Media portrayals of military women reflect recruitment conditions, but political power relations and foreign policy contexts matter as well

The gender integration of the U.S. Armed Forces has been an ongoing process since the establishment of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973. In light of the removal of the ban on women in direct-combat positions, Saskia Stachowitsch examines the changing media depictions of military women, arguing that these representations vary with the military’s need for female soldiers, as well as geopolitical conditions.