Hinda Mandell

Sex Scandals, Gender, and Power in Contemporary American Politics

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The increasing tabloidization of politics and focus on politicians involved in sex scandals is both problematic and important. This book examines how gender impacts political sex scandals in the United States, in the past and today; explains how political sex scandals contribute to the mistrust of government; and identifies why these titillating events do have serious consequences for our political system. When a major political sex scandal occurs, it occupies as much as 25 percent of all news coverage in the United States. Even if people may deny it, they enjoy "consuming" and talking about political sex scandals. Written by a former journalist who has frequently explored the intersections of politics, sex, and gender in the United States, Sex Scandals, Gender, and Power in Contemporary American Politics investigates how political sex scandals contribute to the mistrust of government and why these titillating events have great significance in our frenzied media environment. The book makes use of comprehensive descriptive data (including statistics) to explain how political sex scandals are a representation of society's broader gender dynamics, conveying subtle messages about power and morality. It addresses the roles of men and women in political sex scandals over time, the increasing tabloidization of politics, and the often-overlooked consequences of sex scandals for the political system. Readers will see how the types of sex scandals that politicians are typically involved in differ by political party, and that all major political sex scandals have involved male-not female-politicians engaged in bad behavior. Author Hinda Mandell also documents how scandals' multiple negative effects for the politicians themselves and for society include turning politics into a spectator sport, contributing to the mistrust of government, the questioning of politicians' competence and judgment as a group, and politicians' diminishing effectiveness in office.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury 3PL
• Seitenzahl: 264
• Erscheinungstermin: 17. April 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 19mm
• Gewicht: 566g
• ISBN-13: 9781440843273
• ISBN-10: 1440843279
• Artikelnr.: 46603586

Autorenporträt

Hinda Mandell is assistant professor in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology, USA.

Inhaltsangabe

Series Foreword Acknowledgments 1 Political Sex Scandals: How and Why
Gender Matters 2 A Brief History of Political Sex Scandals 3 What a Joke:
Philandering Politicians Get the Cartoon Treatment 4 When Mistresses Become
Media Starlets: The Ascension of the Political Sex-Scandal Celebrity 5
Political Wives, Scandal, and the Double Bind: Press Coverage through a
Gendered Lens 6 Have I Got a Story for You: State Lawmakers Confront
Scandal in the New York Assembly 7 "How Can People Be So Dumb and Still Be
in Politics?" Public Response to Prominent Scandals 8 In Sickness and
Scandal: Married Couples Navigate Scandal in the News 9 Concluding
Thoughts: Scandal and Gender in the 21st Century Appendix A:
Scandal-Defining Variables for Scandal Compilation Appendix B: Guiding
Questions for Textual Analysis of Printed Text Appendix C: Interview
Protocol for Married Couples Notes Index