Research Catalog

Title

Women as weapons of war : Iraq, sex, and the media / Kelly Oliver.

Author

Oliver, Kelly, 1958-

Publication

New York : Columbia University Press, [2007], ©2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 208 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"From the female soldiers involved in Abu Ghraib to Palestinian women suicide bombers, women and their bodies have become powerful weapons in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. In Women as Weapons of War, Kelly Oliver reveals how the media arid the administration frequently use metaphors of weaponry to describe women and female sexuality and forge a deliberate link between notions of vulnerability and images of violence. Focusing specifically on the U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, Oliver analyzes contemporary discourse surrounding women, sex, and gender and the use of women to justify America's decision to go to war. For example, the administration's call to liberate "women of cover," suggesting a woman's right to bare arms is a sign of freedom and progress." "Oliver also considers what forms of cultural meaning, or lack of meaning, could cause both the guiltlessness demonstrated by female soldiers at Abu Ghraib and the profound commitment to death made by suicide bombers. She examines the pleasure taken in violence and the passion for death exhibited by these women and what kind of contexts created them. In conclusion, Oliver diagnoses our cultural fascination with sex, violence, and death and its relationship with live news coverage and embedded reporting, which naturalizes horrific events and stymies critical reflection. This process, she argues, further compromises the borders between fantasy and reality, fueling a kind of paranoid patriotism that results in extreme forms of violence."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Feminist theory
• Iraq War, 2003-2011 > Press coverage > United States
• Women and the military > Iraq

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-193) and index.

Contents

Introduction: Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll -- 1. Women - The Secret Weapon of Modern Warfare? -- 2. Sexual Freedom as Global Freedom? -- 3. Perpetual War, Real Live Coverage! -- 4. Innocence, Vulnerability, and Violence -- Conclusion: Witnessing Ethics Again.

ISBN

• 9780231141901 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 0231141904 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 9780231512459 (ebook)
• 0231512457 (ebook)

LCCN

2007027467

OCLC

• ocn153773348
• 153773348
• SCSB-5379479

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries