Francophobia, Anti-Americanism

Narratives of the Trans-Atlantic Other in French and U.S. News on Abortion-Related Issues

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7459271
AutoresGinna Husting, Leslie King (0000-0002-2940-6077)
Año2005
Volumen5
Número4
Páginas447-471
Fecha de publicación2005-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCulture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1532-7086 • E-ISSN: 1552-356X
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1532708605279698
OpenAlexW2070254318
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas31

This article examines the interplay of abortion and nationalism in French and U.S. print news discussions of abortion-related issues. U.S. news stories on RU-486 and French news stories on prolife direct action protesters are rife with qualifiers designating each issue as a foreign one. In American media, RU-486 is the French pill; in French media, protesters are American inspired/mobilized. Together, these cases constitute a site for the recurrent construction of the relation between nationhood, national identity, and moral goodness. In each case, media narratives of abortion-related issues reveal that more is at stake than reproductive rights issues. The authors argue that discourses on abortion are grounded in politics of nationalism that shore up the boundaries of the homeland and anchor the distinction between public and private spheres through a discourse of opposition to foreign cultural invaders. The articulation of moral conflict over abortion and myths of foreign origins situate the national collectivity as a good, innocent victim of corrupt outside influence

Abortion · Literature · Media studies · Moral panic · Narrative · National identity · Nationalism · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Canadian Identity and History · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Gender Studies · Law