Pop Culture and Sexism in the Presidential Race

This year’s election has been regarded as not just an election, but a social movement. Obama’s use of pop media and technology mobilized America’s voters in ways that the country has never seen before, with tools such as Facebook groups, popular art, and YouTube advertising. Obama has embraced the use of popular technology and plans to use it to make his presidency resemble his ideals for the way the office should be run, with priorities of transparency and being connected to voters. According to Newsweek, he plans on employing a senior or cabinet-level technology consultant, streaming live cabinet meetings on the Net, and utilizing Facebook for demonstrations and policy discussions.
There have also been several discussions about sexism in the presidential race, especially concerning Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. While Hillary was criticized for being too “masculine” and being “fake” when she got emotional during one of her speeches, Sarah was shielded from fully participating as a VP candidate, then criticized for her practices because she was being a “soccer mom” and a “pageant girl”. Rather than look at these women’s previous records in leadership and their responses to interviews and on the issues involved in the debate, it was easier for some to create images like these:





While these are definitely amusing, they are not the kind of focus that we need to bring to the electoral process.