Hillary Clinton and the Female Politician's Double Bind

While discussing the coverage of Sarah Palin during her vice presidential run, Miss Representation featured a clip form a Saturday Night Live sketch that imagined Hillary Clinton and Palin coming together to call out the sexism both had faced. Here's the whole video.

Although I am not sure exactly what the makers of the documentary were trying to show with this clip, I think it shines a light on how the objectification of women we see in the media hurts female politicians no matter what route they try to take to success. After listing off a few of their political differences, the fictional Palin and Clinton take turns listing off the sexist insults that have characterized of both women's campaigns--sort of. Tina Fey/Palin recalls being called "pretty" and "attractive," among other things, while Amy Poehler/Clinton lists off some less kind words. There's plenty of other stuff to analyze, but I found this part most interesting.

The contrast between the language thrown at the two women is partially meant as a joke that brings out the frustration the writers believe Clinton must have felt; she was the more serious politician and faced more sexist vitriol, yet this imaginary event showed her and Palin as equals. However, much as I dislike Palin--I'll never forget hearing her say in 2011 that Obama could be reelected because the majority of the U.S. is made up of takers--but comments about her looks do represent a problem. Miss Representation shows the extent to which women in movies and TV are attractive, shallow people, so if all anyone can say about a female politician is that she is attractive, odds are that politician will not be getting respect. No one would want the generic pretty girl character as president, so if they see a candidate that way, they are probably not going to vote for them.

Images of media hurt Clinton as well, in a more obvious ways. When we are constantly seeing images of beautiful, digitally enhanced women in the media, a normal looking woman like Clinton becomes an object of ugly, sexist vitriol. TV and movies have told us that women should be a certain way, and while being that way may not make you presidential, diverging from it makes you someone to be avert your eyes from. As the documentary points out, women beyond their twenties who are not incredibly attractive are typically not shown, and when they are, if they are ambitious, they are mean, annoying people who must be humbled in the end. This is not an easy image to overcome, and I wonder how it may be affecting this year's election.

Who cares about votes?

Hillary Clinton has gotten a lot more votes than Bernie Sanders, and yet she is losing the social media primary by quite a bit. Demographics certainly play a role in this phenomenon; Bernie's supporters are generally younger (promising everyone free college will do that) and thus more likely to express their voices over the internet, but I think gender may play a role. We have no shortage of old, white-haired male heroes--Dumbledore, Gandalf, and others--but powerful women in their sixties? Not many. As a result, even for people who support her policies, it is not as easy to get excited and rally around her; the media has not given us many leaders who look like her, so it is hard to no how to go about supporting one. The fact that people are voting for a female candidate shows that we have made progress, but the way social media has discussed the election may be a sign of our lingering prejudices.