Content warning: this article contains discussions around sexual violence, including rape, that some readers may find distressing
A front page Daily Mail article about accused rapist Yung Filly completely glorified his achievements instead of focusing on his crimes of rape and sexual violence.
The headline, before clicking through to the main article, read:
Yung Filly’s rise from humble beginnings to social media stardom: How Colombian refugee went from living above chicken shop to rapper, and £1.5m YouTube icon
The start of the article briefly mentions the police arresting him on charges of sexual assault and rape. However, it doesn’t detail the charges or any of the circumstances leading up to the arrest, until the end of the article. Instead, the Daily Mail journalist tells a rags to riches story, detailing his achievements.
You would think he was being nominated for an award, not facing rape charges.
What charges against Yung Filly?
The charges Yung Filly – who’s full name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos – is facing are seemingly the most important detail of the article. However, the Daily Mail article doesn’t mention them until the end.
The charges include:
- Four counts of sexual penetration without consent.
- Three counts of assault.
- Impeding a person’s normal breathing or circulation by applying pressure to their neck.
Yet, despite these horrific charges the Daily Mail still chose to end the first paragraph with:
might be one of the most successful people you’ve never heard of.
Because who cares if they’re a rapist, as long as their successful?
Along with mentioning his net worth and all of the hurdles he has supposedly overcome, the article goes on to include direct quotes from Barrientos, which he provided to Amazon Prime in 2020.
This isn’t the first time
We have seen the same thing in the Daily Mail’s reporting of Huw Edwards – now convicted pedophile. The Daily Mail covered the story and made a point of talking about his spacious new flat which is ‘boasting a large bay fronted living room with a fireplace’. They also chose to focus on how much money he would make from the sale of his family home.
Similarly, the Daily Mail covered the rape accusations against Garth Brooks – an American country singer. The article centres his denial of the accusations and his side of the story. The headline reads:
Garth Brooks DENIES rape accusations after shock lawsuit by wife’s makeup artist.
Why are rich, influential men like Yung Filly’s voices and success made the centre of these stories?
A much bigger problem than just Yung Filly
Time and time again we see accusations, or even charges of sexual violence against influential men – like those against Yung Filly. This is closely followed by the media glorifying their achievements. As if their huge list of accolades makes them less capable of violence.
In the wake of the Gisele Pelicot trial, it is more important than ever that the media hold rich or otherwise influential men responsible for their actions. The main assailant in that case is Dominique Pelicot, a retired estate agent and before this trial – a well respected member of the community. Now, 50 other men are also standing trial for rape. One article in Le Monde states:
They are firefighters, journalists, students, truck drivers, prison guards, nurses, pensioners, municipal councillors, our friends, our lovers, our fathers, our brothers.
Quotes like this pinpoint a much bigger problem. Many people in our society don’t believe that the men they know – and love – are capable of sexual violence. Unfortunately, when 51 men in a town of around 6000 people are on trial for rape at the same time, it shows you that the people you love may well be capable of these crimes.
What about the victims?
A common misconception is that rapists are strangers, or monsters hiding in alleyways. The reality is much more stark. Shockingly, in five out of six rape cases the perpetrator is someone the victim knows personally.
On a similar note, people believe that celebrities and people they regularly see on their screens could not possibly commit sexual violence. Time and time again we have seen famous people accused, and then charged. Ultimately, these misconceptions lead to furthering victim-blaming narratives and victims being to afraid to come forward.
Because why would you come forward when the likelihood is that the man who attacked you will get a front page story listing his achievements, like Yung Filly has?
Research conducted in 2018 by Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, found that:
We found that people used positive information about the perpetrator in evaluating an uncertain rape case.
This understanding highlights the responsibility of rape case reporting, clearly indicating that offering additional, irrelevant, but positive information about the perpetrator can increase victim blaming and excusing the victim especially if the information meets people’s preexisting beliefs about rape.
This is not only relevant for the evaluation of individual cases, but also because media reports of rape affect public opinion and the normative context in which all rape cases are evaluated.
This goes to show the weight of responsibility on the media when it comes to reporting on sexual violence. In the UK five out of six rapes and other sexual offences go unreported. This is due to many reasons, one of which is extremely low prosecution rates. In the UK, only 1.3% of reported rapes result in a charge that same year.
A systemic problem
An estimated 798,000 women are raped or sexually assaulted every year in the UK – the equivalent to 1 in 30 women. In 98% of these crimes, the suspect is a male.
Imagine being a victim of any form of sexual or domestic violence. You open up the Daily Mail homepage and you see an influential man like Yung Filly, with his achievements glorified and very little written about his crimes.
Every time one of these stories is published with so little respect for the victims, countless women will be re-traumatised, even without reading the whole story.
What message is the Daily Mail sending to Yung Filly when they publish this story? That his achievements matter more than him raping someone? More importantly though, what message is the media sending to survivors when they publish any story that is similar to this one.
Headlines that gloss over horrific crimes make it seem like the case of a few bad apples – rather than male violence being a systemic problem. Ultimately, the way the the Daily Mail’s rape-apologist headline emphasises the success of a man charged with sexual violence is problematic for survivors, as well as for criminal proceedings.
Feature image via the Canary
