as “mystery men” (Alice Fuller 2021). One article described how a woman was “paralysed and powerless” when she was gang raped by “five unknown men” (Andrea Hamblin 2016). In reality, as discussed, most AODFSV is perpetrated by men known to the victim (Anderson et al. 2019). In the broader discussions on sexual violence there has been increased attention to perpetration by a known person. We do not here discount the important stories shared by victims of unknown perpetrators, rather we point out that the media constructs a discourse across the articles that cements the perpetrator as unknown when it is a drink spiking incident.

Alongside the mystery perpetrator, the actions of the perpetrator are described as an evil act; it was “malicious” (Horn 2020), “repulsive to any sane person” (Greg Ray 2013) and “sinister” (Brown 2021). This representation of the evil perpetrator is similar to rape myths where perpetrators are usually framed as a “bad apple” (Dibennardo 2018). However, the difference here to rape myths broadly, is the focus on the act of drink spiking as a particular type of sinister action without necessarily highlighting the sexual violence.

Though, there are examples where more detail is given about the perpetrator. This included when the perpetrator was not Caucasian in which articles pointed out the ethnicity of the perpetrator. For example, “African man used a fake online profile of a Caucasian man on dating sites” (Kay Dibben and Thomas Chamberlin 2020). In Australia, the focus on perpetrators who are not Caucasian has a long history, particularly in media reporting on rape. Historically, such narratives served to entrench racist constructions of men of colour and reinforce the innocence of white women, generally in the service of reinforcing hierarchies of inequality in the context of colonisation (Barbara Baird 2009). Such histories are drawn on and perpetuated in modern reporting and there are often stories of violent men from the continent of Africa in the media (Kiran Kaur Grewal 2017). The ethnicity of Caucasian men is rarely mentioned. The construction of the perpetrator serves to reinforce certain messages: perpetrators are evil, they are single “bad apples” and if they are not Caucasian, they are framed within racist narratives. To create this perpetrator, there is also a focus on certain types of victims who fall within set narratives.

The construction of the ideal victim

Within the media reporting on drink spiking there was a clear creation of the ideal victim and in contrast, the non-ideal victim. “Ideal victim” was a term coined by Nils Christie (1986) that refers to the construct of the victim within a narrow set of parameters. In Christie’s framing, it is typically: a female victim, depicted as innocent and blameless, and the offender characterised as evil, sadistic, individual and male. Building on Christie’s work, we also add that the ideal victim is attractive, white, heterosexual, cisgender and able-bodied. As Moore (2011, 453) highlights, “there is a complex discriminatory politics at work in the media depiction of rape victims, of which gender is merely one aspect.”

The ideal victim within the media reporting on drink spiking focused on those who were not sexually assaulted. Rather, as described in the cautionary tale, they tended to be framed as innocent and also saved from further harm by friends or family. In contrast, the articles created a non-ideal victim who was often blamed for her actions. This is similar to victim-blaming broadly, where women are expected to keep themselves safe rather than any blame placed on the perpetrators’ actions. However, in terms of AODFSV, across the articles, it is apparent that there is a heightened focus on the victim’s actions particularly if the perpetrator is also intoxicated (Pilar Tarancón Gómez Nuria Romo-Avilés, and Laura Pavón-Benítez 2022; April L Girard and Charlene Y. Senn 2008) and where sexual assault occurred.

The depictions of sexual violence

39 articles (17%) described some form of sexual violence; 20 (8.8%) involved rape, five (2.2%) involved attempted rape, five (2.2%) involved gang rape, ten (4.4%) articles mentioned sexual violence but were unclear on what type of sexual violence was involved, seven (3.1%) involved a form of technology-facilitated abuse (such as taking photos of a person’s unconscious body and posting them online), and two (0.9%) involved the murder of female victims. When articles reported rape or sexual assault, they tended to not follow the typical cautionary tale format. Overall, only two articles included sexual assault in the cautionary tale narrative.

Instead, most of the articles reporting on sexual assault were presented within the context of the criminal justice system, as court proceedings or a court report where a man had been charged for his crime or found guilty. When describing the sexual assault, they tended to be very clinical with limited details. However, some articles did give detail on the sexual assault. There was a clear distinction between when a sexual assault was described clinically compared to when it was described in detail. The sexual assaults sparsely and clinically described tended to happen when the victim falls into the category of the ideal victim.

Alternatively, those who fall into the non-ideal victim were given limited sympathy as both a victim of their drink spiked and sexual assault. This was particularly heightened when a victim’s identity did not fall into the ideal victim category: that is, if she was not white, heterosexual, cisgender and so on. For example, one article reported on the sexual assault of a sex worker and used vivid descriptions of the sexual assault (Lea Emery 2020). Women engaged in the sex industry have often been depicted as a non-ideal victim because of their profession or because of their supposed “rapeability” (Zahra Stardust, Carla Treloar, Elena Cama, and Jules Kim 2021). Such depictions again insinuate not only who an ideal victim is—in this case, a woman who is not a sex worker—but also reinforce that it is women’s behaviour which leads to their sexual assault, rather than the action of perpetrators.

