Barely there: an analysis of stealthing as a social problem

Abstract

The rise of stealthing, the colloquial term for nonconsensual condom removal, as a social problem does not fit into existing constructionist frameworks. It was brought into the popular lexicon following the publication of a law journal article in 2017 titled “’Rape-Adjacent’: Imagining Legal Responses to Nonconsensual Condom Removal” by Alexandra Brodsky. Brodsky’s paper subsequently went “viral,” and was cited many times as the impetus for public interest in stealthing. Following this article, Brodsky does not behave as an anti-stealthing activist, nor is there the development of an anti-stealthing social movement, yet it continues to be discussed in the media and by policymakers, leading to legislation in California, identical to the proposal in Brodsky’s paper. My paper analyzes the rise of stealthing as a social problem, utilizing media articles published in the U.S. between 2017 and 2022. I employ both quantitative and qualitative methods of content analysis to examine this data and see how stealthing was framed in the media. I found that Brodsky’s construction set the direction that the framing would take, but that the media itself fleshed out those framings. In the case of stealthing, media and journalists took on a more active claimsmaking role and I argue that Brodsky’s original framing made stealthing an appealing topic for media companies, encouraging them to continue to cover it even without continued outside claims and that Brodsky’s background as a law student was a major influence in that construction.