ABSTRACT What Does it All Meme?: A Look into Gender Stereotypes and Traits in the 2016 Presidential Primary Campaign Elizabeth Ann Spencer, M.A. Mentor: Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D. This content analysis examines how social media memes portrayed presidential primary candidates during the 2016 United States presidential election. In the wake of Internet and social media evolutions in communications, memes of candidates have been added to the new paradigm of American political news consumption. Along with framing theory, the researcher used feminist communications and media theories to analyze the 2016 presidential election and Democratic primary candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, as well Republican primary candidates, Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz. This thesis seeks to find how political memes used common gender biases and stereotypes to frame the politicians. The researcher gained results from N = 550 memes collected from Google and Facebook groups. Key Words: feminist theory, framing, female politicians, gender studies, stereotypes, independent t-test What Does it All Meme?: A Look into Gender Stereotypes and Traits in the 2016 Primary Presidential Campaign by Elizabeth Ann Spencer, B.A. A Thesis Approved by the Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media Sara Stone, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D., Chairperson Barry Hankins, Ph.D. Seul Lee, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2017 J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2017 by Elizabeth Ann Spencer All rights reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................................... vii DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Social Media ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 Memes .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 2008 and 2012: Presidential Social Media Use ..................................................................................... 9 Framing ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 Gender Stereotypes in Politics and Feminist Theory ........................................................................ 11 The Glass Ceiling .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Importance of Media in Politics ............................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................................. 18 Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................................... 19 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 Coding Scheme and Model Studies ......................................................................................................... 19 Pilot Study and Candidate Choice ........................................................................................................... 20 Task Procedure and Data Analyses ........................................................................................................ 21 CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................................................................................... 24 Results/Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 24 SPSS Testing ................................................................................................................................................... 24 Means and Significance .............................................................................................................................. 24 Frequency of Negative Variables ............................................................................................................. 26 Suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER SIX ......................................................................................................................................... 29 Limitations/Implications .................................................................................................................................. 29 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 34 APPENDIX A: .......................................................................................................................................... 35 Model Studies and Examples for Coding ................................................................................................... 35 APPENDIX B: .......................................................................................................................................... 37 Examples of Memes Used in Coding ........................................................................................................... 37 APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................................................... 39 Frequency Tables ............................................................................................................................................... 39 APPENDIX D: .......................................................................................................................................... 42 Group Statistics and Independent T-Test .................................................................................................... 42 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 44 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure B.1. Example of Bernie Sanders meme .......................................................................... 37 Figure B.2. Example of Carly Fiorina meme ............................................................................... 37 Figure B.3. Example of Ted Cruz meme ....................................................................................... 37 Figure B.4. Example of Hillary Clinton meme ........................................................................... 38 v LIST OF TABLES Table A.1. The Political Gender Gap: Gender Bias in Facial Inferences that Predict Voting Behavior ............................................................................................................................ 35 Table A.2. Traits versus Issues: How Female Candidates Shape Coverage of Senate and Gubernatorial Races ........................................................................................................... 36 Table C.1. Frequency statistics ....................................................................................................... 39 Table C.2. Frequency appearance .................................................................................................. 39 Table C.3. Frequency gender ........................................................................................................... 39 Table C.4. Frequency character ...................................................................................................... 40 Table C.5. Frequency behavior ....................................................................................................... 40 Table C.6. Frequency