Research Article Open Access

Lynch `N England: Figuring Females as the U.S. at War

Abstract

This essay examines politicized depictions of Pfc. Jessica Lynch and Pvt. Lynndie England in U.S. news outlets. I analyze dominant narratives about Lynch, arguing that the Pentagon framed her capture and “rescue” as a traditional U.S. captivity narrative, which is a racialized, sexist assertion of national identity. Second, I explain how Lynch’s story was used as political, economic, and emotional capital to market the invasion of Iraq to the U.S. Finally, I argue that the inversion of the captivity narrative’s conventional logic that occurs in England’s story reveals the sexual violence wrought by “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

Anna Froula

To read the full article Download Full Article | Visit Full Article