The Scapegoating of Islamic Immigrant Women in the Media

Abstract

In 2010 the Sweden Democrats (SD) unveiled their campaign advertisement for the
 parliamentary election, they engaged a series of images positioning immigrants as
 scapegoats by creating a link between immigration and the domestic budget crisis.
 While the advert associated immigration and lslam with the economic failings of
 Swedish society, the SD also energized new forms of representation, a new
 embodiment of Swedishness and, additionally, of conceptualizations of 'the Other'.
 On the surface, the controversial campaign ad identified economic concerns and
 moral corruption with immigration, women, and lslam. Perhaps, as a result of this
 immediate reading, the state's leading broadcaster, TV4, banned the advertisement
 for inciting hate speech before it even aired on Swedish television. The act of
 censorship thrust the ad centre stage, with a flurry of media coverage and the
 Sweden Democrats (SD) proclaiming unlawful persecution. Paradoxically, or,
 perhaps, expectedly, censorship of the advertisement, and the ensuing public debate
 about censorship, dramatically increased awareness of the party and their message,
 in various and complex ways.