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The "toughness conundrum" : contemporary mainstream media images of women in the public sphere during the "war on terror"

This dissertation explores the relationship between gender, war, and media
constructions of both. Using the theoretical frameworks of the social constructions of
gender and the gendered constructions of the public sphere, I have analyzed how Time
magazine portrayed Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton in discussions of war. Time
represents mainstream mediated coverage in this case. Rice and Clinton represent women
outside the normal boundaries of femininity. First, they were participants in the public
sphere, which is largely male-dominated in our society. Second, both women were
involved in discussions of war and foreign policy. Their participation in this area of the
public sphere is a contradiction to how society expects women to act during war time.
The most interesting conclusion is the way the women are linked back to the private
sphere through their relationships with men. These representations align with historical
theoretical definitions of the public sphere, which favor male participation and often
disregard female participation. / text

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/6620
Date22 October 2009
CreatorsStruckman, Sara Lynn
Source SetsUniversity of Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Formatelectronic
RightsCopyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.

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