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Sexy Sarah and a gorgeous, granny Governor-General?

By Rhyll Vallis - posted Monday, 13 October 2008


“Cute-but-feisty”, “the people's v-agra”, an “attractive young woman ... casting an erotic spell”.

Quotes from Ralph magazine talking about its latest centerfold?

No. Try instead the Canberra Times and Australian online news source Crikey discussing US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

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While some might be quick to write off the coverage of Palin as part of the circus sideshow that is US presidential campaign reporting, Australia's new Governor-General fared no better in our media.

In more than half of the 50 Australian news articles (online and print), writers felt compelled to describe the new Governor-General as either a mother or a grandmother.

With a firm finger on the pulse of what Australian readers want to know about politics, most journalists set us straight by the second paragraph about how many grandchildren she has.

Among the more condescending descriptions were “trail-blazing granny” by the Canberra Times and “New head of state Quentin Bryce still Grandma” by The Australian.

So what's it all about, this obsession with the “babes” and the “grannies”? And why haven't the “hairy-chested feminists” rumoured to lurk in every news room sorted things out yet?

Award winning journalist and lecturer Dr Julie Posetti says that news coverage of Palin and others confirms that there is still a tendency for Australia's media to ascribe restrictive definitions of womanhood to women in power.

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“They are seen as either overtly feminine and attractive and therefore tolerable - or as blokey, masculine, ball-tearing and threatening,” she said. She also points to recent research findings that the feminisation of news rooms has not been accompanied by a shift in values.

“There's more women journalists but you still see traditional ways of framing the news. For example, the ridiculous amount of coverage of Palin's glasses or the obsession with the Governor-General's shoes,” she said.

Julie Baird in her 2004 book Media Tarts also singles out the media's use of formulaic accounts (which she labels “frames”) in portraying women politicians. Within these frames, women politicians are limited to being represented as “Cover Girls”, “Steel Sheilas” or “Superstar Housewives”.

Or, if you're Quentin Bryce, all three. Once finished counting Grandma-Governor-General Bryce's progeny and accomplishments, beady journalist eyes were turned to the woman's couture. “Quentin Bryce is a trailblazer in a twinset” (Herald Sun). “The winds of change swept into Parliament House yesterday in a purple dress and patent leather Mary Jane heels, as Quentin Bryce ... was sworn in as Australia's first female Governor-General” (Canberra Times).

Little wonder that women politicians in the UK, Australia, and South Africa told researcher Karen Ross in 2000 that they believed that the most frequently reported aspect of their lives was their appearance.

But others argue that it's the task of making politics palatable to an increasingly disengaged readership that sees us reading about Hillary Clinton's pant suits or where we can buy a pair of Palin's designer Kawasaki glasses.

Political journalist Siobhain Ryan from The Australian said, “There's pressure (on journalists) to add colour to the US campaign and there are plenty of adjectives to base that colour on that (Palin) uses herself”.

But if this is the case, why don't we see McCain's glasses in the news?

And, it seems unlikely any male politician will ever inspire quotes such as this one from Crikey, “Tumescent right-wingers the world over, and in Australia, have been wolf-whistling at the hottest governor from the coldest state”.

So what is it that continues to generate sexist news coverage in Australia of women in politics?

Posetti argues that it comes down to a convergence of sexism in Australian society and sexist power in news rooms. Or, what Michael Costello in The Australian beautifully described as the “disrespect towards women...accepted like a silent, beige wallpaper backdrop to Australian life”.

Melinda Tankard Reist, director of national women's group Women's Forum Australia, supports Posetti's statement that Australia's media has a masculinist view of power and politics.

Reist said, “I have not heard McCain, Biden or Obama being described as 'dads' although they have children. Even at press conferences where Obama's children were present, he hasn't been described as a 'dad'.”

There would appear to be a strong case for Posetti's call for more research into Australian women's news room experiences and whether female journalists challenging male values and traditional frames still risk dismissal as “hairy-chested feminists”.

Anyway, I must go; I need to count the exact number of pearls in Palin's strand necklace before the next campaign debate.

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About the Author

Rhyll Vallis is a former university lecturer and researcher (in the area of sociolinguistics) who is currently studying journalism.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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