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Bonnie Dow

Bonnie Dow is a prestigious communication and gender scholar. She is the writer and editor of many communication related articles but is most known for her two books Watching Women’s Liberation, 1970: Feminism’s Pivotal Year on the Network News and Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement Since 1970. Dow is currently Professor and Chair of Communication Studies as well as Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Vanderbilt University.. Her work focuses on various rhetorical aspects of second-wave feminism.

History and Background

Bonnie Jean Dow was born in Waco, Texas. She participated in debate during both high school and college. Dow got her Bachelor's degree from the Department of Communication at Baylor University in 1985. She then got her Masters from the Department of Communication at the University of Kansas in 1987, and finally her Ph.D from the Department of Communication at the University of Minnesota in 1990.

In her previous years of employment, Dow was an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Cincinnati from 1990-1992, an assistant professor in the Department of Speech Communication at North Dakota State University from 1992-1996, and an assistant professor in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Georgia from 1996-1999. In 1999, she became an associate professor at the University of Georgia until 2006. Dow then became and associate professor at Vanderbilt University in 2006, which is where she currently works as Professor and Chair of Communication Studies.

Scholarly Work

Bonnie Dow's main focus of research revolves around feminism, specifically the rhetoric and representation of the first and second waves of feminism in the United States . Popular topics in her scholarly work include the history of women's movement and suffrage, media coverage of feminism, gender, and LGBTQ community, and others such as rhetoric and politics. A noteworthy publication of Bonnie's is the book she wrote, titled Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement Since 1970. In this book, Dow discusses an array of television series along with case studies on shows such as Designing Women, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Murphy Brown. Dow also highlights the power of the relationships between television, news media, women's magazines, publicity, and celebrity biographies and interviews. Through which a framework is created where television viewers "make sense" of both the medium's portrayal of feminism and the nature of feminism itself.

Other Contributions

Journals Edited

Co-editor (with Celeste Condit), Critical Studies in Media Communication, 2002-2004. 

Co-editor (with Celeste Condit), Women’s Studies in Communication, 1998-2000.

Guest Editor, Critical Studies in Mass Communication Forum Section on “Feminism, Scandal, and Media Logics,” March 1999. 

Awards and Honors

• 2006 Faculty Excellence Award, Speech Communication Graduate Forum, University of Georgia
• 2007 Lambda Award from the LBGTQ Caucus of the National Communication Association for Outstanding Contributions to the LBGTQ Academic Community (recognizing the Handbook of Gender and Communication, co-edited with Julia Wood)
• 2008 Paul Boase Prize for Scholarship given by the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University (career achievement award and endowed lecture series).
• 2009 Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award, National Communication Association (career achievement award for programmatic research).
• 2009 Ernest A. Jones Faculty Advisor Award from the College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University.
• 2012 Francine Merritt Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Lives of Women in Communication, National Communication Association’s Women’s Caucus.
• 2014 Mentoring Award presented by the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt University.
• 2016 Bonnie Ritter Outstanding Book Award, Feminist and Women’s Studies Division of the National Communication Association, for Watching Women’s Liberation.

Further Readings

Books Authored

Bonnie J. Dow, Watching Women’s Liberation, 1970: Feminism’s Pivotal Year on the Network News. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2014.

Bonnie J. Dow, Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement Since 1970. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996. 

Book Chapters

Dow, B. (2014). Michelle Obama, ‘Mom-in-Chief’: Gender, Race, and Familialism in Media Representations of the First Lady, in J. Vaughn & J. Mercieca, eds., The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency (pp. 235-256). College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press.

Dow, B. (2010). Feminism and Public Address Research: Television News and the Constitution of Women’s Liberation, in Shawn Parry-Giles & J. Michael Hogan, eds., The Handbook of Rhetoric and Public Address (pp. 345-372). London: Blackwell.

Dow, B. (2005). How will you make it on your own? Feminism and Television Since 1970, in Janet Wasko, ed., Blackwell Companion for Television (pp. 379-394). London: Blackwell.

Dow, B. (1995). Prime-Time Feminism: Television Entertainment and Women’s Progress, in Cynthia Lont, ed., Women and Media: Content, Careers, Criticism (pp. 199-216). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Dow, B. (1993). Frances E. Willard: Re-inventor of True Womanhood, in Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, ed., Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1800-1925: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook (pp. 476-490). Westport CT: Greenwood Press.

Dow, B. (1991). The Revolution, 1868-1870: Expanding the Woman Suffrage Agenda, in Martha Solomon, ed., A Voice of Their Own: The Woman Suffrage Press, 1849-1914 (pp. 71-86). Tuscaloosa, AL: Univ. of Alabama.

Journal Articles

Dow, B. (2016). Authority, Invention, and Context in Feminist Rhetorical Criticism. Review of Communication, 60, 60-76.

Dow, B. (2014). The Lessons of History: Women’s Studies in Communication Approaches 40. Women’s Studies in Communication, 37, 259-261.

Dow, B. (2008). Does It Take a Department to Raise a Child? Women’s Studies in Communication [Special Issue on Redefining the Professor(iate): Valuing Commitments to Care and Career in Academe], 31, 158-165.

Dow, B. (2006). The Traffic in Men: Fatal Attraction, Postfeminist Masculinity, and 1980s Media. Women’s Studies in Communication, 29, 113-131.

Dow, B. (2004). Fixing Feminism: Women’s Liberation and the Rhetoric of Television Documentary. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 90, 53-80.

Dow, B. (2003). Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 6, 127-160.

Dow, B. (2002). Ally McBeal, Lifestyle Feminism, and the Politics of Personal Happiness. Communication Review, 5, 259-264.

Dow, B. (2001). Criticism and Authority in the Artistic Mode. Western Journal of Communication, 65, 336-348.

Dow, B. (2001). Ellen, Television, and the Politics of Gay and Lesbian Visibility. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 18, 123-140.

Dow, B. (1999). Spectacle, Spectatorship, and Gender Anxiety in Television News Coverage of the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality. Communication Studies, 50, 143-157.

Dow, B. (1998). If There’s No Such Thing As Reality, Has Elvis Really Left the Building? Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 15, 471-474.

Dow, B. (1997). Politicizing Voice. Western Journal of Communication, 61, 243-251.

Dow, B. (1995). Feminism, Difference(s), and Rhetorical Studies. Communication Studies, 46, 106-117.

Dow, B. (1994). AIDS, Perspective by Incongruity, and Gay Identity in Larry Kramer’s ‘1,112 and Counting. Communication Studies, 45, 225-240.