Sexism and Media's Coverage of Women Politicians

An article in Washington Monthly called out the sexism that Nancy Pelosi faces as Speaker of the House and how it leads to her to being portrayed and covered differently by the media compared to men that have held the position.  Nancy LeTourneau states that the sexism that Pelosi faces isn’t overt which makes it that much more dangerous. She states that when sexism or racism are blatant it is much easier to deal with while sexism that is not as obvious is much harder to solve. She compares two articles written about Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan to show the different ways both politicians are covered. While Paul Ryan has his accomplishments touted, the article on Pelosi does not mention any of her accomplishments and instead focuses on the fights facing her leadership and the party. She ends the article by saying the only way to talk about this quiet sexism is to talk about it.

I think this article reflects a lot of the themes we have discussed in class and really reflects on the themes pointed out in the Miss Representation documentary. Women in power are treated very differently by the media and have their looks constantly commented upon and whenever there is some type of disagreement, the media always plays it up as feuds and catfights in a way that is much different than the way men are covered. Overall the media needs to do a better job of the way they cover women politicians in order to stop pervading heteropatriarchal coverage of women.