“The Difference Between a Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull”: Sarah Palin's Faux Maternal Persona and Performance of Hegemonic Masculinity at the 2008 Republican National Convention

Gibson, Katie; Heyse, Amy L.

doi:10.1080/01463373.2010.503151

Cited by 33 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Although Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and Pelosi’s speakership were associated with a rise in political involvement among young women who shared their politics, Palin’s candidacy did not move conservative or Republican women in the same way. We think this finding may reflect differences in the way prospective female role models project themselves, the issues they focus on, or the rhetoric they employ (see Gibson and Heyse 2010). 18…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Sarah Palin Run? Party, Ideology, and the Influence of Female Role Models on Young Women

Mariani

Marshall

Mathews-Schultz

2015

Political Research Quarterly

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Previous research suggests that women’s descriptive representation may have a role-model effect on young women, encouraging them to greater levels of political participation. Using data from the Monitoring the Future Survey and the National Survey of Political and Civic Engagement of Young People, we examine whether highly visible female role models like Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Sarah Palin, and viable female candidates for governor and senator had a role-model effect on young women. At the national level, we find some evidence of a role-model effect resulting from the election of Speaker Pelosi and the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton, but the effects are largely concentrated among young women who are Democratic and liberal. We find little evidence that Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential run had a role-model effect on young women, regardless of party or ideology. Our state-level analysis of viable female gubernatorial and senatorial candidates finds that role-model effects on young women and men are mediated in different ways by ideology and, to a lesser extent, party.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Sarah Palin Run? Party, Ideology, and the Influence of Female Role Models on Young Women

Mariani

Marshall

Mathews-Schultz

2015

Political Research Quarterly

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“…Gibson and Heyse’s explication of her convention speech reveals numerous markers of a maternal persona including a personal tone, incorporation of anecdotes, and a number of folksy colloquialisms. Yet Palin undermined this feminine/maternal style by lauding McCain as a masculine warrior while emasculating Obama for being a mere community organizer (Gibson and Heyse 2010).…”

Section: A History Of Gendered Coveragementioning

confidence: 99%

Press Effects, Public Opinion, and Gender

Miller

Peake

2013

The International Journal of Press/Politics

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The press had great potential to influence perceptions of Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign, given her relative obscurity when picked to be the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Prior literature on press treatment of women running for national office suggests that Palin was likely to receive coverage that disadvantaged her due to her gender. We scrutinize press coverage of Palin’s campaign for evidence that she was treated differently and that these differences affected public opinion. Our sample of over 2,500 individual newspaper articles published during the campaign is paired with the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey. We demonstrate that Palin’s coverage differed in significant ways from that of her male counterpart. Her gender, appearance, and family status were disproportionately mentioned in her coverage, and such mentions tended to dampen public opinion about her. In addition, the tone of Palin’s coverage was markedly negative, increasingly so over time, and was significantly related to reader opinion about her. While Palin was a unique candidate for national-level office, these findings should give pause to those concerned with equitable press treatment of women on the campaign trail.

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“…In terms of policies, Michelle Rodino-Colocino (2012) found that Palin's policy stances, "rather than end women's oppression, marginalize women's political voice and erode their financial well-being" (467). When analyzing Palin's articulation of those policy stances at the Republican National Convention, Katie L. Gibson and Amy L. Heyse (2010) found that Palin's performance joined a celebration of hegemonic masculinity that, if allowed to persist, threatened to marginalize feminine discursive styles in presidential politics. These studies address the implications of Palin's policies and rhetorical style.…”

Section: Palin's Gendered Frames and The Milf Fantasymentioning

confidence: 99%

Electile Dysfunction

Perks¹,

Johnson²

2013

Feminist Media Studies

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This essay combines Burke's burlesque frame and Jamieson's double binds to create a hybrid gendered theory for rhetorically analyzing the aggressive sexualization of 2008 United States vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The essay develops our theory titled the "burlesque binds" and explicates a specific form of a burlesque bind: the "MILF frame." Palin's aggressively sexualized representation was united under the crass acronym MILF, which stands for "Mom I'd Like to Fuck." The MILF frame emphasized Palin's feminine qualities, positioning her as a "trophy vice" with no political acumen, and highlighted her masculine behaviors, but deflated them through sexual objectification. The unification of the binds and burlesque theories reveals how Palin's role as a social actor was not simply circumscribed but shut down: she was deemed unfit by both masculine and feminine standards, by both public and private sphere conventions. Although Sarah Palin has arguably been the most prevalent subject of the political MILF frame, our essay catalogues other instances of female political leaders experiencing this type of symbolic degradation, suggesting the MILF frame's vast influence.

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“The Difference Between a Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull”: Sarah Palin's Faux Maternal Persona and Performance of Hegemonic Masculinity at the 2008 Republican National Convention

Cited by 33 publications

References 32 publications

See Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Sarah Palin Run? Party, Ideology, and the Influence of Female Role Models on Young Women

See Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Sarah Palin Run? Party, Ideology, and the Influence of Female Role Models on Young Women

Press Effects, Public Opinion, and Gender

Electile Dysfunction

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