Introduction:

In the current state of Juarez, Mexico one can see how the male hierarchy has attempted to regainpower not only through violence, but most importantly through discourse. Images of murder victims have had the most damaging effects on the female psyche and the culture that these women live in. This is not only a gender war fought on the physical bodies of Juarez women, but an ideological war which is being fought in the media. These killings and the women who are the victims are being represented through a particular kind of discourse which has been able to control these women and the environments they live in by creating and maintaining a constant state of fear which blames female independence and beauty for male injustices.

First I will examine the importance of the male gaze with psychoanalysis techniques and the construct and use of beauty as an ideological tool to control the women of Juarez. I will also focus on the discourse used in the Mexican Media and its representation of the Juarez murder victim and how this representation has naturalized male-dominated ideologies which portray these women negatively. I will also discuss the photos of the murder victims and the verbal and textual rhetoric that goes with them and how this works as powerful means of discourse that aims at maintaining male hegemony. Also, I will use basic functions of semiology to show the importance of signs in creating meaning and understanding in reference to these crimes and the victims. Finally, I will focus on the use of positive discourse in the documentary Senorita Extraviada and how these images are intended to represent the victims and their families as real people who deserve and demand justice.