Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Time's Woman Problem: Inflammatory Headline Edition

A recent Time headline:

"Why Are French Women Killing Their Babies?"

The title suggests a nationality- and gender-based spate of baby-killing, no?

The reality, if we read the article, is that 5 mentally-ill French women have killed their infants since 2003.

Horrific, yes. But hardly a trend.

Unfortunately, these five, 5, instances are offered as proof of the "spreading phenomenon of pregnancy denial — and the infanticide it can lead to."

Meanwhile, the mainstream media fails to ponder similar nation- and gender-based answers to the question "Why do American men keep killing people?"

In this way, is male violence normalized, presented as natural and expected; while female violence is exaggerated, presented as especially heinous and far more frequent than it is.

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