Fallgirls Gender and the Framing of Torture at Abu Ghraib

• Main Author: Caldwell, Ryan Ashley (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2012
• Subjects: Ethical issues & debates; Sociology; Abu Ghraib; gendering; gender; cultural theory; feminist philosophy; US-led torture; War on Terror; social theory; Lynndie England; Sabrina Harman; rogue soldiers; abuses; prisoners; Middle East Politics
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

Fallgirls provides an analysis of the abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib in terms of social theory, gender and power, based on first-hand participant-observations of the courts-martials of Lynndie England and Sabrina Harman. This book examines the trials themselves, including interactions with soldiers and defense teams, documents pertaining to the courts-martials, US government reports and photographs from Abu Ghraib, in order to challenge the view that the abuses were carried out at the hands of a few rogue soldiers. With a keen focus on gender and sexuality as prominent aspects of the abuses themselves, as well as the ways in which they were portrayed and tried, Fallgirls engages with modern feminist thought and contemporary social theory in order to analyse the manner in which the abuses were framed, whilst also exploring the various lived realities of Abu Ghraib by both prisoners and soldiers alike.