This is the blog for History 175, Claremont McKenna College, fall 2013. It is open only to students enrolled in the course. Please use this blog to post articles and links related to the broad theme of women and politics. You can also post comments or questions on our readings, reflections on outside events that you attend, and notices of upcoming events of interest to the class. To generate discussion, please also read and comment on other postings. Check back regularly for updates!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Focus on Angry Michelle Obama
Here's an article with the photos of the exchange between Michelle Obama and the Danish Prime Minister at the funeral for Nelson Mandela.
Wow. This article was painful to read. First of all, the language contains a significant amount of sexism that perpetuates gender stereotypes. The author starts by describing Helle Thorning-Schmidt as the "blonde prime minister from Denmark." Why highlight a physical trait of Throning-Schmidt's right off the bat? They continue their negative portrayal of her by discussing how she is sometimes called "Gucci Helle" for her interest in fashion---and they call her that for the remainder of the article.
It's incredibly frustrating that the media spent SO much time analyzing a moment that was in all likelihood a meaningless, friendly interaction between two political figures. Jon Stewart criticized the media's coverage of this in a really hilarious segment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/jon-stewart-obama-castro_n_4425365.html
Wow. This article was painful to read. First of all, the language contains a significant amount of sexism that perpetuates gender stereotypes. The author starts by describing Helle Thorning-Schmidt as the "blonde prime minister from Denmark." Why highlight a physical trait of Throning-Schmidt's right off the bat? They continue their negative portrayal of her by discussing how she is sometimes called "Gucci Helle" for her interest in fashion---and they call her that for the remainder of the article.
ReplyDeleteIt's incredibly frustrating that the media spent SO much time analyzing a moment that was in all likelihood a meaningless, friendly interaction between two political figures. Jon Stewart criticized the media's coverage of this in a really hilarious segment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/jon-stewart-obama-castro_n_4425365.html