Women, Feminism, and Pop Politics: From “Bitch” to “Badass” and Beyond (Frontiers in Political Communication)

Women, Feminism, and Pop Politics: From "Bitch" to "Badass" and Beyond examines the negotiation of feminist politics and gendered political leadership in twenty-first century U.S. popular culture. In a wide-ranging survey of texts―which includes memes and digital discourses, embodied feminist performances, parody and infotainment, and televisual comedy and drama―contributing authors assess the ways in which popular culture discourses both reveal and reshape citizens’ understanding of feminist politics and female political figures. Two archetypes of female identity figure prominently in its analysis. "Bitch" is a frame that reflects the twentieth-century anxiety about powerful women as threatening and unfeminine, trapping political women within the double bind between femininity and competence. "Badass" recognizes women’s capacity to lead but does so in a way that deflects attention away from the persistence of sexist stereotyping and cultural misogyny. Additionally, as depictions of political women become increasingly complex and varied, fictional characters and actual women are beginning to move beyond the bitch and badass frames, fashioning collaborative and comic modes of leadership suited to the new global milieu. This book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in communication, U.S. political culture, gender and leadership, and women in media. Cover 1 Contents 11 Acknowledgments 13 Introduction: Hillary Clinton From “Bitch” to “Badass” (Karrin Vasby Anderson) 15 Part I: Digital Politics and Embodied Feminism(s) 47 1. Reimagining Feminist Dissent: Memetic Celebration and “The Notorious R.B.G.” (Katie L. Gibson) 49 2. Smart and Authentic: “Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls” and Mediating Authentic Girls (Belinda Stillion Southard) 71 3. #TransIsBeautiful: The Polymediated, Intersectional Feminism of Laverne Cox (Danielle M. Stern) 91 4. Feminist Comedy’s Blond Badass: Amy Schumer and the Limits of White Feminism (Valerie R. Renegar / Lacy Lowrey / Kirsti Cole) 113 Part II: Feminist Political Parody, Satire, and Infotainment 133 5. “How Is This Still a Thing?” The Materialist Feminism of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (Mary Douglas Vavrus) 135 6. How to Be “Fierce as F*&!”: Full Frontal’s Angry Feminist Satire (Tasha N. Dubriwny) 157 7. Late Night’s Funny Feminists: The Women of The Daily Show, Satire, and Postfeminism (Alyssa Samek) 179 8. Relying on or Repudiating Stereotypes: Saturday Night Live Parodies of Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton (Erika Falk) 201 Part III: Feminist Politicians in Prime Time 217 9. The Good Wife’s Fatalistic Feminism: Televised Feminist Failures in Work/Life Balance, Romance, and Feminist Alliances (Michaela D.E. Meyer) 219 10. The Two Madam Secretaries: Elizabeth McCord, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Mimetic Representations of Twenty-First Century Feminism (Allison M. Prasch) 237 11. The Badass and the President: Scandal’s Prime-Time Presidency (Carrie M. Murawski / Tasha N. Dubriwny) 259 12. Burlesquing the Veep: Veep’s Absurdist Rejection of Female Presidentiality (Kristina Horn Sheeler) 279 13. “Yes We Can’t Not. Knope.”: Parks and Recreation and the Promise of Comic Feminist Parody (Karrin Vasby Anderson) 301 Conclusion: Political Women and the Power Paradox: The Case of Hillary Clinton (Shawn J. Parry-Giles) 323 Contributors 345 Index 349 "Karrin Vasby Anderson's gift to us is an intellectually invigorating and forward-looking collection of essays. If the future is truly female, it's because the 'badasses' and 'bitches'featured here-women who are on the stage, screen, platform, bench, and dais-show us all exactly how to get things done."-Cheryl Glenn, Distinguished Professor of English at Penn State University and author of Rhetorical Feminism and This Thing Called Hope; Rhetoric Retold: Regendering the Tradition from Antiquity through the Renaissance; and Unspoken: A Rhetoric of Silence