a key element of the appeal of Republicans to pencil-necked political reporters has always been the idea that the macho tough guys will let you be one of them if you side with the GOP and they'll call you a pussy if you side with the Dems
Sure, but it's been literally every Presidential election in my lifetime (b. 1986). Dukakis in the tank. War hero Bush Sr. vs draft dodger Clinton. Sighing Gore vs manly Texan W. (absurdly) Kerry's fancy cheese vs manly Texan W. etc etc. Subtext is always "jocks vs pussies" bsky.app/profile/cara...
Also…there already has been a presidential election that was objectively more defined by gendered appeals (that being the one in which Donald Trump ran against a woman)???
I think this stuff is instinctual on both ends. Appeals to "manliness" and "honor" have been a core method of control in service of political and economic hierarchy since the dawn of civilization, both for actually-manly soldiers and for aspirationally-manly courtiers like Vanderhei and Allen
Sure, but it's been literally every Presidential election in my lifetime (b. 1986). Dukakis in the tank. War hero Bush Sr. vs draft dodger Clinton. Sighing Gore vs manly Texan W. (absurdly) Kerry's fancy cheese vs manly Texan W. etc etc. Subtext is always "jocks vs pussies" bsky.app/profile/cara...
And so culturally ingrained that the frequent appeals to "you're a pussy/f***** if you disagree with me" feels like a totally natural rhetorical appeal on the right and basically doesn't make sense to people in the rare cases someone on the left tries to marshall it.
Ya that this stuff is often facially ridiculous of course doesn't matter. Trump is objectively speaking a huge wuss and coward. You could write an entire gender studies thesis paper on this stupid photo of Ben Shapiro bsky.app/profile/line...
"In today's episode of Great Moments in Cringey Unintentional Self-Owns, we have this Ben Shapiro classic..."
Imagine him walking up to some dude in an orange vest and awkwardly asking "Um, I would like to buy a piece of wood. How do I go about that?"
I think part of the revulsion towards him from some quarters was because his macho posturing and blue collar coding offends snobs who don't appreciate the value of the act.
Especially since a very common side effect of finasteride is erectile dysfunction and many men who take finasteride have to take Viagra or other gender-affirming ED medications
You forgot Carter being chased by a rabbit vs Cowboy Reagan. In reality Reagan was a dandy who got manicures and didn’t own a cowboy hat until Mike Deaver bought him one
Exactly. There's nothing rare about this! Every election is "Democrats are girls/pussies and Republicans are manly men," with an occasional side order of "'Democratic women are manly ugly harridans" courtesy of Maureen Dowd.
With Dems, the men especially get depicted as feminized, and the women, already being women, can be depicted as masculinized while still maintaining the overall narrative. (This is by Michael Scherer, to save anyone a click who's just curious about that.)
www.salon.com/2007/07/12/o...
Funny the one time it should have happened it didn't--1976. Ford was a college football star Midwesterner. Carter was a genteel devoutly religious Mr. Rogers-type peanut farmer. But Ford tripped once, was mocked on SNL repeatedly for it, and couldn't get past the klutzy oaf image that resulted.
Also…there already has been a presidential election that was objectively more defined by gendered appeals (that being the one in which Donald Trump ran against a woman)???
It will never stop being wild to me that Republicans look at an out-of-shape, heavily made-up, pampered manbaby who gets winded riding in a golf cart, and sees a pillar of masculinity.
It’s a very loud tell that their only concept of masculinity is being abusive to women.
