Beyond Benson
From Law & Order: SVU to Holland’s Grenslanders , Female Masculinity in Crime Dramas Fall Victim to Feminized Tropes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12918398 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lauren Alexandra Sowa (University of Southern California, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 425-432 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Communication Culture and Critique (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1753-9137 • E-ISSN: 1753-9129 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ccc/tcab063 |
| OpenAlex | W3206819116 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This article analyzes television’s (2010s) female detectives, Olivia Benson of Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 1999–) and Tara Dessel of Grenslanders (AVROTROS, 2019), as a cross-cultural example of compromised and negotiated female masculinity. Their designed traits of “heterosexuality” and/or “the feminine” are used as countering affects to undermine the female masculinity and queer ambiguity of these characters. Through Detective Dessel, I demonstrate how race further complicates readings of female masculinity. I argue that television depictions of cis-woman characters are ill-served when the possibilities for masculinity or sexual ambiguity is obfuscated by conventionally feminine appearance, heterosexual love interests, and other narrative components
Ambiguity · Art · Heterosexuality · Human sexuality · Literature · Masculinity · Narrative · Order (exchange · Queer · Sociology · Crime and Detective Fiction Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Gender Studies · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|