Unlike many issues relating to women's health, the recent controversy concerning the safety of silicone breast implants created a great deal of public interest. Despite growing public concern, corporate violence against women has received insufficient empirical and theoretical study. Using a feminist gaze, this article places the silicone breast implant dispute within the larger theoretical framework of corporate violence. A case study of the historical development of the silicone breast implant debate illustrates duplicity in the chemical industry, the power of special interest groups, the impotence/complicity of governmental regulatory agencies, and the vital impact of cultural prescriptions of beauty on women. The study also points to the force of the media in contested social issues, in addition to the increased power of ordinary people to affect change through collective action that fights governmental and corporate crime and cultural myths of beauty on behalf of women.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abbott, P. , & Wallace, C. (1990). An introduction to sociology: Feminist perspectives. London: Routledge.
2.
Agger, B. (1993). Gender, culture, and power: Toward a feminist postmodern critical theory. Westport, CT: Prager.
3.
Ansberry, C. , Rigdon, J., & Ingersoll, B. (1992, February 14). Agonizing rift. Wall Street Journal, pp.A1, A4.
Benhabib, S. , & Cornell, D. (1987). Feminism as critique. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
6.
Best, S. , & Kellner, D. (1991). Postmodern theory: Critical interrogations. New York: Guilford.
7.
Boobs versus breasts. (1992, February). National Review, p. 17.
8.
Bordo, S. (1993). Unbearable weight: Feminism, Western culture, and the body. Berkeley: University of California Press.
9.
Box, S. (1983). Power, crime, and mystification. London: Tavistock.
10.
Braithwaite, J. (1984). Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
11.
Braithwaite, J. (1985). White collar crime. Annual Review of Sociology, 11, 1-25.
12.
Braithwaite, J. (1989). Criminological theory and organizational crime. Justice Quarterly, 6, 333-358.
13.
Burton, T. (1992, November 3). Dow Corning employees falsified data on breast implants, counsel concludes. Wall Street Journal, p. A3.
14.
Burton, T. , & McMurray, S. (1992, February 18). Dow Corning still keeps implant data from public, despite vow of openness. Wall Street Journal, p. B8.
15.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
16.
Caplan, A. (1991, November 26). Safety must rule in debate over breast implants. Detroit Free Press, p. B2.
17.
Caulfield, S. , & Wonders, N. (1993). Personal and political: Violence against women and the role of the state. In K. Tunnell (Ed.), Political crime in contemporary America (pp. 79-100). New York: Garland.
18.
Chambliss, W. (1988). Exploring criminology. New York: Macmillan.
19.
Chambliss, W. (1989). State-organized crime. Criminology, 27, 183-208.
20.
Chisholm, R. (1992, March). Is bigger better?: North American society is breast-obsessed. Macleans, p. 43.
21.
Clinard, M. , & Yeager, P. (1980). Corporate crime. New York: Free Press.
22.
Cloward, R. , & Ohlin, L. (1960). Delinquency and opportunity: A theory of delinquent gangs. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
23.
Coleman, J. W. (1987). Toward an integrated theory of white collar crime. American Journal of Sociology, 93, 406-439.
24.
Cowley, G. (1991, November 25). A boon or bust for women? Newsweek, p. 65.
25.
DeKeseredy, W. , & Goff, C. (1992). Corporate violence against Canadian women: Assessing left-realist research and policy. Journal of Human Justice, 4, 55-70.
26.
Donovan, J. (1985). Feminist theory: Intellectual traditions of American feminism. New York: Ungar.
27.
Ehrenreich, B. (1992, February). Stamping out a dread scourge. Time, p. 88.
28.
Eisenstein, Z. (1990). Constructing a theory of capitalist patriarchy and socialist feminism. In K. Hansen & I. Philipson (Eds.), Women, class and the feminist imagination: A socialist-feminist reader (pp. 114-145). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. (Original work published in 1977)
29.
Faludi, S. (1991). Backlash: The undeclared war against American women. New York: Crown.
30.
Fischer, A. (1991, September). A body to die for. Redbook, pp. 96-99, 173-174.
31.
Fraser, N. (1989). Unruly practices: Power, discourse, and gender in contemporary social theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
32.
French, M. (1992). The war against women. New York: Summit Books.
33.
Gerber, J. , & Weeks, S. (1992). Women as victims of corporate crime: A call for research on a neglected topic. Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 13, 325-347.
34.
Gross, E. (1978). Organizational crime: A theoretical perspective. In N. Denzin (Ed.), Studies in symbolic interaction (pp. 55-85). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
35.
Gross, J. (1991, November). Women with breast implants split on need for U.S. controls. New York Times, pp. A1, A11.
36.
Haraway, D. (1990). A manifesto for cyborgs. In L. Nicholson (Ed.), Feminism/postmodernism (pp. 190-233). New York: Routledge.
37.
Haraway, D. (1993). The biopolitics of postmodern bodies. In L. Kaufman (Ed.), American feminist thought at century's end: A reader (pp. 199-233). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
38.
Hartsock, N. (1983). Money, sex, and power: Toward a feminist historical materialism. New York: Longman.
39.
Hills. S. (Ed.). (1987). Corporate violence: Injury and death for profit. Savage, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
40.
Hilts, P. (1991, November 15). FDA panel cites need to keep breast implants. New York Times, p. A8.
41.
Hilts, P. (1992a, January 7). FDA acts to halt breast implants made of silicone. New York Times, pp. A1, C5.
