Sexual Violence in Entertainment Media: A Content Analysis of 33 Streaming Feature Films Between 2000 and 2020

Sexual violence in entertainment media can have negative effects on viewers, including impacts on personal behaviors and beliefs. Thus, understanding what the public is being exposed to, via systematic review of the portrayal of sexual violence in featured films, is vital. Thirty-three feature films (the largest number to yet be explored in a quantitative, full movie, human coder content analysis for sexual violence in English-language, nonpornographic entertainment movies) released between 2000 and 2020 that contained the keywords "sexual violence" or "rape" on the IMDb movie search engine and were available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime were analyzed by three trained coders. The findings quantify key narrative elements including movie genre (the most common genre with sexual assault portrayals was horror), revenge themes (over 30% of the movies), victim deaths (33% of the victims died), and victim and perpetrator demographics (e.g., age, race, and gender). The overwhelming majority of victims were white females. Per existent research, these narrative elements could either perpetuate harmful stereotypes or contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of sexual violence, underscoring the need for responsible storytelling that considers the broader societal impact of such portrayals.