Small Hands, Nasty Women, and Bad Hombres

Hegemonic Masculinity and Humor in the 2016 Presidential Election

Bibliographic Data

ID2423712
AuthorsMichelle Smirnova (0009-0009-6148-6124, University of Missouri–Kansas City, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume4
Pages237802311774938
Publication date2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2378-0231 • E-ISSN: 2378-0231
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2378023117749380
OpenAlexW2794956100
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited44

Given that the president is thought to be the national representative, presidential campaigns often reflect the efforts to define a national identity and collective values. Political humor provides a unique lens through which to explore how identity figures into national politics given that the critique of an intended target is often made through popular cultural scripts that often inadvertently reify the very power structures they seek to subvert. In conducting an analysis of 240 tweets, memes, and political cartoons from the 2016 U.S. presidential election targeting the two frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we see how popular political humor often reaffirmed heteronormative assumptions of gender, sexuality, and race and equated scripts of hegemonic masculinity with presidential ability. In doing so, these discourses reified a patriarchal power structure

Aesthetics · Art · Hegemonic masculinity · Hegemony · Identity (music · Masculinity · Media studies · National identity · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Presidential campaign · Presidential election · Presidential system · Sociology · Gender Studies · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access