The construction of the non-ideal victim also was apparent in relation to articles which focused on Indigenous Australian women. For example, one article described the drugging, rape and murder of “young Aboriginal women from The Mission” in Bowraville, NSW (Dan Box 2016). Missions were places where Indigenous people were forcibly displaced, and their legacy continues today. As discussed, such reference to this history and ongoing abuse tries to draw the reader to dehumanise the woman and reinforce that she is not worthy of victimhood.

The focus on a particular type of non-ideal victim, done so through the gruesome description of the sexual violence she endured or dehumanising language, perpetuates the idea that being sexually assaulted after having one’s drink spiked is not part of the reality of all women, but rather, a select few who are deemed by society as deserving it. What stands out in contrast to general rape myths, is that the media discourse on AODFSV blames the woman for being raped because she allowed herself to have her drink spiked. Thus, in AODFSV discourse, those women who are not attributed ideal victimhood are seen as to blame for the ingestion of alcohol or other drugs and sexual violence.

“Shamed and intimidated:” how the media shapes the responses from services

Across the articles, the media shaped how services respond to drink spiking. In particular, when describing the aftermath of the drink spiking event, articles included what happened when victims sought help from the police and emergency departments. Many victims had a negative experience and felt dismissed. However, articles still reinforced that those victims, particularly women, were lying (Hockett et al. 2016).

Police responses

We know that most victims of sexual violence do not report, and this likely extends to AODFSV (Jennifer Truman, Lynn Langton, and Michael Planty 2013). In the articles, victims were reluctant to report to police. In contrast, the police urged people to “report it to police so that they can investigate further” (Warburton 2015). When discussing the legal consequences of spiking someone’s drink, articles regularly mentioned that shame, embarrassment, or stigma were the reasons for women’s lack of reporting (Tabitha Dempsey 2015; Julie Cross 2021a; Jane Hansen 2018). For example, one woman reported that she did not intend to tell anyone about her experience with drink spiking as she was “so ashamed” (Hamblin 2016), and another mentioned that it was “quite embarrassing” when she kept falling down the stairs of a bar and “all these people were laughing” (“Woman thinks drink spiked” 2012). Even though shame and embarrassment are considered important reasons for not reporting drink spiking to the police, the articles fail to consider that many victims may be reluctant to acknowledge or recognise that a crime has occurred (common in all forms of sexual violence) (Anderson et al. 2019).

Another element of reporting to the police was the way that blame was placed on victims if they did not report. For example, articles talked about how victims should report so “that proper investigations can be carried out” (“Drink spiking is just not on” 2018). Urging victims to come forward was echoed repeatedly and often paired with such claims that “By not reporting it, victims are allowing these guys to go unpunished and be free to go off and do it again to someone else” (I woke surrounded by naked men” 2016). While in general, the onus is often put back on the victims of sexual assault who are expected to undertake gendered labour to stay safe, in the case of drink spiking, across the articles there appears to be a heightened urgency with which victim-survivors should take on the responsibility of prevention.

Despite this focus on reporting, it is also clear across the articles that reporting was not always straight forward. Six articles described when victims did report to the police and had negative experiences. For example, when victims came forward, they may have received “no response at all” to calls and emails (Bruce MacKenzie 2018). There were also examples of when women did manage to speak with the police, being discouraged from making a report because of a lack of evidence (“Anger as police drop drink-spiking probe” 2018) or that victims were causing “trouble” for police and that it would cost “$800 for a blood test to check for drugs in her system” (Harrington 2015). Some articles reported that the police minimised and belittled victims’ experiences and made victims feel as though they were wasting the police’s time because they were “too busy”, amongst other examples (Cross 2021a; Harrington 2015; MacKenzie 2018; Ashleigh Tullis 2021; Leanne Wong and Josie Taylor 2021).

Also, in the articles the police often urged women to “get medical assistance” (Pilat 2021a) and a toxicology test from the hospital for evidence before making a report (Clare Quirk 2013). However, as outlined below, there are examples of hospitals refusing to test victims or not have the resources to test all suspected cases. This could indicate that there is a gap in how the police force and the health system coordinate matters of sexual violence—particularly in relation to drink spiking cases.

Encounters between victims and police described in the articles highlight institutional barriers that victims may come across when trying to obtain a toxicology report, or report to police. Police are portrayed as too busy and too hassled to be addressing an issue that is perceived as an individual’s problem, and not one that deserves the attention of police. It is clear also in the emergency department response that there is a lack of accountability between the health system and police for drink spiking cases.

