Bulldozing Brexit: the role of masculinity in UK party leaders’ campaign imagery in the 2019 General Election
Bulldozing Brexit: the role of masculinity in UK party leaders’ campaign imagery in the 2019 General Election
Political science asks how women navigate gender on the campaign trail – do they run “as women” or do they exhibit more “masculine” behaviours to increase credibility. The role of masculinity in men’s campaigns has received less attention. Yet, men “play the gender card” too. This paper analyses the use of gender in the campaign imagery of the two male party leaders in the 2019 UK General Election campaign via an examination of their campaign tweets. It finds that the male leaders did, indeed, “play the man card”. Both leaders overwhelmingly used masculine visuals on Twitter during the campaign. Johnson demonstrated elements of “hypermasculinity” exaggerating his strength and dominance in images of traditional, working-class masculinity. Despite calls for more compassionate, read feminine, politics, Corbyn’s campaign remained located in masculine imagery through consistent displays of agency. This paper makes three main contributions to current understandings of gender and election campaigning. Firstly, it offers the beginnings of a framework of types of masculinity in campaigning. Secondly, it adds support to the thesis that men play the gender card, and that it can take different forms. Thirdly, it raises questions about the use of binary frameworks in studying gender’s role in campaigning.
450-469
Smith, Jessica C.
96f97364-8922-4e62-8581-0d2983052e20
Smith, Jessica C.
96f97364-8922-4e62-8581-0d2983052e20
Smith, Jessica C.
(2021)
Bulldozing Brexit: the role of masculinity in UK party leaders’ campaign imagery in the 2019 General Election.
Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties, 31 (4), .
(doi:10.1080/17457289.2021.1968414).
Abstract
Political science asks how women navigate gender on the campaign trail – do they run “as women” or do they exhibit more “masculine” behaviours to increase credibility. The role of masculinity in men’s campaigns has received less attention. Yet, men “play the gender card” too. This paper analyses the use of gender in the campaign imagery of the two male party leaders in the 2019 UK General Election campaign via an examination of their campaign tweets. It finds that the male leaders did, indeed, “play the man card”. Both leaders overwhelmingly used masculine visuals on Twitter during the campaign. Johnson demonstrated elements of “hypermasculinity” exaggerating his strength and dominance in images of traditional, working-class masculinity. Despite calls for more compassionate, read feminine, politics, Corbyn’s campaign remained located in masculine imagery through consistent displays of agency. This paper makes three main contributions to current understandings of gender and election campaigning. Firstly, it offers the beginnings of a framework of types of masculinity in campaigning. Secondly, it adds support to the thesis that men play the gender card, and that it can take different forms. Thirdly, it raises questions about the use of binary frameworks in studying gender’s role in campaigning.
Text
Bulldozing Brexit the role of masculinity in UK party leaders campaign imagery in 2019 UK General Election
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Accepted/In Press date: 25 June 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 August 2021
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Local EPrints ID: 468479
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468479
ISSN: 1745-7289
PURE UUID: 055d45b6-07e5-4a0e-983b-82f594ef8699
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Date deposited: 16 Aug 2022 16:38
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:56
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