Women in Politics:
- Though the Palin/Clinton SNL spoof is a relatively well known Popular Culture moment, it was stated that the tensions and divides that are innate in the spoof are being lost on a younger generation that does not/chooses not to engage in socio-political positioning of women.
- It was mentioned that the tension between identifying as a feminist yet still being able to enjoy domestic duties is alive and well.
- Some call Palin being kept from the media a sexist move
- Palin structures her speak around a populous rhetoric, but do voters enjoy it?
- A question was raised, if Palin was not seen as "attractive," would she still have been picked as VP nominee? What does this say about the role of aesthetics and female politics.
- What did Palin's continuous winking in the VP debate do? What sort of message does that give?
- George Lakoff has analyzed the rhetoric around the American election, and how conservatives use rhetoric and buzz words to dominate political discourse.
- There is a real dichotomy surrounding Palin's use of her children during political events; on the one hand she is opening herself up to criticism as a bad mother for having her children up late, etc. , on the other hand it can be seen as a positive strategy to shore up her position as a family oriented.
- In the Canadian debate it was noted that Elizabeth May's jewellery could be seen as distracting and detracting from what she was saying and the issues at hand.
- May, Clinton, and Palin force one to confront definitions of feminism(s); since abortion seems to be the polarizing issue, it tends to skew the view of feminists and feminism as something squarely within a leftist frame.
- Biden seems to suggest that violence against women is an economic issue, which is frighteningly like the discourse used in relation to women and education in the 19th century. To his credit he tries to use it towards a general good, thus he is often seen as a better feminist than Palin, if there is such a thing.
- It is interesting that gender has to be front and centre in political debate and discourse now. However, it sometimes needs to be coupled with economics or given an economic spin to be legitimized.
- Hunting can be seen as a de-feminizing of Palin, it relates to her lack of cohesion as a disarming movement that detracts from her bad policies.
- Palin's speech is often in passive voice
- In all cases Palin, May, etc. representation is key
