This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by HUMPHRIES, D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by HUMPHRIES, D. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Crack Mothers at 6

Prime-Time News, Crack/Cocaine, and Women

Rutgers University

This study examines ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news programs from 1983 to 1994 to understand the images associated with crack mothers (i.e., women who used crack or cocaine during pregnancy). Qualitative analysis shows that over time, news framed maternal crack/cocaine use in at least three ways. First, White middle-class women were presented as psychologically addicted, as guilt-ridden for having exposed their babies to cocaine, and as motivated to succeed in treatment. Second, Black poor women were represented as mindlessly addicted, as knowingly having exposed their fetuses to the adversity of crack, and as unwilling to enter treatment. Third, Black poor women were subsequently represented as physically and spiritually depleted, as having regretted prior drug use, and as enthusiastic drug treatment clients, if only to regain custody of their children. Findings are discussed in terms of drugs scares, racial disparity, and the reproductive rights of women.

Violence Against Women, Vol. 4, No. 1, 45-61 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/1077801298004001004


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. J. Draus and R. G. Carlson "The Game Turns on You": Crack, Sex, Gender, and Power in Small-Town Ohio Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, June 1, 2009; 38(3): 384 - 408. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. Golden "A Tempest in a Cocktail Glass": Mothers, Alcohol, and Television, 1977-1996 Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law, June 1, 2000; 25(3): 473 - 498. [Abstract] [PDF]