The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
According to the 2012 Project, more women are running for Congress this year than ever. But how can we make an intelligent choice as to the best candidate when overwhelming research shows the decision is being made for us via skewed, imbalanced media coverage that has a predisposition toward taking men seriously and treating women like novelties?
Research on media behavior in the 2010 midterms revealed women candidates got a whopping 68% less coverage than men on the issues and 3 times more attention paid to their appearance than their male counterparts. The Fourth Estate’s disturbing study found that men were quoted at ratios of five to one over women on women’s issues, and overwhelmed women’s opinions on the economy and foreign policy. No Republican woman is being seriously vetted for VP this year. Despite Mrs. Romney’s recent inference to the contrary, it is likely Mitt Romney will go with a “safe” choice.
Conservative Pat Buchanan was just on a panel with the McLaughlin Group arguing that a female president would not be elected for another 40 years. Annoying as he is, he may be right. Why? Well, if past is prologue, let’s look at recent high level races.
A blockbuster study conducted by George Washington University revealed Sarah Palin received twice the scrutiny as Joe Biden in their race for the Vice Presidency in 2008. We obsessed about Palin’s appearance, stand on social issues and family while Joe Biden got coverage on his stances on foreign policy and the economy. Furthermore, twice as many articles were published scrutinizing and obsessing over her every move whereas he got a relatively quiet ride. Mr. Biden is known for his “rhetorical flourishes” as President Obama calls them – otherwise known as gaffes. I like Vice President Biden, but no one could argue that he has a very long “blooper reel” to his credit. We just laugh it off – but if a woman said those things….
Leticia Bode and Valerie Hennings published their studies on the VP race in the journal Politics and Policy, writing:
“Each of these differences could have had important influences on public opinion formation and the public’s voting decisions in this particular race.”“If gender stereotypes in media coverage have the ability to negatively affect women candidates, this calls into question the American political system’s ability to produce elected representatives in a fair and democratic manner.”
If you are talking about a woman like a homemaker, a mom (good or bad), and fashion plate, how likely are we to take her seriously as a leader?
Last December, Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report reported on two scholarly studies fromUniversityofUtahresearchers, published in the prestigious Political Research Quarterly. Both concluded that Hillary’s 2008 presidential bid “was doomed by media sexists.” That, more than ideology, “drove the media’s anti-Clinton theme.” They exposed a “lopsided reliance on male reporters” who “first belittled her effort against Barack Obama, then jumped the gun to push her out of the race earlier than any other recent strong primary challenger.”
There has been significant ongoing discussion about Hillary Clinton taking the Presidency in 2016 — and that it is “hers if she wants it.” Yet she has repeatedly stated that she is not interested. But is the LA Times Meghan Daum’s statement of women candidates true: We want her to ‘pursue the White House without looking like a pursuer.’ Does a woman still have to play hard to get? A nonsensical notion when you consider how many women are doing heavy lifting at home, at work and now, even in the military…
There is currently a big stink since Rep. Joe Walsh, who is running against war veteran and double amputee Tammy Duckworth made the comment that she is not a “true hero,” and that she talks about her service “too much.” So first we are dealt with as emotional beings, and then when we participate and sacrifice in what has traditionally been a male province, we are talking about it too much and not entitled to be taken seriously? Have I got that right?
I also encourage you to read Karrin Anderson’s article discussing “Pornification” in our political culture, wherein pornographic images, metaphors and narratives were used to negatively frame and diminish female candidates in the 2008 race. She contends this “signals a backlash against the gains women have made in the U.S.political system.”
If we link all the studies together, the lopsided reliance on male reporters and male opinion, diminishing women by turning them back into objects to be used or manipulated, it is clear that we have a many hurdles to overcome if women are to be given fair hearing when they seek legislative and leadership positions.
Reading much of the commentary that still dominates cable shows and print articles, it is as if men looking to hold on to traditional power structures (and complicit women who likewise do not want to lose the illusion of male-provided security) are digging their in their heels, stubbornly hanging on to tired, yet comforting, stereotypes that maintain the status quo and stifle competition from the encroching female.
In today’s complex and troubled world, we need the best leadership, ideas and representation possible. Hormones and X or Y chromosomes have nothing to do with it.
Bias isn’t going to stop until we stand up and insist it stop.
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Anita Finlay is the author of Dirty Words on Clean Skin: Sexism and Sabotage, a Hillary Supporter’s Rude Awakening, available on Amazon in print and kindle editions.
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I agree and I also think women’s groups should put breaking the Corporate Media on the top of their list of things to do to gain political parity. We can force these sexist morons out of business by insisting Congress give consumers the option of cable TV a la carte. Very few people would sign up for these BS sexist “news” channels and they would soon go out of business in a free market. There is no way women can gain political parity without taking out Corporate media who are committed to pornification of women. Here is a link to a group who is working on cable choice. They are conservatives and this is work that will benefit women consumers.
http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/cable/main.asp
That Rep. Joe Walsh is a jerk and a complete jackass! I wish him nothing but failure as he richly deserves. Tammy Duckworth should be president someday. I would work tirelessly for her. We can only hope.
Anita, great analysis.
