"කරදර කිරීමක්" ද? "ලිංගික අපයෝජනයක්" ද?

Abstract

In the month of July 2023, Sinhala newspapers Mawbima, Lankadeepa, Dinamina and Aruna published articles that trivialised sex crimes. On the 10th of July, Mawbima and Aruna reported the sexual abuse of novice monks at the hand of an older monk. Mawbima used the words 'karadara kara' to trivialise the crime, whereas Aruna addressed the seriousness of the crime by referring to it as 'apayojanaya'. On the 13th of July, Sinhala newspapers published headlines about the sexual abuse faced by a Turkish lady while travelling in a bus. The sex crime was trivialised by Lankadeepa, Mawbima and Dinamina. Only Aruna reported the incident ethically. On this same day, Mawbima published a headline which sought to sensationalise an individual who had sexually abused a female student, by referring to the abuser as a "ප්‍රේම යාචකයා" (prema yachakaya). On the 18th of July, Sinhala newspapers Aruna and Lankadeepa trivialised sexual abuse by using words such as "හදි කළැයි" (hadi kalei) and "වැඩ අල්ලන්න" (weda allanna). On the 19th of July, the Sinhala newspaper Lankadeepa published a headline which trivialised a sex crime committed against a young girl. On the 25th of July, Sinhala newspapers published articles with headlines that referred to sexual abuse as "දූෂණය" (dooshanaya) and "කෙලෙසීම" (keleseema). This kind of reporting trivialises sexual harassment faced by people. On the 28th of July, the Sinhala newspaper Dinamina published an article with a headline which trivialised an incident of sexual abuse.