Brandon M. Craig

PhD Candidate

“Battered But Not Broken”: Intimate Partner Violence and Helpseeking in The Real Housewives of Atlanta


Popular media such as film, TV, and video games influence cultural understandings of crime and justice, often through sensationalizing violence. While scholars have examined TV representations of intimate partner violence (IPV) in police procedural dramas and documentary series, minimal research has explored how IPV against women is depicted in docusoap-style reality shows. The current project draws on Black feminist criminology and media studies to address this gap by exploring Black women’s IPV victimization in the popular docusoap The Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA). These efforts are guided by the following research questions: (1) How is IPV victimization presented in RHOA? How do cast members describe their experiences as survivors? (2) How do survivors in RHOA navigate disclosure of their IPV experiences? To whom do they disclose and seek help from? (3) How are responses to IPV—both by survivors and people they disclose to—presented in RHOA? To address these questions, I conduct a content analysis on a purposive sample of RHOA episodes that reference or depict cast members’ IPV victimization. Major themes in the Housewives’ IPV narratives are identified, and implications for media portrayals of Black women, IPV, and helpseeking are discussed. 
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