Despite this onslaught of sexism by the media, the voters have shown that a large proportion is willing to consider a woman for president (the 18 million for Hillary). But even then, party tactics are capable of suppressing voter wishes.
I am very frustrated about the non-talk, down talk of female candidates for VP in the Republican party. And there are phantastic candidates. Think of Condelezza Rice’s name recognition, experience and superb qualities, or a freshman/woman governor of the name recognition gained in such short time, attractive to many voters on the issues and others, I haven’t followed as much.
There are some very very big dinosaurs still alive. I count the fourth estate to them and the classic channels, who can’t bring it on themselves to play works from female composers. Be it songs, symphony, chamber music, masses or operas, they will find excuses to ignore them. A woman can’t be capable of serious creative work in their eyes.
Excellent points Anita! We won’t get the kind of media we need unless we demand it. We need women in media as well as politics to give women a voice.
I agree with you Bes! Corporate media needs to be a top priority.
Maybe we just need a build a new media platform that gives women as well as men a voice and a choice!
Parents Television Council is having a “Take Action” day regarding their “Cable Choice” campaign. Here is the link to contact Congress and demand the OPTION of cable TV a la carte so you can stop having sexist corporate media channels force fed into your home via the one size fits all males cable bundle. Women do not need to reinvent the wheel on this we can just join up with the people who have been trying to break Corporate Medias monopoly for years.
http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/p.....2/0710.htm
Well, Marille, part of the reason a woman is not being considered (although they won’t admit it) is because of the horror show that happened to both Hillary and Palin in 2008. It has been swept under the rug because no one wants to admit our society is not as evolved as advertised. The net result is that Romney does not want to take the risk of putting a female up there (even if he wants to) because he fears it will be a distraction. But ‘she’ is not the distraction – it is the media and the opposition who will make her into one and change the subject to her womanhood, her appearance, and subject her to the same disgusting double standard we have come to know. The discussion will no longer be about the issues.
And unless we call these culprits out on the carpet, shame them mercilessly and stop them from doing this, we will never progress past this point.
I truly believe our society has evolved to the point where people would vote for a woman President or VP. Hillary got more votes than Obama, Democrats only qualified Obama by refusing to honor the Hillary votes in several states and by holding corrupt caucuses and then by forcing Hillary to sit down and shut up before the Democrat convention.
Political parties and the media are the misogynist backward people who have not evolved and they have dug in their heels and are doing their best to stop the advancement of women. They always say they reflect the culture. Well that is bullshit. They reflect what rich white old men want to see. Remember no one picks the TV channels that enter their homes. Those are preselected advertising venues that are force fed into your home when you sign up for PBS. If we force Corporate Medias crap misogynist content into a free market it will die a quick death and women who produce alternative content will have a chance of bringing their content to market.
But remember, politicians are very cozy with Corporate Media. You know all the money that is being raised by Obama and Romney, well all of that money is going to be transferred to Corporate Media. Media profits from our elections.
calling out the sexism of media is fine. but I expect thick-skinned guys in their monopoly not to be bothered too much about complaints.
remember the battle for the vote. it was a very visible demand and outcry for decades. not before the horror from the prison made headlines and the suffering of politicians’ wives in prison hit home, was there a move. for us to change the blocking of women in leadership it will take more than shaming the culprits. what about if the 18 mill votes for Hillary could due moved just once to go to a third party with great female candidates and leave the two big ones alone. who really is excited about Obama or Romney, if they can’t even accept a female VP. I don’t take the experience from 2008 as excuse for neglecting women in the future. every political campaign know how the media and the opponent will try to abuse a female candidate. to be serious with women voters, a party needs to have a counterstrategy to making it hot dissing women. the Romney campaign could as strategy role out that they will tap into the wasted reservoir of female leaders and show how disrespectful the democrats are. no distraction play it back to them what they do. not daring to take a female VP because of 2008 does not look strong and convincing. I don’t think I am voting for any party who can’t find capable female candidates.
Bes, PBS is free.
But I would love to be able to pick my cable channels. The sports channels account for the vast majority of the cost of cable.
Jean Louise: You can get multiple PBS channels on cable and the PBS reception where I live is lousy without cable or internet. I don’t mind paying for clear reception on channels that I want, as well as donating to them but I do mind subsidizing the profoundly sexist industry of Corporate Media. Nothing will cleanse the unhinged woman hate from Corporate Media like exposure to a free market. Women consumers need to demand their consumer rights and stop subsidizing “one size fits all men” cable packages. Click the link to see how much your cable bill would be if you could pay for only the channels you want.
http://www.howcableshouldbe.com/
wow, Interesting; that is how cable should be. Much better than what we have now.
It’s the year of the woman in the Green Party. Nominees for both president and VP are women–Dr. Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala.
http://www.jillstein.org/
Kimble: That is great news. Now there is a focus for the political parity for women citizens protest vote. I was considering writing in Presidential Barbie but this is a much better option. Parties like this don’t have to win anything they only need to draw off enough votes to throw the election one way or another. When Republicans and Democrats see how many votes these women draw they will try to change their deeply ingrained misogyny (I don’t have any faith that they will succeed with that but so far they haven’t even acknowledged their problem). This is really exciting!