“Radical”; feminists and “bickering”; women: Backlash in U.S. media coverage of the United Nations fourth world conference on women

Newspaper coverage of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was analyzed for themes indicating backlash against feminism. The study found that several backlash themes, such as women in conflict and stereotypical portrayals of women, were present throughout New York Times and Washington Post coverage. Further, lack of substantive coverage of the conference issues and agendas indicated an underlying backlash; i.e., if the media do not cover the conference, they do not have to acknowledge the existence of issues that are important to women.