THE COMPLEX VISUAL GENDERING OF POLITICAL WOMEN IN THE PRESS

Abstract

In this article, we present an analysis of how gendering is “being done” in press visuals of women in politics. In short, we will argue that women professionals working within the area of politics are gendered and type-cast in more complex ways than previous research has yet shown. In a qualitative analysis of visuals from three different political scandals in Sweden involving prominent political women, we analyse the diversified ways of portraying women in visuals that do not simply reproduce the idea that the gendering of women uncritically correlates with concepts like sexualization, objectification, passivity and otherness. As on-lookers of a professional woman in politics caught in a pressing situation in a photograph, we will argue that at times we may be invited to see her both as an Other but also a person with whom we can identify. Or a woman may be positioned as an object with a focus on appearance, but not by emphasizing her femininity and sexuality but by doing exactly the reverse. We will also discuss the complexity that is related to the various contextual factors that come into play when press photographers and editors communicatively “work” at accomplishing specific gendered visual “preferred readings”.

Keywords:

• femininity
• gender
• media
• politics
• visuals
• women

Notes

1. Mervi Pantti, literary review on the gendered mediation of politicians for the project “Gender, Politics and the Media: challenging stereotypes, promoting diversity, strengthening equality” (available online at www.portrayingpolitics.net, accessed 2 April 2008).

2. For access reasons, we are only able to show visuals from three of the newspapers in this article. In total, we have analysed about 200 visuals from two Swedish quality papers (Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet) and two tabloids (Aftonbladet and Expressen), using both their paper and Internet versions. The patterns described in relation to the visuals in this article are not exclusive to these three papers but are found in all of the four papers analysed.

3. When we say “strategy” we do not mean that the ways that the women are visually framed are results of conscious actions by journalists with evil motives. In this context, we rather mean “discursive technique” which may or may not be consciously used.

4. It is worth noting that the media did not focus on the role and possible ethical and moral problem of a reporter kissing a politician whose political activities he usually covered. The blame was overwhelmingly directed at Schenström.

5. It might be added that Filippa Reinfeldt also holds a prominent political position in the Stockholm Council.