Emergency department responses

Several articles highlighted women’s experiences in the hospital emergency departments where they presented for care and to get a toxicology report. For example, in one article, the woman reported being “shamed and intimidated” by hospital staff, who minimised her concerns by saying it was “usually a case of too much alcohol” and that she should get McDonald’s on the way home (Cross 2021a). It is clear from the accounts of victims that experiencing minimisation and dismissal of the drink spiking incident as simply women being irresponsible, diminishes both the fact that their drink was spiked which is itself a violation and it also has the potential to disregard victims of sexual violence.

There were seven articles that described hospitals refusing to do drug tests, with one hospital telling a woman that “if you test positive for something, that could go on your permanent record” (Wong and Taylor 2021) and there were examples of hospitals sending women home without having done any blood or urine tests (“It’s a tough job being a modern parent. And it’s hard” 2014; Quirk 2014b). However, the media does fail to note that many hospitals simply do not have the means to test everyone who comes in with the suspicion of a spiked drink.

There were also reports of drink spiking viewed by hospital staff as something that women “make up” and not as a serious situation that can cause long-lasting harm to victims (Hockett et al. 2016; Koob 2021).

Conclusion

Feminist Discourse Analysis of 226 Australian newspaper articles reveals that several narratives implicitly caution women against the dangers of venturing into the night-time economy. Victim-blaming and sensationalist descriptions of the effects of drink spiking point to a need for increased media responsibility that positions drink spiking as a serious public health issue.

Overall, across the articles, the focus on the victim’s actions individualises what is a systemic issue. Rather than focusing on drink spiking as a public health issue, or more specifically, an issue of sexual violence, the articles focus on the individual consequences of drink spiking for the victim. There is limited responsibility placed on perpetrators or the authorities to respond or indeed take the issue seriously. This lack of accountability maintains the idea that drink spiking is not an issue of gendered violence, but an issue around an individual’s ability to look after themselves. The media could play an important role at addressing what is a systemic issue.

Critical reporting is essential as the media influences social and cultural change. The media could play an important role in addressing rape myths (Coumarelos et al. 2023). Specifically, critical reporting could decrease victim-blaming, prevent the perpetuation of racist stereotypes, dispel the myths surrounding drink spiking and potentially influence public policy on the issue (Watch Our 2019). Journalists should follow national reporting guidelines on how to report on issues of sexual violence, such as those promoted by the primary prevention organisation Our (2019). This approach would require high-quality and critical investigative reporting and a shift away from focusing on individual responsibility and how women should modify their behaviour to avoid AODFSV. However, the media is limited by the lack of research on the drivers of AODFSV perpetration, and we signal this as an important area of research.

In addition, there is some indication from the accounts of victims in the media that there is a disconnect between service systems. We signal this as an area of future research which looks at improving the national coordination of emergencies where both hospitals and police are involved.

Changing these AODFSV myths is essential. The media is not solely to blame for the construction of the drink spiking victim who is to blame for her actions. Change would need to come from across society. Therefore, an increased focus on primary prevention of sexual violence is critical to improving health and wellbeing and should start at the very root of the complex social factors that drive men’s perpetration of sexual violence (Leesa Hooker et al. 2021). In addition, we advocate for the use of the term AODFSV instead of the term “drink spiking” to shift the discourse away from current AODFSV myths to highlight the reality that alcohol is more commonly used and that AODFSV is more likely to be perpetrated by someone known to the victim.

This feminist critical discourse analysis highlights the poor portrayal of AODFSV in the Australian news media through the reinforcement of rape myths, victim-blaming, and sensationalist language. Ultimately, poor reporting of AODFSV and the media’s use of the cautionary tale narrative has a multitude of adverse consequences for the safety and wellbeing of women across Australia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Inge Clinnick

Inge Clinnick is a researcher at the Judith Lumley Centre and is currently studying a Master’s of Sexology at Curtin University.

Jessica Ison

Jessica Ison, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Judith Lumley Centre at La Trobe University and the co-lead of the Preventing and Reducing Gender-based Violence Research Team. Her research investigates alcohol and other drug-facilitated sexual violence, the primary prevention of sexual violence, women’s safety on campus and LGBTQ+ experiences of sexual violence.

Leesa Hooker

Leesa Hooker is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Industry Engagement at La Trobe Rural Health School. She is a Principal Research Fellow at the Judith Lumley Centre, the lead of the Preventing and Reducing Gender-based Violence Research Team and a rural nurse/midwife. She has established expertise in the epidemiology of family violence, women’s mental health, sexual and reproductive health and parenting.

Appendix

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