Media Representations of Gendered Minority Practices: The Case of Polygamy in Israel

This paper critically examines how the mainstream media in Israel frame phenomenon of polygamy among minority Palestinian Bedouin community within country. We identify four prominent frames: (1) an “orientalist” frame, which considers Muslim women as need saving from their own culture and religion’s oppression by a modernizing state; (2) “securitization” links practice to threats state’s security “Islamic terrorism;” (3) “existential threat” reflects Israeli Jewish majority’s anxieties about demographic battle between Jews Muslims country; finally, (4) “women’s rights” is least prevalent, that addresses perspective women’s equality equal citizenship, critical discriminatory policies state. Theoretically, explicates utilizes gendered practices amplify Islamophobic sentiments relation community, alternative framing featuring voices might mitigate such harmful effects.