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Mediating the female terrorist: Patricia Hearst and the containment of the feminist terrorist threat in the United States in the 1970s
Die Medialisierung des weiblichen Terroristen: Patricia Hearst und die Eindämmung der feministischen terroristischen Bedrohung in den USA in den 1970er Jahren
[journal article]
Abstract In January 1976, the trial of Patricia Campbell Hearst caused a Western media sensation. Representing the culmination of her spectacular kidnapping and conversion to the terrorist cause of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), Hearst was on trial for her participation in the Hibernia National Bank r... view more
In January 1976, the trial of Patricia Campbell Hearst caused a Western media sensation. Representing the culmination of her spectacular kidnapping and conversion to the terrorist cause of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), Hearst was on trial for her participation in the Hibernia National Bank robbery almost two years earlier. As of the commencement of the trial, the story of the heiress-come-female-terrorist had been captivating Western media audiences for two years. This article analyses the ways that mainstream media coverage of this event operated to contain both the threat of this particular female terrorist, and the threat of second-wave feminism more broadly. Within Western culture, there has historically been a concern with the need to regulate the mainstream media’s coverage of terrorist events. In this line of thinking, the mainstream media are a precondition for, and a potential site of the contagion of, terrorism. However, as I demonstrate, ultimately, mainstream media coverage of terrorist events in which women are key protagonists operates to recuperate the threat of terrorism. In doing so, it reproduces and reasserts dominant patriarchal gender relations and thus works in the interests of dominant culture, rather than against them.... view less
Keywords
gender relations; gender; discourse; woman; political violence; terrorism; feminism; mediatization; reporting; United States of America; mass media
Classification
Women's Studies, Feminist Studies, Gender Studies
Media Contents, Content Analysis
Free Keywords
Patty Hearst; second-wave feminism
Document language
English
Publication Year
2014
Page/Pages
p. 150-175
Journal
Historical Social Research, 39 (2014) 3
Issue topic
Terrorism, gender, and history
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.39.2014.3.150-175
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed