Journal of Language and Politics - Volume 19, Issue 1, 2020

Abstract

This paper seeks to show how male politicians can draw on performances of masculinity to appeal to voters. The paper uses former UK Prime Minister David Cameron as an example of how performances of masculinity interact with the opportunistic use of populist forms of political engagement. It argues that while Cameron’s performances of populism are often situated in compatible policy initiatives such as the “big society”, we can also identify a more sustained deployment of masculine discourse in “performances” of alignment with the people. This paper shows how these gendered performances of political leaders mirror changes in society, while exploring how they can also be politically hazardous. Whilst the “new man” might appeal to Western voters, this paper shows how Cameron draws on this performance of masculinity in his first term as UK prime minister; at the same time, showing the limits to such appeal in an age of austerity.

Abstract

This article explores the mediated representation of gender in the Scottish public sphere during the independence referendum in 2014. In particular, it focuses on a media sample drawn from the Scottish press that centres on two key political figures, Johann Lamont and Nicola Sturgeon, who took part in a televised debate during the campaign. Using critical discourse analysis, it looks at how language is used to construct overlapping discourses of gender in a specific cultural and national context. Findings show representations pivot on expectations that female politicians should embody a specific feminised style; and when gender norms appear to be violated, this is represented in negatively gendered terms. Though there is evidence of contestation of male-dominated politics, discourses still reify traditional gender norms and situate women as outsiders to the political sphere. This study shows how specific discursive frames can contribute to a cross-cultural practice of gendering women in politics.

Abstract

The present paper is part of an overview of the discursive manifestations of the U.S. President Trump’s sexist attitudes and practices. Drawing upon Mills’ model of sexism (2008) and Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive framework (2006), the study will analyse a corpus of all the negative Tweets against women tweeted by President Trump since the beginning of his 2016 campaign (July 2015) to February 2019. The study sheds a light on how President Trump’s vocabulary perpetuates a male-centric hierarchy. Considering the outcome of the 2016 elections, it can be said that his ideology has had a significant impact, particularly amongst his supporters. His political ascendency speaks to how these ideological beliefs risk to become dangerously ingrained in language and society.

Abstract

This study examines tweets posted by candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the weeks preceding the 2016 presidential debates in an effort to assess the ways in which the candidates’ language use either conformed to or refuted gender stereotypes. Analysis of 490 tweets (724 sentences) suggests that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton used language in ways that were gender counterstereotypic. Clinton’s tweets contained a significantly greater number of statements and directives, suggesting that the candidate adopted a more masculine linguistic style, but also a greater number of cooperative words, which are stereotypically associated with feminine speech. Trump’s tweets contained a significantly greater number of exclamations, but fewer statements and directives than Clinton, thus defying masculine linguistic stereotypes. The implications of these findings on candidates’ political self-presentation are discussed.

Abstract

This article examines the discourses of masculinity to pervade debates on the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. The article outlines an association between excessive forms of masculinity and popular cultural discourses around conflict and war, constructing and reproducing a popular lexicon on the British experience of World War II in ways that are widely interpreted as symptomatic of a coarsening of political discussion. However, the article also emphasises the performative quality of these masculine discourses in line with the personalisation of politics, and stresses the scope for contestation and ridicule. The article thereby identifies the articulation of a performative masculinity with a nation-based politics of the right. While disputable and occasionally subject to derision, this produces a gendered component in any antagonistic turn in contemporary political culture.

Abstract

This essay analyses the use of the term “gender madness” and “lost manliness” in the discourse of the right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AFD). It draws on analyses of public statements, policy papers, manifestos and public speeches. It argues that the “gender” theme constitutes a discoursive cluster that is used link otherwise eclectic policies. Furthermore, it is utilised to articulate certain folkish and ethno-nationalist ideas while at the same time helping to avoid open references to extremist language. By presenting itself as the custodian of traditional heterosexuality and family values the AFD creates yet another dimension of the populist dichotomy of “us” versus “them”. This is underpinned by a sophisticated media strategy that seeks create an image of authenticity and immediacy between party and supporters. On the whole, the piece analyses and explains the central importance of “anti-genderism” in the discourse of the populist right in Germany.

Abstract

This paper traces the increasing prominence of women in the White House press corps over the latter half of the 20th century, and considers how this trend toward greater gender balance has impacted the questioning of presidents. Modest gender differences are documented in the topical content of questions, with women journalists slightly favoring domestic policy and private-sphere topics relative to men. More substantial differences are documented in aggressiveness, with women journalists asking more adversarial questions, and more assertive questions at least in the earlier years of the sampling period. The topical content differences are broadly aligned with traditional conceptions of gender, but the stronger differences in aggressiveness run contrary to such conceptions.

Abstract

Since the 1990s, media commentators in the UK and elsewhere have praised women for introducing a “visibly different style of politics”, one symbol of which is the alleged preference of female politicians for a less adversarial and more co-operative style of political speech. Drawing on an analysis of the 2015 UK General Election campaign, we argue that this notion of women’s “different voice” has become increasingly central to the media’s construction of prominent female politicians as public figures, despite the evidence that it does not reflect any clear-cut pattern of differentiation between male and female political speakers of equivalent status and experience. Though it may seem to be an advance on previous negative representations of female politicians, we suggest that it reproduces – albeit in a “modernized” form – the long-established tendency of the media to evaluate women in relation to gendered norms and expectations, while men are judged as individuals.

Abstract

This paper examines the media representations of scandalous parliamentary talk on same-sex child fostering in the discourses of representatives of the radical-right Golden Dawn party in Greece, but also by an MP of the conservative ANEL party of the SYRIZA-ANEL joint government at the time. Through discourse- and conversation analysis of online articles and a broadcast interview, it is shown that the media framing of populist statements is negotiated. Moreover, the interview enacts a subtly achieved interactional synergy between the interviewer and the politician, thus failing to address the issues through substantive public dialogue. It is argued that the process of (re)mediating racist or homophobic talk has the potential to serve as a publicity tool creating increased visibility for right-wing populist politicians, their core ideologies and policy platforms. This creates a challenge for practitioners of journalism who must balance disparate concerns in reporting on scandalous talk.

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