{"id":102641,"date":"2023-04-11T11:22:16","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T16:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=102641"},"modified":"2023-05-11T11:14:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T16:14:34","slug":"crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Crying, dying, marching\u2019: How media inaccurately represents queer South Africans, and what can be done to combat this"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Jordyn Bradley<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Medill Reports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roch\u00e9 Kester has a daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, drink her coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, do it all again the next day. It\u2019s nothing unique or special, but it\u2019s what she does.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a queer South African, Kester said she wishes stories in the media portrayed her community doing mundane, everyday tasks like these. But they usually don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked how queer South Africans are portrayed in the media, Kester, the director of LGBTI at the Office of Gauteng Premier, rolled her eyes and said, \u201cCrying, dying or marching for pride.\u201d In her eyes, South African media only show stories of queer people being beaten and killed, or plastered in rainbows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A common saying in the journalism industry is, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">if it bleeds, it leads<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The implication of that statement is that sensationalized, dramatized stories are what make headlines and what sell.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere is some recognition and some reporting (on queer life), but the reporting is often poorly informed, isn\u2019t frequent and does not actually build understanding of the community at all,\u201d South African journalist Mark Heywood said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s important to learn about the highs and lows communities face so society is accurately informed, Kester says. But, she says, it is equally important to show ways to help combat these polarized extremes, which can make those missing mundane stories of routine, love and triumph appear on more newsstands than stories of stereotypes, bloodshed and exploitation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>The tagline: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crying<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The data: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Globally, LGBTQ+ people are victims of stereotypes and stigma and have been for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rictornorton.co.uk\/homopho1.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">centuries<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Media helps to further the narrative by producing content about queer folks that is inaccurate. Deadnaming or misgendering transgender or gender-nonconforming people, hyper-sexualizing queer people or dehumanizing them in front of an audience outside their community to where \u201cthey won\u2019t see the human beings,\u201d Kester said, are ways LGBTQ+ South Africans are represented that lead to them often distrusting the media and feeling divided from other parts of society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe media across the board fails to combat stereotypes and I think that includes The Daily Maverick, which I am part of,\u201d Heywood said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat happens often is stories are written by people within the community rather than ensuring journalists outside the community are sensitized to the issues,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HIV in South Africa is considered the biggest HIV epidemic in the world. In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beintheknow.org\/understanding-hiv-epidemic\/data\/glance-hiv-south-africa\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2021<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 7.5 million people were living with HIV in South Africa. Similar to other parts of the world, media makes it out to be a \u201cgay virus.\u201d Because of this, the stigma surrounding HIV deters people from being tested for HIV or other STIs, furthering the spread. Paul Botha, site manager of Engage Men\u2019s Health, said he believes those who haven\u2019t come out yet are the most vulnerable to the virus, as they are less likely to seek treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a gay man or a transgender woman takes off work for a doctor\u2019s appointment, oftentimes, it is assumed by their coworkers they have HIV. There are also stereotypes surrounding HIV-positive individuals: \u201cgay, Black, unemployed men over 35,\u201d Botha said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South African queer individuals and gender-nonconforming straight individuals are also less likely to be employed than gender-conforming straight individuals, and gender-nonconforming queer folks were the least likely to be employed, according to data from a 2021 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketlinks.org\/resources\/economic-cost-lgbt-stigma-and-discrimination-south-africa\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The same study shows the average monthly earnings for queer men and gender-nonconforming straight men were approximately 30% lower than that of gender-conforming straight men.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, many queer people rely on jobs doing sex work to make a livable wage, and since sex work is currently criminalized in South Africa, biases and stereotypes about sex workers run rampant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How to combat this:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glaad.org\/about\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GLAAD<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has a media reference guide created to educate and guide journalists to tell LGBTQ+ stories holistically and accurately.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taking time to verify a person\u2019s name, pronouns and how they identify is a common courtesy when talking to someone, so the same sensitivity and integrity should go into media coverage talking about someone. It\u2019s also important to notice stereotypes when consuming media and not take them as truth, as even the smallest stereotypes add up and inaccurately represent a community. Check in on the queer people around you when you see or hear something offensive. If you see queer people inaccurately represented by media, contact <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glaad.org\/resources\/ally\/2?gclid=CjwKCAiAmJGgBhAZEiwA1JZolsktVN7yNE5FBXyJBC7PHwsZQn8H-F_l16HBN2N7_OOEn4gnEVrc5RoCivUQAvD_BwE\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">glaad.org.