Nightclub singer Arrow was convicted of making a false complaint to police in relation to a faked abduction. This author maintains the case raised the crucial issue of the relationship between, crime, and the media; feminist theory would argue that the media appropriated and exploited her image because of its commodity value. While the media portrayed her as "selling out" through her actions, the hidden question is about the quality of choices facing women and the masculine definition of those choices. Chamberlain was accused and convicted of infanticide, sent to prison, and then acquitted. Both women were caricatured in the media because of their unconventional motherhood. And both cases showed how women are positioned within the mainstream media and how female "reliability" is a disputed terrain in relation to issues of motherhood, sexuality, and crime. 14 references