“Look, Donald Trump's Got Broad Shoulders.”
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
“Look, Donald Trump’s got broad shoulders.” Masculinity in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections. Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Hannah Maria WOLF am Institut für Amerikanistik Begutachter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Brandt, MA Graz, 2018 Eigenständigkeitserklärung Ich erkläre ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen nicht benutzt und die den Quellen wörtlich oder inhaltlich entnommenen Stellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form keiner anderen inländischen oder ausländischen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt und auch noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die vorliegende Fassung entspricht der eingereichten elektronischen Version. Graz am, ……………………………... ……………………………………… Unterschrift 2 Acknowledgments First and foremost, I want to thank my thesis supervisor Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Brandt, MA for helping and advising me whenever needed, steering me in the right direction when I ran into trouble, and trusting me to work independently whenever possible. Without his assistance, this thesis would never have come to fruition. I greatly appreciated his unfettered support, trust, and understanding throughout the research and writing process. I am also grateful for my professors, who over the years have continuously inspired and challenged me to work hard and give my best. I would not have come as far without their assistance and ability to motivate me at every turn. A sincere thank you must be extended to Candice Kerestan for her diligent proofreading, constructive criticism, and wonderful wit. Finally, more than academic support is needed to complete a thesis. Therefore, I want to express my profound gratitude towards my parents for providing unfailing support and understanding throughout my university education. I also want to thank my partner, Michael, for his firm belief in me, his encouragement and much appreciated humor in times of frustration, and his unwavering support. 3 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. ON MASCULINITIES 9 2.1 A Brief History of American Manhood 11 2.2 The Origins of Masculinity 26 2.2.1 The Biological Essence of Masculinity 27 2.2.2 The Psychological Essence of Masculinity 32 2.2.3 The Male Sex Role and Social Learning Theories 36 2.2.4 Constructionism(s) 39 2.2.5 Gender and Power – Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Hegemony 43 3. MASCULINITIES, PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS, AND THE NATION 48 3.1 It’s a Man’s World – Masculinities and the Presidency 50 3.2 Fathers, Warriors, and Protectors – A Historical Perspective on Presidential Masculinities 58 3.2.1 The Rough Rider – Theodore Roosevelt 59 3.2.2 Hollywood Meets Washington, D.C. – Ronald Reagan 63 3.2.3 Masculinities Interrupted – George H. W. Bush, Michael Dukakis, and Bill Clinton 70 3.2.4 A Cowboy in the Oval Office – George W. Bush 77 4. THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 88 4.1 The Billionaire Everyman – Donald Trump 89 4.1.1 The Art of Rhetorical Muscle Flexing – Xenophobia, Terrorism, and Law and Order 91 4.1.2 The Art of Bullying – Anger, Violence, and the Politics of Degradation 104 4.1.3 The Art of the Sale – Entertainment, Promotion, and ‘Broad Shouldered’ Rhetoric 112 4.1.4 The Art of Machismo – Misogyny and Sexism 119 4.2 Who Has Got the Broadest Shoulders? – The Presidential Debates 133 5. CONCLUSION 142 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 147 4 1. Introduction The 2016 U.S. presidential election was peculiar and unexpected on several fronts. It was littered with controversial statements, derisive and divisive rhetoric, and even several outright scandals, resulting in one of the most unexpected political shake-ups in American history – the election of real estate mogul and former reality TV star Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Scholars from a wide variety of academic fields will undoubtedly investigate the factors and mechanisms at play during this historic election for years to come. As this piece will argue, in order to understand the election and its results better, applying a gendered lens to the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is not only beneficial but necessary. The importance of this is perhaps best exemplified by a controversial comment by Trump after securing the five crucial states of the so-called ‘Acela’ primaries for the Republican presidential nomination in April 2016. He stated that “[i]f Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get five per cent of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card” (Trump qtd. in Reilly 2016). In other words, he suggested that Hillary Clinton’s gender gave her an unfair advantage. Trump repeated this claim several times over the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Clinton reacted by embracing the term, replying “if fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the women’s card, then deal me in” (Clinton qtd. in Reilly 