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>The tagline: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dying<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The data:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Maybe the phrase \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/27_Club\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">27 club<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d rings a bell? This morbid so-called club is full of musicians, artists and actors who died at 27 years old. With Black trans women, the \u201c35 club\u201d is the club to avoid. Among the community, a common belief is the life expectancy of a trans Black woman is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/19thnews.org\/2022\/08\/black-trans-women-life-expectancy-false\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">35<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as many don\u2019t make it past that marker. Zsa-Zsa Fisher is aware that, despite everything she\u2019s dealt with in her life, she is lucky.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m 42 years old and very proud of it, because the lifespan of a transgender woman in South Africa is (thought to be) 35, so to live beyond that as a transgender woman is quite important and significant,\u201d Fisher said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of Fisher\u2019s friends, also a transgender woman, was tied to her bed frame and set on fire. In media stories, she was inaccurately referred to as a gay man, and outlets failed to call the act of violence what it was: a hate crime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, when lesbians are murdered in South Africa, the media and government often call the murders \u201cgender-based violence\u201d rather than hate crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Section 9 of the South African Constitution \u2014 which is under the heading \u201cEquality\u201d and is meant to guarantee equality before the law and freedom from discrimination \u2014 is rarely enforced. When hate-based crimes occur against queer people, the government often treats the incidents as coincidental.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While there is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov.za\/legislation\/hcbill\/B9-2018-HateCrimesBill.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the victims bear the burden of trying to prove a crime was based in hate not only to the media, but also the government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have to, as an organization, explain that if someone is going to murder a lesbian and brutally insert things into their body parts, that is hate in itself,\u201d said Gugu Mandla, documentations officer at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.astraeafoundation.org\/stories\/iranti-org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Iranti<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Johannesburg-based media advocacy organization that specializes in helping \u200b\u200blesbian, trans, intersex and gender-nonconforming (LTIGNC) individuals use media as a platform to mobilize and shift dialogue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c(We are) going to government officials and the police and saying we are seeing this as a hate crime because of how this murder occurred, and these are the things that we\u2019re constantly having to engage with officials about,\u201d Mandla said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How to combat this: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Iranti works with government officials to train them how to work on queer issues and informs them how to better support queer South Africans. But, Iranti workers say they cannot do it alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As GLAAD mentions in its media reference guide, speak out against media outlets who allow hate speech to be spread as \u201cfree speech.\u201d Write to government officials about hate crimes and acts of violence. Participate in rallies or marches. Report small incidents before they become large. Check up on queer friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would like to see the reporting improved in the same way I\u2019d like to see reporting improved on all social justice issues: less time spent on politicians and the business of government, which is often to the detriment of reportage on people who live in South Africa and their lives and issues,\u201d Heywood said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPeople are frequently the initiators of change in policy and society, and politicians are only at the end of that spectrum,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>The tagline:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Marching<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The data: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the U.S., rainbows are plastered on flags, pins, stickers, apparel, foods, beverages and even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/article\/ridiculous-pride-products\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">toiletry items<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during Pride Month. The same is true in South Africa, as media tends to hype up queer representation in October. That\u2019s when the first Pride march was held in Africa in 1990, and the month South Africans celebrate Pride.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joburg Pride, the first Pride event, was described as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=hVPcAAAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PR7&amp;lpg=PR7&amp;dq=Pride+or+protest?:+Drag+queens,+comrades,+and+the+Lesbian+and+Gay+Pride+March.&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=wwyoc2Mwem&amp;sig=ACfU3U1YOiohX2e-eVd7rG6mjubnuauuFw&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjivqKimdf9AhWTFjQIHfjCC5MQ6AF6BAg0EAM#v=onepage&amp;q=Pride%20or%20protest%3F%3A%20Drag%20queens%2C%20comrades%2C%20and%20the%20Lesbian%20and%20Gay%20Pride%20March.&amp;f=false\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201csimultaneously angry and carnivalesque,\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the focus was not only on the rainbow memorabilia, but also \u2013 or more clearly \u2013 the push for change. People marched to \u201cdemand our rights as full, proud, productive participants in a fully equal society,\u201d said Edwin Cameron in his book, \u201cPride: Protest and Celebration.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, many queer South Africans find the overwhelming media push to promote Pride in October a bit disheartening, as the representation doesn\u2019t last throughout the year. