Feminism, Media, and the Law

The growing presence of women in the legal profession and the prominence of law as a site of feminist social change make the complex interrelationship between the media, feminism, and the law a critical concern across disciplines. Drawing on legal theory, cultural studies, journalism,political science, sociology, and communications, this book presents a collection of essays that explore how the media represents and constructs gender, law, and feminism. Arranged thematically, these twenty-three articles are the work of distinguished academics and activists. The collection begins with a section on "Portrayals of Feminism in the Media", which provides historical background on the media's treatment of feminist issues. The anthology proceeds with sections entitled "Feminism, Law, and Popular Culture"; "Essentializing Gender"; and "Media Images ofViolence". Giving fresh and provocative treatments to such complex and topical subjects as hate radio, Anita Hill, popular women's magazines, and the portrayal of women in film and television, Feminism, Media, and the Law is required reading for anyone interested in feminism and its relationship tothe media.

PART I: Portrayals of Feminism in the Media
1. Introduction, Donna E. Young
2. Media Images/Feminist Issues, Deborah L. Rhode
3. Hate Radio: Why we Need to Tune in to Limbaugh and Stern, Patricia J. Williams
4. The Matking of a "Quota Queen": News Media and the Bias of Objectivity, Laurel Leff
5. The Real Real Anita Hill, or the Making of a Backlash Bestseller, Mary Coombs
6. Fear of Feminism: Media Stories of Feminist Victims and Victims of Feminism on College Campuses, Martha T. McCluskey
7. Glamour Law: Feminism through the Looking Glass of Popular Women's Magazines, Julia E. Hanigsberg
PART II: Feminism, Law, and Popular Culture
8. Introduction, Susan Bisom-Rapp
9. The Movie of the Week: Law, Narrativity, and Gender on Prime Time, Elayne Rapping
10. Rape on Soaps: The Legal Angle, Dianne L. Brooks
11. Pop Justice: TV, Motherhood, and the Law, Isabel Karpin
12. Law and Racial Reelism: Black Women as Celluloid "Legal" Heroines, Margaret M. Russell
13. Women on Trial: The Female Lawyer in the Hollywood Courtroom, Cynthia Lucia
PART III: Essentializing Gender
14. Introduction, Joyce Davis
15. Law, Cultural Media[tion], and Desire in the Lives of Adolescent Girls, Tracy E. Higgins and Deborah L. Tolman
16. The Politics of Surrogacy Narratives, E. Ann Kaplan
17. "Bad Mothers" and Welfare Reform in Massachusetts: The Case of Claribel Ventura, Marie Ashe
18. Spectacles of the Strange: Envisioning Violence in the Central Park Jogger Trial, Kristin Bumiller
PART IV: Media Images of Violence
19. Introduction: The Seens and Unseens of Popular Cultural Representation, Lynn S. Chancer
20. Crime News, Crime Fear, and Women's Everyday Lives, Kathleen Daly and Amy L. Chasteen
21. Lesbians, Prostitutes, and Murder: Media Constructs Violence Constructs Power, Ann Russo
22. Blindfolded: Rape and the Press's Fear of Feminism, Helen Benedict
23. Race under Construction: The Master Narrative of White Supremacy in the Media Representation of African American/Korean American Conflict, Lisa C. Ikemoto