Media Representations of Abortion Politics in Florida: Feminist Geographic Analysis of Newspaper Articles, 2011-2013
Feminist geographers argue that gendered bodies and power are deeply entwined (McDowell 1992; Rose 1993). However, few geographers have investigated how gender and power interact in relation to the politics of abortion access. This thesis seeks to fill this gap by conducting a feminist content analy...
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| Format: | Others |
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Scholar Commons
2016
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| Online Access: | http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6263 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7459&context=etd |
| Summary: | Feminist geographers argue that gendered bodies and power are deeply entwined (McDowell 1992; Rose 1993). However, few geographers have investigated how gender and power interact in relation to the politics of abortion access. This thesis seeks to fill this gap by conducting a feminist content analysis of six newspapers from Florida’s three largest metropolitan areas to determine how articles featuring abortion are framed. Analysis of the dataset concludes that the politicization of the abortion debate results in the erasure of women from the conversation, the identification of a pregnant women trope which homogenizes all women into one category, and Planned Parenthood’s classification as a health care provider being ignored subsumed under a recognition of its role in providing abortion services. Overall this study argues that patriarchal institutions regulate women into compulsory motherhood, thereby constraining their agency and ability to fully participate in society participate in political democracy. |
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