| PROBLEMATIC LANGUAGE | HERE’S WHY | ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION |
| Sexual Misconduct | This term is often used to describe workplace violence, and sanitizes the assault or violation of a person. | Reporting on workplace violence is strengthened by stating the specific act; i.e., “coercive behavior,” “groping,” “inappropriate sexual comments,” “forcible touching.” |
| Child Pornography | The production of professional pornography involves contractual consent to be filmed. Children legally cannot consent to sexual activity. | Instead, use: “child sexual abuse images” or “images depicting child sexual abuse” or “sexually abusive images of children.” |
| Child Prostitute |
Per AP, this should never be used, as legally children can never consent to sexual activity. | Instead, AP recommends 8
using the more accurate term, “survivors and victims of rape.” |
| Engaging in sexual contact | This general language sanitizes sexual assault and violence. | State the specific act, i.e., “forced penis into the victim’s mouth,” “forced hand onto the victim’s vagina/mouth/nipple,” etc. |
| Fondled or Groped |
This unspecific language sanitizes the assault.
“Fondle” specifically implies an interaction that was “loving or erotic in nature.” | Instead, we can use “forcibly touched” or “touched without consent,” and describe specific elements if they are necessary for the reader to understand the assault. |
| Revenge Porn | The production and distribution of professional pornography involves contractual consent. Even if the images were obtained willingly over the course of a relationship, the release of them afterwards without the participant’s consent is a violation. Using the term “porn” or “pornography” implies that the victim consented to their release. | “nonconsensual sexual images,” “image-based sexual abuse,” or “intimate photos released without consent” |
| Gang Rape | This language is often included to sensationalize an account of a sexual assault. | Describe the crime first, and then indicate more than one perpetrator by using: “assault with multiple perpetrators” or “assault with more than one perpetrator” |
| The woman alleges |
Although it’s common to use ‘alleged’ when reporting on crimes, in this context ‘allege’ has an inherently negative connotation. | We can circumvent needing to use this language by citing information from official reports10 – “police say the victim reported being raped in her dorm,” or “court documents state that the victim described…” |
| Had sex / intercourse with [him/her/a 16-year-old girl] | Using this language implies consent. It is especially problematic when this language is applied to minors, who legally cannot consent. Only two adults capable of agreeing to participation in sexual activity can engage in intercourse / sex. | We can use “forced penetration” or “forcibly penetrated”
in place of “had sex,” which reinforces that there is a difference between consensual sex and sexual assault. |
| Kissing a young man | The word “kiss” is inherently consensual and implies the victim willingly participated. “Kiss” also implies affection, which should never be used to describe sexual violence.
Also, the use of “young man” rather than “boy” or “child” appears to try and add more maturity to the victim. | We can reinforce that this interaction was an unwelcome violation/sexual assault by using: “The perpetrator forced/put/placed his mouth onto the mouth of the victim.” |
