Gendered Mediation

Book excerpt: Despite decades of women’s participation in politics and the increasing number of LGBTQ individuals who are seeking and winning political office, the gender identities of Canadian politicians continue to attract media and public attention and shape the way these individuals are perceived and evaluated. Gendered Mediation takes an original, intersectional approach to these issues by building upon the gendered mediation thesis to argue that political communication and reporting reinforces impressions of politics as a masculine domain that privileges men and treats women as outsiders. Organized into three sections, the book investigates politicians’ gendered strategies for shaping their own and others’ public images, the gendered characteristics of media coverage of politicians, and voter reactions to these self-presentations and media depictions. By examining how sexuality, race, age, and class intersect with gender to produce differing political identities and responses, the contributors make new theoretical and empirical interventions into research on gender and political communication. Their findings have profound implications for democracy not only in Canada but for democratic political systems elsewhere.