GENDER AND THE MEDIATED POLITICAL SPHERE FROM A FEMINIST…
187
Intersectionality and Counter-Hegemonic Discourse To date, the literature at the intersection of women, politics, and media has been dominated by considerations of women’s visibility, stereotyping, and framing. Within this context, however, there has been a certain neglect of issues of intersectionality—which fits into a longer history of essentializing women in feminist theorizations. We implore more feminist media theorists to investigate women’s intersectionality as it relates to politicians and the political sphere. This is particularly important in light of more women moving into the political sphere. That is to say, that as more women enter into and are elected to political offices, the diversity of these women will expand and the intersectionality of these political women as they are made visible, stereotyped, and framed in mediated discourse must be investigated more carefully. To illustrate our view, in the United States there are more women of color now holding office than ever before, as well as those with non-dominant religious views and who identify within the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) spectrum. It is essential that feminist media scholars investigate how these women may be constructed in mediated discourse. For example, in the United States of the “106 women serving the 115th U.S. Congress, 38, or 35.8%, are women of color, 4 in the Senate and 34 in the House” (Center for Women and Politics 2018). Further, of the “1,871 women state legislators serving nationwide, 450 or 24.1% are women of color” (Center for Women and Politics 2018). Additionally, Fayrouz Saad, who is running for elected office in the state of Michigan, will be the first Muslim woman in US Congress if she is elected in November 2018. Similarly, there have now been numerous US legislators who have been openly gay or bisexual (include Oregon state governor Kate Brown and Wisconsin state representative Tammy Baldwin) and in November 2017, citizens in Virginia voted into office the first openly transgender state legislator. These are just some examples in one country, but illustrate the many ways diverse women are entering into political life. It is essential that feminist media scholars consider how multiple identities intermingle when considering women and politics. We strongly believe that through more intersectional investigations at the crossroads of women, politics, and media contributions to the field will be richer and provide important impact to the field of feminist media studies. Another area of research that is ripe for further investigations is at the intersection of new digital mediated spaces, politics, and gender. As noted, a significant portion of research at the juncture of women, politics, and
