Postfeminist War

Women in the Media-Military-Industrial Complex

By Mary Douglas Vavrus

SERIES: War Culture

Rutgers University Press

Media representations and practices that have emerged out of contemporary wars have been well documented by a wide array of books and articles. These treatments, however, have been less attentive to how cultural constructions of military personnel and war itself figure in the depiction of the incursions in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Post-Feminist War, Mary Douglas Vavrus argues that all of these identity categories are integral to our understanding of those fighting, saved, or victimized by war. She considers two important questions: how the construction of gender, race, and class in media are productive of régimes of truth regarding war and military life, and how such constructions may also intensify militarism. By examining news and documentary media produced since September 11, 2001, Vavrus demonstrates that news narratives that include women use feminism selectively in gender equality narratives, which tend to reinforce historically resonant gender, race, and class identity constructions. She ultimately asserts that such reporting advances post-feminism, which, in tandem with banal militarism, subtly pushes military solutions for an array of problems women and girls face.

That women are increasingly on the front lines of war since 9/11 may not surprise readers of this book, but the many ways that women are symbolically enlisted in the promotion and perpetuation of endless global conflict certainly will. This well-written and timely book is essential for students and scholars alike to understand the PR strategies employed to curry favor for war, even as the public sours on American militarism. Unveiling the constructions and contradictions of a kinder, gentler post-feminist war mythology offers all of us a pathway to become ethical witnesses to war narratives, in the hope of ending war and its inhumane consequences. Robin Andersen, author of A Century of Media: A Century of War

Vavrus's compelling account of the media-military-industrial complex provides a look into how the government and media work hand in hand, along both political and gendered lines, to produce a culture that makes war seem like common sense. Robin Riley, author of Depicting the Veil: Transnational Sexism and the War on Terror

Post-Feminist War is a 'must-read' contribution to both military and journalism shelves, highly recommended for college and public library collections. Midwest Book Review

That women are increasingly on the front lines of war since 9/11 may not surprise readers of this book, but the many ways that women are symbolically enlisted in the promotion and perpetuation of endless global conflict certainly will. This well-written and timely book is essential for students and scholars alike to understand the PR strategies employed to curry favor for war, even as the public sours on American militarism. Unveiling the constructions and contradictions of a kinder, gentler post-feminist war mythology offers all of us a pathway to become ethical witnesses to war narratives, in the hope of ending war and its inhumane consequences. Robin Andersen, author of A Century of Media: A Century of War

Vavrus's compelling account of the media-military-industrial complex provides a look into how the government and media work hand in hand, along both political and gendered lines, to produce a culture that makes war seem like common sense. Robin Riley, author of Depicting the Veil: Transnational Sexism and the War on Terror

Post-Feminist War is a 'must-read' contribution to both military and journalism shelves, highly recommended for college and public library collections. Midwest Book Review

MARY DOUGLAS VAVRUS is an associate professor in the communication studies department at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She is the author of Postfeminist News: Political Women in Media Culture.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Lifetime’s Army Wives, or, I Married the

Media-Military-Industrial Complex

2 Counterintuitive Mothering in the

Media-Military-Industrial Complex

3 “No Longer Women, but Soldiers”:

The Warrior Women of Television News

4 “This Wasn’t the Intended Sacrifice”:

Warrior Women and Sexual Violence

Conclusion: Banality’s Fatalities

Acknowledgments