Abstract
This paper explores the existing research regarding intimate partner violence myths in a variety of forms of media (magazines, news stories, and reader comments to online news stories), identifies major problems within the body of research, and makes suggestions about how to improve this area of study. Intersectionality is a somewhat new movement in teaching and research circles surrounding questions of difference and inequality, such as sociology and women’s studies. This perspective would enhance any sociological research, and it is the primary improvement proposed in this paper. The current body of research ignores many of the most salient social identities, including sexual orientation and ability. In doing so, the academic community is not recognizing or validating the experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) population or people with disabilities. In studying the media’s use of intimate partner violence myths, the researchers themselves are perpetuating the myths by not complicating their reading of the media artifacts they studied.