Women As Weapons Of War: Iraq, Sex and the Media (Paperback)  | Released: 2008

Ever Since Eve Tempted Adam With Her Apple, Women HaveBeen Regarded As A Corrupting And Destructive Influence. The Very Idea ThatWomen Can Be Used As Interrogation Tools, As Evidenced In The Abu GhraibTorture Photos, Plays On Age-Old Fears Of Women As Sexually ThreateningWeapons, And Therefore The Literal Explosion Of Women Onto The War SceneShould Come As No Surprise.>From The Female Soldiers Involved In Abu Ghraib To Palestinian Women SuicideBombers, Women And Their Bodies Have Become Powerful Weapons In TheAfghanistan And Iraq Wars. In Women As Weapons Of War, Kelly Oliver RevealsHow The Media And The Administration Frequently Use Metaphors Of Weaponry ToDescribe Women And Female Sexuality And Forge A Deliberate Link BetweenNotions Of Vulnerability And Images Of Violence. Focussing Specifically OnThe U.S Campaigns In Afghanistan And Iraq, Oliver Analyses ContemporaryDiscourse Surrounding Women, Sex, And Gender And The Use Of Women To JustifyAmerica'S Decision To Go To War. For Example, The Administration'S Call ToLiberate 'Women Of Cover', Suggesting A Woman'S Right To Bare Arms Is A SignOf 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 AbuGhraib And The Profound Commitment To Death Made By Suicide Bombers. SheExamines The Pleasure Taken In Violence And The Passion For Death ExhibitedBy These Women And What Kind Of Contexts Created Them. In Conclusion, OliverDiagnoses Our Cultural Fascination With Sex, Violence, And Death And ItsRelationship With Live News Coverage And Embedded Reporting, WhichNaturalizes Horrific Events And Stymies Critical Reflection. This Process,She Argues, Further Compromises The Borders Between Fantasy And Reality,Fuelling A Kind Of Paranoid Patriotism That Results In Extreme Forms OfViolence.