2016). Trump’s statement is interesting on multiple levels. It arguably exhibits sexist undertones by downplaying Clinton’s extensive political career and suggesting her appeal is not rooted in knowledge and experience but solely in her gender. Additionally, it simplifies the decision-making process of voters and relegates so-called ‘women’s issues’, such as paid family leave and the wage gap, to the background. However, his statement also highlights a long-standing trend which frequently becomes apparent when women enter traditionally male domains: as soon as women are involved, gender becomes a salient issue. Gender, however, naturally has as much to do with men as it has with women. Although it is indisputable that Hillary Clinton’s nomination as the first female presidential contender of a major party1 cast spotlight on gender dynamics in presidential elections, this thesis argues that such dynamics have always been at play but simply less acknowledged. Every presidential election to date has pitted differing gender expressions against one another; the 2016 election just happened to be the first featuring a female and a male 1 American presidential elections have been dominated by men throughout history; however, apart from Hillary Clinton’s historic nomination as a major party nominee, there have been other notable women who previously ran for the highest political office. Victoria Woodhull was the first women in American history to join a presidential race for the Equal Rights Party, and Shirley Chisholm, the first African American women to be elected to Congress, was also the first African-American woman to vie for the Democratic Party nomination, albeit unsuccessfully. 5 candidate in direct opposition. Ignorance towards masculinities2 as active agents within the gendered spectrum largely derives from systems of hierarchy, such as patriarchy and the normative property affixed to masculinities, which ultimately render them invisible. However, simply because masculinities have rarely been acknowledged in gendered analyses of political processes does not mean that they are irrelevant. On the contrary, it will be argued that gender – one of the most pervasive and far-reaching social categories – has strongly influenced elections from the founding of the United States to present day. This thesis will demonstrate that presidential politics have always been battlegrounds for not only differing views on policies and ideologies, but also competing models of American masculinity. It is no coincidence that Donald Trump’s running mate and current Vice President of the United States Mike Pence sought to reassure voters of Trump before the first presidential debate by stating: “Look, Donald Trump’s got broad shoulders. He’s able to make his case and make a point” (Pence qtd. in Griffiths 2016), lending this thesis its title. In total, Pence referred to Donald Trump’s ‘broad shoulders’ at least 17 times throughout the campaign and leading up to Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. Despite Pence’s denial, the masculine connotation of complimenting broad shoulders, thereby associating them with leadership skills and an assumed ability to protect and defend, could hardly be clearer, especially in the first race against a female presidential contender. Employing this as a point of departure, this thesis seeks to investigate the relationship between masculinities and presidential politics more closely in order to ultimately argue that gender has been a significant, driving factor in American presidential politics. A core aim is to trace the intertwined relationship between masculinities and the political sphere in which the presidency is situated, highlighting that presidents of the past and present have used a gendered deck of cards to win elections, both consciously and unconsciously. A specific focus will be placed on the recent 2016 election and especially on Donald Trump’s highly masculinized presidential persona in order to illustrate how gender, particularly masculinity, becomes a valuable currency within political discourses. At the same time, this shall also shed light on how particular expressions of masculinity are used to systematically disqualify and mock femininities or divergent expressions of masculinity. Moreover, this paper seeks to compare Trump’s masculine gender expression with R.W. Connell’s framework of ‘hegemonic masculinity’. 2 The use of ‘masculinities’ as a plural form is deliberate and indicative because it allows for the recognition of a plurality and diversity of possible masculinities. As further explained throughout Chapter 2, a postmodern social constructionist approach has uncovered that a normative, single expression of masculinity fails to account for the diversity of gender expressions and experiences found in social realities, and thus necessitates a plural form. 6 In order to explore the proposed arguments, this thesis is structured into three parts. The first part presents various theories surrounding masculinities and gender as well as a brief historical survey of American masculinities, thereby providing a solid theoretical background for later analysis.