Candidates, the Media and the Sexist Politics of Hugging
Is there really an article in the NYT today about the hugging ‘protocol’ between John McCain and Sarah Palin?
And could it possibly yield one of the most awkward paragraphs I’ve ever read?:
Already, there has been one noticeable shift in protocol: Mr. McCain now introduces his wife first, not Ms. Palin, when both are on stage. But it was not always that way: at his first postconvention rally with Ms. Palin, in Cedarburg, Wis., last Friday, Mr. McCain began by lavishly praising Ms. Palin, who had just rocked the Republican convention. “Isn’t this the most marvelous running mate in the history of this nation?” Mr. McCain asked the roaring crowd, as Mrs. McCain stood quietly by.
…
Mr. McCain’s closest adviser, Mark Salter, insisted that there had been no behind-the-scenes stage direction — “Nobody said, ‘Cindy first’ ” — and that no one in the campaign had discussed hugging etiquette or protocol between Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin. “They’re going to behave like normal human beings,” he said. “Nobody ever told him, ‘Just shake hands.’ ”
Some commentators have criticized the NYT’s article about Obama ‘dispatching’ Clinton and female surrogates, but this type of story is harder to stomach.
The use of verbs like ‘dispatch’ and ‘deploy’, I’d argue, have more to do with the media’s tendency to use sports and war metaphors in their election reporting than sexism. Clinton is now one of the troops in the Obama campaign machine.
In addition, Obama, as the head of the Democratic party, has the authority to direct supporters to where they are most useful. As such, it is also not surprising to see him as the subject of the sentence (though I could say a few words about the NYT’s seeming obsession with what will women do?! in this election).
The story quoted above smacks more of gender-based trivialization in its light, isn’t-this-so-weird-gurlfriend? tone. It quotes a male McCain representative, followed by two women etiquette experts and then Christopher Buckley for the funny.
Right in the middle is a comment from whatever woman they could find (and create more awkward sentences about):
Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bush who 15 years ago was the first woman elected as New Jersey’s governor, said that she, for one, had embraced many of her male counterparts, as long as she knew them well. “I gave them lots of hugs and kisses, depending on the governor,” she said. (Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania was one, John Engler of Michigan was another.)
Look, other girls do it, too! (And here’s who they do it with!)
I’m much less concerned with a (perceived) linguistic affront to Clinton (imagine her being sent somewhere, like every other surrogate!) than with articles that emphasize a (perceived) need to treat women candidates differently from their male counterparts.
The article doesn’t explore how Obama and Biden (the McCain/Palin equivalents) interact - it details interactions between Obama and Clinton.
The message is that political body language (at least hugging) is only important between the sexes.
This view posits women as outsiders to the political process - their presence in the arena is awkward and makes us scrutinize what is considered appropriate behavior.
In this article Palin, Clinton, Whitman and Ferraro are women first, politicians second.
It reaffirms and makes commonsense the notion that women in politics (and, perhaps most troubling, their bodies) are something unusual enough to garner special coverage. The constant repetition of this logic in the media prevents the naturalization of women as equal political figures.
One might say, it keeps them at arm’s length…
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