On September 29, 2008, the CBS Early Show ran an interview with the parents of Sarah Palin that illustrates the double standard applied to male and female candidates in the 2008 election cycle. A segment with Chuck and Sally Heath videotaped in their Alaska home reveals the subtle ways in which media often choose to frame a candidate and promote a specific view tinted by gender bias.
With TV producers and journalists scrambling to cover the Republican vice presidential candidate's story from fresh and compelling angles -- and fighting against a media blockade imposed by the McCain campaign to keep Palin from talking to reporters -- Early Show host Harry Smith scored a well-timed interview with the Heaths following their daughter's widely-acknowledged 'train wreck' interview with Katie Couric and The CBS Evening News.
Smith's pleasant demeanor contrasted favorably with another prominent male anchor who earlier had been accused of condescending to Sarah Palin in her first media interview -- Charlie Gibson, anchor of ABC World News. Gibson's interview, according to the McCain camp, was loaded with 'gotcha' questions that put their candidate in a poor light.
Enforcing Paternalism
Though Smith's interview appears free of bias, it taps into the centuries-old practice of paternalism. In a figurative sense, the interviewer goes over the daughter's head to seek authority from the father figure. Asking her parents their opinions on her qualifications may seem innocent, but it diminishes Palin. Her image as the 'powerful vice presidential candidate' is negated as her father shows childhood and beauty pageant photos and reminisces about her girlhood. The segment was a subtle gender dig, perhaps made worse because it was not intended as a biased piece. Yet the warm fuzzy approach in covering Sarah Palin can be construed as sexist -- but it's a form of sexism so prevalent in our culture that we fail to recognize it when it occurs. Instead, we accept that this is the way media depicts women's lives.
Engaging as the story angle was, going to Palin's parents for clues as to how she'd 'do' has no bearing on her ability to govern. Parent recommendations are as irrelevant in politics as they are in education or business. Yet in Palin's case, when media checks in to see what mom and dad have to say, it's not regarded as gender bias. Instead, we say this personal glimpse endears the candidate to us.
Daddy's Girl vs. Mama's Boy
Men are not subjected to this type of media scrutiny. Voters don't appear to have the appetite for deeply probing a man's relationship with his mother or father. If the connection seems too dependent, this is perceived as a character flaw, a weakness.
Granted, McCain's mother has been interviewed about John, and the senior Bushes have offered opinions of George W. Bush. But neither opened up their homes to the media; gave total access to a camera crew; provided a photo-illustrated narrative of awards earned and pageants won.
It may appear charming for Chuck to affirm his daughter's qualifications even as he shows visitors the moose in his backyard. But it was the antithesis of the McCain campaign's effort to establish and highlight the strength, competency, and executive leadership of their vice presidential pick. Contrast the Heath family visit with Sarah Palin's appearance at the United Nations to meet with world leaders just days earlier. Which media event enhanced her image as a powerful head of state, and which detracted from it?
Demeaning and Diminishing
Whether deliberate or unintended, the soft focus of the Early Show interview barely obscures a biased angle that has become media shorthand for the narrative of Palin's campaign -- the plucky, big-hearted, fresh-faced but naive candidate. This simplistic archetype jeopardizes not just Palin in this particular instance, but all women who run for public office who are young and attractive. The stakes do not revolve about a girl who played high school basketball and won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant, but a woman struggling to convince voters of her qualifications and her suitability to lead the U.S. as president should the need arise.
When viewers see a clip of Palin's mother Sally Heath saying, "I hope the world gets to know the real person, because she is a remarkable girl," Palin's powerful personhood is subsumed by the girlhood descriptor. Though said with affection, Mrs. Heath's use of the word 'girl' unintentionally reinforces an immature image of Palin. Women earn their wisdom and develop competence; girls still lack these qualities. Although the CBS interview didn't set Sally Heath up to inadvertently make these statements, they used them to further the unpredictable 'girl' candidate image that sells so well.
Asking a parent to assess his or her child as a world leader is a useless exercise. McCain's own mother Roberta pointed out to an LA Times reporter, "Even if I did know something derogatory about my son, I just wouldn't tell it. Would you say something like that about your son or brother?"
Campaign coverage should be more substantive than this. Yet with the gag order placed on Sarah Palin during the first half of her campaign, it's no surprise that the media resorted to interviewing her parents because nothing was forthcoming from the candidate herself. All this because McCain deemed a 'no media access' policy was the best way to protect Palin.
How 'Girl' Keeps Women in Their Place
Why such concern over the term 'girl'? It's only a word, right? Historically, language has been a key indicator of hidden and biased attitudes. The use of the word 'girl' to refer to a woman at best infantilizes her, and at worst subjugates her. In the same way the word 'boy' was used to humiliate and demean African American adult men, 'girl' was a commonly accepted term to describe women in the workplace. Typically these women were low-level employees, virtually indistinguishable from each other. The girls in the typing pool. The girls on the assembly line. Or the secretary who was referred to as 'my girl.' (They were 'girls' even if the women were in their fifties and sixties.)
continued on page 2