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This temporary depiction of Pride can be considered \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizenlab.co\/blog\/civic-engagement\/slacktivism\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">slacktivism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d which is when actions are taken to endorse or promote a cause or movement, but the actions are minimal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Queer visibility in global media has grown tenfold in recent years. In GLAAD\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glaad.org\/blog\/glaads-2021-2022-where-we-are-tv-report-lgbtq-representation-reaches-new-record-highs?gclid=CjwKCAiAmJGgBhAZEiwA1JZolu-W33DfbnCv1F37rhimVPQjWjnd9SgtQdnsNOVLME1HUzEy3E2_GRoCZSYQAvD_BwE\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2021-2022 Where We Are on TV Report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they reported 11.9% of characters (92 of 775 series regular characters) on scripted broadcast primetime programming were LGBTQ+. This data marked a new record-high percentage of LGBTQ+ series regulars on broadcast, with an additional 49 recurring LGBTQ+ characters. Still, having queer characters and portraying them accurately are two different things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think there isn\u2019t a proper recognition of the diversity of the community or the challenges, so to me it still feels a little bit like a tick box exercise because in the times we live in, you have to be representative and sensitive, but you don\u2019t actually do the job properly,\u201d Heywood said about queer media representation and stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIs (Pride Month) a time to celebrate by selling and buying things? Or is it a time for protests?\u201d asked Steven Thrasher, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daniel H. Renberg Chair of Social Justice at Northwestern University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Pride is a time to show representation of queer love and different identities, it\u2019s also a time to advocate for better representation across the board, Thrasher says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How to combat this: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hassina Obaidy, a contributor to the Emtrain workplace resource center based in California, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/emtrain.com\/blog\/diversity\/commercializing-pride-month\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">suggests <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">if corporations have one month when they market things for Pride Month, the rest of the months of the year should be focused on accountability. Obaidy proposes consumers call on companies and media outlets who profit off the LGBTQ+ community to use their profits as a means of support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEmpower trans employees. Divest from the economies of countries with explicit LGBTQ discriminatory policies. Make your products available to communities of people who need it the most,\u201d Obaidy said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOne month of good behavior does not make up for years of taking on the role of not-so-innocent bystander to the systemic oppression and professional discrimination the LGBTQ community has experienced,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thrasher doesn\u2019t doubt that commercializing things like Pride is helpful in highlighting groups and showing others they exist, but he says it can\u2019t stop there. A solution to making sure causes have representation year-round, Thrasher says, is to respond to news as it\u2019s happening, rather than waiting to show representation or be an ally in a particular month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many do commend the increase and improvement in representation of South African queer individuals in recent years but say there\u2019s still a long way to go before mundane stories like Kester\u2019s are just as important to media as the sensationalized, insensitive topics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOne of the bad things about traumas is that it doesn&#8217;t let you live as a whole person. People should be able to have the experiences of their full lives, which include difficult things, but also includes laughter, joy, sex, dancing and all these other things. So it&#8217;s really important to portray people in their totality,\u201d Thrasher said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jordyn Bradley is a social justice graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/byjordynb\">@byjordynb<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jordyn Bradley Medill Reports Roch\u00e9 Kester has a daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, drink her coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, do it all again the next day. It\u2019s nothing unique or special, but it\u2019s what she does.\u00a0 As a queer South African, Kester said she wishes stories [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":917,"featured_media":102644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5348,675,5379,5377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medill-explores-2023","category-social-justice","category-south-africa","category-spring-2023"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Crying, dying, marching\u2019: How media inaccurately represents queer South Africans, and what can be done to combat this - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Crying, dying, marching\u2019: How media inaccurately represents queer South Africans, and what can be done to combat this - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jordyn Bradley Medill Reports Roch\u00e9 Kester has a daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, drink her coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, do it all again the next day. It\u2019s nothing unique or special, but it\u2019s what she does.\u00a0 As a queer South African, Kester said she wishes stories [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-11T16:22:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-11T16:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/Iranti-Art-convert.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1064\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jordynbradley2023\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jordynbradley2023\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Crying, dying, marching\u2019: How media inaccurately represents queer South Africans, and what can be done to combat this - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/Iranti-Art-convert.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-11T16:22:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-11T16:14:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/ce0b292ffc923db78b81e92e37e387a0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/crying-dying-marching-how-media-inaccurately-represents-queer-south-africans-and-what-can-be-done-to-combat-this\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/Iranti-Art-convert.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/Iranti-Art-convert.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":1064,\"caption\":\"Artwork posted outside of Iranti, a media advocacy organization, in Johannesburg, South Africa. 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