42.
Hilts, P. (1992b, January 13). Maker of implants balked at tests, its records show. New York Times, pp. A1, B10.
43.
Hilts, P. (1992c, January 14). Maker of silicone breast implants say data show devices are safe. New York Times, pp. A1, A19.
44.
Hilts, P. (1992d, February 11). Top manufacturer of gel implants replaces its chief. New York Times, pp. A1, A18.
45.
Hilts, P. (1992e, February 19). Studies see greater implant danger. New York Times, p. A12.
46.
Hilts, P. (1992f, March 20). As it quits implant business, maker says product is safe. New York Times, p. A12.
47.
Hilts, P. (1992g, April 17). FDA restricts use of implants pending studies. New York Times, pp. A1, A13.
48.
Hopkins, A. (1978). The anatomy of corporate crime. In P. Wilson & J. Braithwaite (Eds.), Two faces of deviance: Crimes of the powerless and powerful (pp. 214-229). Brisbane: University of Queensland Press.
49.
Ingersoll, B. (1992a, January 7). Firms are asked to stop selling breast implants. Wall Street Journal, p. B5.
50.
Ingersoll, B. (1992b, January 13). FDA review of Dow Corning documents led to call for moratorium on implants. Wall Street Journal, p. A3.
51.
Ingersoll, B. (1992c, February 18). Implant makers predict skewed FDA hearings. Wall Street Journal, p. B1.
52.
Ingersoll, B. (1992d, April 17). New rules dim silicone implant revival hopes. Wall Street Journal, p. B8.
53.
Jaggar, A. , & Bordo, S. (Eds.). (1989). Gender/body/knowledge: Feminist reconstructions of being and knowing. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
54.
Kellner, D. (1989). Critical theory, marxism and modernity. Cambridge, MA: Polity.
55.
Kolata, G. (1992, January 16). Questions raised on ability of FDA to protect public. New York Times, p. A1.
56.
Kramer, R. (1983). A prolegomenon to the study of corporate violence. Humanity and Society, 7, 149-178.
57.
Kramer, R. (1984). Corporate criminality: the development of an idea. In E. Hochstedler (Ed.), Corporations as criminals (pp. 13-37). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
58.
Lemonick, M. (1991, November). Reprieve for breast implants. Time, p. 81.
59.
MacKinnon, C. (1987). Feminism unmodified: Discourses on life and law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
60.
MacKinnon, C. (1989). Toward a feminist theory of the state. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
61.
McMurray, S. , & Burton, T. (1992, March 19). Dow Corning plans to quit implant lines. Wall Street Journal, pp. A3-A4.
62.
Merton, R. (1957). Social theory and social structure. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
63.
Messerschmidt, J. (1986). Capitalism, patriarchy, and crime. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield.
64.
Messerschmidt, J. (1993). Masculinities and crime: Critique and reconceptualization of theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
65.
Michalowski, R. (1985). Order, law and crime. New York: Random House.
66.
Mills, P. (1987). Woman, nature, and psyche. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
67.
Mokhiber, R. (1988). Corporate crime and violence: Big business power and the abuse of the public trust. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
68.
Park, P., & Brown, P. (1991, May). Compound from breast implants linked to cancer. New Scientist, p. 14.
69.
Power, S. (1992, March 20). Dow Corning says it will stop making silicone implants. Wall Street Journal, p. B10.
70.
Purvis, A. (1991, April). Time bombs in the breasts? Time, p. 70.
71.
Purvis, A. (1992, March). Not for vanities sake. Time, p. 36.
72.
Reiman, J. (1990). The rich get richer and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice (3d ed.). New York: Macmillan.
73.
Rose, R. (1992, March 4). Breast implants still being sold outside U.S.Wall Street Journal, p. B1.
74.
Science abdicates . (1992, January 9). Wall Street Journal, p. A12.
75.
Seligmann, J., Cowley, G., & Springen, K. (1992, January). Another blow to implants. Newsweek, p. 45.
76.
Seligmann, J., Hager, M., & Springen, K. (1992, March). Another tempest in a C cup. Newsweek, p. 67.
77.
Shelton, B. , & Agger, B. (1993). Shotgun wedding, unhappy marriage, no-fault divorce? Rethinking the feminism-marxism relationship. In P. England (Ed.), Theory on gender/feminism on theory (pp. 25-41). New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
78.
Smart, T. (1991, June). Breast implants: What did the industry know, and when? Business Week, pp. 94-95.
79.
Smart, T. (1992, January). This man sounded the silicone alarm—in 1976. Business Week, p. 34.
80.
Steinem, G. (1994). Moving beyond words. New York: Simon & Schuster.
81.
Sutherland, E. (1940). White-collar criminality. American Sociological Review, 5, 1-12.
82.
Sutherland, E. (1949). White collar crime. New York: Dryden. (Reprinted, 1961, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston)
83.
Vaughan, D. (1982). Toward understanding unlawful organizational behavior. Michigan Law Review, 80, 1377-1402.
84.
Wise timeout on breast implants. (1992, January 8). New York Times, p. A18.
85.
Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. New York: Doubleday.
86.
Wolf, N. (1992, January 23). Keep them implanted and ignorant. Wall Street Journal, p. A17.
87.
Young, T. R. (1981). Corporate crime: A critique of the Clinard report. Contemporary Crises, 5, 323-336.
