VISUAL LITERACY: SAMPLE ESSAYS ON GENDER AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

For a stronger grasp of rhetorical analysis of political cartoons:

Janis L. Edwards

“Drawing Politics in Blue and Pink”
Analysis of gender topoi in political cartoons (e.g., metaphors of sport, war, and conflict). This essay's particularly useful in thinking about whether the gendering of politics has changed from the (D) Mondale/Ferraro candidacy of 1984 to the (R) McCain/Palin candidacy of 2008. (See above examples.)

Dori Moss

“The Animated Persuader”
Uses Kenneth Burke’s master tropes of metaphor, irony, synecdoche, and metonymy to explore persuasion in political cartoons.

Donna R. Hoffman and Alison D. Howard

“Representations of 9-11 in Editorial Cartoons”
Tracks the historical shift from memorializing to sociopolitical critique in 9-11 editorial cartoons.

Gender Politics

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/09/11/0911campaign.html

Here's a fairly recent article pertaining to Obama's "lipstick on a pig" quote and it's outplay in the presidential race. The comments left on the blog at the bottom of the page a very interesting as well. To sum it all up, McCain phonily expresses outrage as he regards Obama's comments as "sexist" when, in all actuality, he only refers to S. Palin's lack of experience despite her refined appearance. It's a very lucid example of gender politics wherein he attempts to diminish Obama's character through chilidish antics and manipulation of his intended meaning in alterring a simple axiom into a sexist averment. With that being said F*** McCain!!!

Peace!!![On Earth]

The Kaliymster

PALIN, POLITICS, AND GENDER

Sexism Debate Front And Center With Palin Pick:
Experts Weigh In On How The Sex Card May Or May Not Be Played In The Election

Monday, Sept. 29, 2008
Will Englund

Sarah Palin's nomination as the Republican vice presidential candidate has put sexism front and center as an issue, and it is stirring deep and sometimes fierce emotions.

A quintet of top Republican women lambasted Palin's critics on Wednesday. One, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a McCain adviser, came close to suggesting that almost any criticism of the Alaska governor is out of bounds. "Many people have demeaned and belittled her experience," Fiorina said. "Women are sensitized and outraged."

Ellen Malcolm, head of EMILY's List, the liberal fundraising group, countered that Palin's selection was a transparent ploy that shows little respect for women. A poll that her group sponsored showed it wasn't working, she said. "It's a cynical miscalculation of women voters."

Palin clearly had the benefit of the doubt from the adoring convention crowd when she gave her acceptance speech on Wednesday night. She wowed them with her thoroughly upbeat demeanor.

Her supporters are focusing most of their pushback on those who question whether she can balance family responsibilities with the rigors of a campaign, though this question has not gotten much of an airing outside the blogosphere, and on what they called the "smears" and speculation about the pregnancy of her daughter Bristol. But, having detected sexism, some are now seeing it in almost every attack on her. (Not all, to be sure: Meg Whitman, a McCain adviser and the former chief of eBay, told Fox News that she thought the press was pursuing legitimate questions about Palin.)

If Palin takes on the traditional role of No. 2 candidate as attack dog -- and she flirted with that role in her speech -- it might seem as though she was trying to provoke sexist attacks in a culture that is still uncertain how to assess aggressive women.

It is a highly charged topic. Geraldine Ferraro, the only other woman ever to join a national ticket, ran into storms of vituperation and scorn. After her 1984 debate with George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush was asked what she thought of her husband's opponent. "I can't say it, but it rhymes with rich," she replied.

Hillary Rodham Clinton complained of sexism in this year's Democratic primary campaign, and Republicans have been vocal in proclaiming their newfound solidarity with her.

An inescapable question is whether the Republicans are playing the sex card the way they sometimes accuse black Democratic politicians of playing the race card. The answer is no more straightforward with gender than it is with black-white relations. Some measure of outrage at what Palin is facing is clearly genuine; some measure of political calculation is just as real. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. And an emotional charge like an accusation of sexism can be a powerful distraction in a campaign.

