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Betraying Allies: Gender Violence in Peace Time: U.S. Media Coverage of Servicemember Sexual Assaults Against Japanese Civilians Through an Intersectional Lens
Swedish Defence University.
2025 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

By using a frame analysis of U.S. media reports of U.S. servicemembers perpetrating sexual violence against Japanese civilians, this thesis demonstrates how women and girls and their security are considered worthy sacrifices for state security in the media. The analysis results find that the general narrative of U.S. media and military regarding the U.S. perpetrated sexual violence in Japan is that of blame-shifting, essentially removing the fault and responsibility of these incidents away from the U.S. military and the U.S. at large. This thesis argues that this has led to multiple outcomes. First, the U.S. military's primary focus is preserving its military alliance and the subsequent increased regional security with Japan. This subsequently leads to women and girls not being considered important enough for fundamental structural change in either how the U.S. military operates or an expansion of the definition of security. Secondly, the results also showcased signs of an imperialistic mindset regarding Japanese society and the women within that society. By ignoring the Western stereotypes and norms of racialised sexism that put these Japanese women and girls under additional threats, the imperialistic belief again shifts blame away from the West and onto the victims and Japan. With these findings, this thesis contributes to the discussion regarding security and our understanding of gendered violence during peacetime. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. , p. 64
Keywords [en]
Intersectional Feminism, Security, Sexual Violence, Military, Japan, United States, Post-imperialism
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-13459OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-13459DiVA, id: diva2:1933873
Subject / course
Political Science with a focus on Crisis Management and Security
Educational program
Master's programme in Politics, Security and Crisis
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2025-02-04 Created: 2025-02-02 Last updated: 2025-09-29Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf