Manufacturing “Arms” or Legs: An Analysis of the Representation of Soldiers’ Mutilated Bodies in the Colombian Armed Conflict

Abstract

This article examines the widely-circulated images of two disabled bodies in the Colombian mass media. This representation of two Colombian soldiers disabled by landmines in the armed conflict seems to challenge media images of body normativity. In this analysis, I propose that, while certainly making visible these bodies, the portraits of the soldiers, reproduce normative of masculinity and aesthetic beauty.