Talk Explores Role of Race and Gender in Presidential Politics

Race and gender have been hot topics in the 2008 presidential election, thanks to the groundbreaking candidacies of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. But Jackson Katz, an educator, author and filmmaker who has made a study of “presidential masculinity,” says this election is nothing new when it comes to the important role that race and gender have historically played in campaigns for the White House. In an Oct. 6 presentation, titled “The Hidden Race and Gender Factor in Presidential Campaigns,” held at UCSF, Katz acknowledged that the level of diversity among this year’s crop of candidates is unprecedented. However, he argued, as with past elections, the battle between the two presidential contenders, Senators Obama and McCain, still boils down to a question of who best represents the stereotypically masculine qualities of a leader: strength, steadfastness and vitality. In the past, Katz said, “what voters were voting for was one version or another of white, male leadership. “This year, it’s still about masculinity,” he said. “It’s just white masculinity versus person-of-color masculinity.” Since the days of John F. Kennedy, when television first emerged as the country’s main conduit of political information and imagery, many Americans have relied on TV ads and news reports to acquaint themselves with politicians, Katz said. Accordingly, memorable images – Ronald Reagan in a cowboy hat, sitting astride a horse, for example – can help clinch an election, he said. They can also lead to disaster: Awkward shots of the diminutive Michael Dukakis riding in a tank during a photo op made him the object of ridicule and, many believe, assisted in his landslide defeat by George H.W. Bush in 1988. Political ads should be viewed like any other ad, Katz said – as techniques of persuasion and manipulation, attempts to get the audience to buy a certain product. In the case of a presidential campaign ad, that “product” just happens to be a person. But campaign-controlled spin isn’t solely to blame for the continued overemphasis on gender stereotypes during an election season, Katz noted. “The media is a driving force in politics, and the mainstream media is a sexist institution, just like most [institutions] in our society,” he said. Katz pointed to the frequent use of sports metaphors in political coverage of all kinds. “It’s always football, boxing, ‘Who’s going to go toe-to-toe with [Venezuelan President] Hugo Chavez or [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad?’” he said. Aside from the obvious – the first black major-party nominee, the most successful presidential campaign by a woman to date – there are some other differences in this year’s campaign worth noting and celebrating, Katz said. “With Obama, you have a new kind of masculinity,” he said. “It’s his [ethnic] heritage, but also his style. He shows that strength can be about brains, making good decisions – not just physical force.” Katz, who is pursuing a PhD degree in cultural studies at UCLA, is currently working on both a dissertation and a book focusing on “presidential masculinity.” His past publications and advocacy work have been devoted primarily to gender violence prevention. The Oct. 6 talk was organized by the UCSF Center for Gender Equity, with co-sponsorship by the University’s Student Activity Center, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, School of Pharmacy, Diversity Celebration Planning Committee and director of academic diversity. UCSF is hosting other diversity-related events through October. Nurturing diversity is one of the seven major directions spelled out in the UCSF Strategic Plan. Unveiled in June 2007, the plan calls on the University to “establish a culture of diversity on the UCSF campus.”