"This Was No Place for a Woman": Gender Judo, Gender Stereotypes, and World War II Correspondent Ruth Cowan

Title"This Was No Place for a Woman": Gender Judo, Gender Stereotypes, and World War II Correspondent Ruth Cowan
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsOlson, Candi S. Carter
JournalAmerican Journalism
Volume34
Issue4
Pagination427 - 447
Date PublishedFall 2017
Abstract

In 1943, Ruth Cowan became one of the first two women with official US Army credentials to report on World War II. Applying the theory of “gender judo,” which demonstrates how women have used traditional gender roles to get themselves further into masculine roles, to Cowan's war reportage shows how her writing lulled reading audiences into accepting women in gender-bending roles. Cowan used a range of emotions, from humor to anger, to portray enlisted women as strong, fearless women who, nevertheless, found themselves enjoying traditionally feminine pursuits. Her reporting also showed men in the Army inhabiting women's roles in various ways. Cowan bent gender roles in her writing, even as she found herself faced with discrimination. [publisher]

URLhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08821127.2017.1382296?journalCode=uamj20
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