Field Guide for Female Interrogators, A

Synopsis

The world was shocked by the images that emerged from Abu Ghraib, the US-controlled prison in Iraq. Lynndie England, the young female army officer shown smiling devilishly as she humiliated male prisoners, became first a scapegoat and then a victim who was "just following orders." Ignored were the more elemental questions of how women are functioning within conservative power structures of government and the military. Why do the military and the CIA use female sexuality as an interrogation tactic, and why is this tactic downplayed and even ignored in internal investigations of prisoner abuse?Combining an art project with critical commentary, Coco Fusco imaginatively addresses the role of women in the war on terror and explores how female sexuality is being used as a weapon against suspected Islamic terrorists. Using details drawn from actual accounts of detainee treatment in US military prisons, Fusco conceives a field guide of instructional drawings that prompts urgent questions regarding the moral dilemma of torture in general and the use of female sexuality specifically. Fusco assesses what these matters suggest about how the military and the state use sex, sexuality, and originally feminist notions of sexual freedom.

Copyright:

2008

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781609800277

Related ISBNs:

9781583227800

Publisher:

Seven Stories Press

Date of Addition:

05/13/21

Copyrighted By:

Coco Fusco

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Art and Architecture, Social Studies, Drama, Plays and Theater, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.