Deborah Tannen, a Georgetown professor whose book, "You Just Don't Understand," was a best-seller, said yesterday that on some level women can't escape their gender identity. Male politicians can be "neutral," but female politicians will always be "marked" as women in people's minds. The consequence of that, she said, is that "anything you say [as a woman or about a woman] is going to have extra meaning in it, and is going to get someone's back up."

Because the world is the way it is, there are no clear lines to guide political discourse. "Is it sexist to talk about women's clothing? Yes. But it tells us something about them. And the same with their hair."

"Obviously," said Charlotte Allen, a contributing editor at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, "there's a double standard. Conservative women are given no quarter. They're considered an outrage to their sex."

What Allen sees as "beyond the pale" sexist attacks on Palin have ironically served to overshadow legitimate issues, she said, such as the governor's controversial efforts to get her former brother-in-law fired from the state police.

As for the argument that Palin has put her family on the public stage, making them "fair game," Allen replied, "I don't understand that one bit."

She praised Barack Obama's declaration on Monday that family matters are off-limits, and his reminder to his supporters that his own mother was 18 when he was born. "Obama really showed class when he said this has got to stop," she said.

Will woman voters respond to Palin because she's a woman, or because of the attacks on her as a woman? Page Gardner, founder of Women's Voices, Women Vote, an advocacy group for unmarried women, said that people are naturally drawn to candidates who seem to have "walked in their shoes." In the end, however, issues will trump gender, she said; the fact that Palin is a woman will be interesting but not determinative.

The EMILY's List poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, found that by 59 percent to 20 percent, female respondents believe that Palin was picked out of political considerations rather than because John McCain thought her qualified. Allen's response was that running mates are always chosen out of political considerations and that there's nothing cynical about that; to hold Palin to a higher standard is in itself a form of sexism.

National Journal

WHAT IS GENDER?

Here are some of your responses:


I think gender is the specification of a person. The common question, especially in applications, is what is your gender. The answer is either male or female.

Guys, girls. Male, female. Some people like to get it changed.

Gender is the classification of a person.

Gender, to me, is one’s BORN anatomical sex. Male/Female.

There are only two types of gender (male and female). We were born with these genders by the grace of God. That does not mean that a person has to act as his or her gender. But it is rare that a person would act out of his or her gender.

I think that gender means what sex you are and tell how you are “supposed” to act or how society feels you should act.

Gender is not only a scientific description but also a social division between people. It describes physically the differences between males and females. Gender separates people and causes many social issues when one gender feels superior to another.

Gender is the two separate halves that when together make a species whole. Gender exists because of the difference between the males and females of a species.

Gender, as I’ve always understood it, represents something else. For instance, you can use gender to catalog anything. It is usually used in personal information sheets to ask whether you’re male or female, but it may be used to stand for a group of subjects with similar characteristics.

Gender is what makes up a person—whether male or female. Gender is compiled with several components—it can help describe one’s being—mentally—physically, gender defines peoples body types and languages—thinking because of different genders—people act different ways and process things differently.

Gender is something that plays a large factor in some peoples’ lives. Whether you’re a male or a female can determine the outlook someone may have on a situation.

Gender is the sex of a person, I think.

Male or female. How someone looks, acts, dress, talk, etc. Category used to judge people.

How masculine or feminine someone is.

Gender is a means of distinction, a person is either male or female. Gender is used to distinguish the traits and characteristics that a male or female is supposed to exhibit to be considered the norm.

Gender is the sex of a person or animal. It deals with what reproductive organs and physical appearance a person has.

Gender is a way of classification. I think it has a very limited meaning.

Medical to me. There are, however, huge arguments about the psychological aspect.

Gender is a biological and sociological status that people tend to embrace and feel a certain urge to act in a way typical of their gender.

Gender is what defines or differentiates a male from a female.

Gender is whether you are feminine, masculine, or neuter.

Gender is the word used to tell people apart by the category of males and females. The gender of a person consists also of the organs in one’s body which contrasts them again from males and females.

Gender is what makes a man a man, and a woman a woman. The sexual organs distinguish which side you belong to.

There are two genders, male and female. Both are needed to reproduce and continue the human race. The most obvious difference between the two is that they have some different body parts.

The groups of people that are based on reproductive organs.

Whether you are a man or a woman.