The Woman in Peril and the Ruined Woman

Representations of Female Soldiers in the Iraq War

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6408730
AutoresJennifer K Lobasz (0000-0003-0151-7637, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen29
Número3
Páginas305-334
Fecha de publicación2008-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWomen & Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0195-7732 • E-ISSN: 1540-9473
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15544770802205996
OpenAlexW2073656513
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas24

If the principle of equality is central to contemporary liberal feminism, then demonstrating that women and men have similar capacities—whether physical, intellectual, or moral—is a predominant concern. Given the importance attributed to military service, women in the military have long been drawn upon by liberal feminists and their opponents to provide empirical examples of women's abilities or lack thereof. Two such instances occurred with Pfc. Jessica Lynch and Pfc. Lynndie England, young female soldiers thrust into the limelight the United States' 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Liberal feminists made the case that Lynch and England demonstrated that women are no less capable of heroism or depravity than men, but these potentially subversive counternarratives were largely absent from media representations of the two soldiers. I argue that the predominant female gender images reproduced in the media during and after the Iraq War have been of the Woman in Peril (Lynch) and the Ruined Woman (England). Rather than undermining stereotypes of women, as some feminists had hoped, the dominant narratives of Lynch and England worked instead to reinforce existing gender norms

Art · Feminism · Limelight · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Military History and Strategy · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact