In an
effort to close out a large project studying the ways in which cultural
anxieties play out across televisual genres, I decided to study the coverage of
the 2016 presidential election – specifically the live tweets from the first
presidential debate. (My friends have
deemed me an academic masochist.) With
all of the attention on the ways in which gender stereotypes have plagued
Clinton’s political career, I wanted to study the ways that sexism directed at
Clinton would manifest itself in live tweets and the ways in which her supporters
would take to the communication platform to try to combat it. However, the presidential election being an
unwieldy moving cultural micro-organism, the conversation quickly pivoted away
from Clinton’s gender (and the discrimination she faced because of it) and
began to focus to more on Trump’s misogynistic behavior. Toward the end of the
first debate, Clinton sparked the conversation surrounding Trump’s long history
of sexist behavior when she broached the subject of Alicia Machado, the former
Miss Universe contestant who Trump had fat shamed after she gained weight
following her crowning. The tweets
analyzed in this study represent but the first moments of attention to Trump’s sexual
abuse that would factor heavily into the media coverage preceding and following
the election.
Research Questions &
Methodology for Twitter Analysis
To study live tweets from the first presidential debate,
attending to the ways in which they reflect cultural anxieties surrounding the
gender equality, I focused my analysis on tweets that reinforce or counter
sexist views in order to answer the following research questions:
RQ 1) How do cultural sentiments concerning
gender (particularly sexism and animosity toward
feminism) appear within the live tweets from
the Presidential Debate?
RQ 2) What strategies were used to combat sexist
rhetoric (present in either the live broadcast or the Twitter feed) by live
tweeting viewers?
Twitter data was collected on September 26th
from 9:00pm-10:45pm EST during the first presidential debate between Clinton and
Trump – the debate that broke records as the most watched in U.S. History with
over 80 million viewers. Live
tweets associated with the hashtag #debatenight were scraped (i.e., collected)
using NodeXL – a program that gathers all tweets associated with a specific
hashtag. Because of the quantity of live tweets produced during the debate, and
limits placed on the amount of tweets which can be collected, data was
collected six times (every 10-15 minutes) during the debate. The data pool includes original posts,
retweets, and replies in order to include posts that were made throughout the
debate and not just at these six intervals.
The results of this primary data pool consisted of 13,231 tweets. In
order to gain a more comprehensive overview of the tweets associated with this
debate, and to see the ways in which the conversation continued in the hours
following it, additional tweets were gathered through keyword searches under
this hashtag through Twitter’s Advanced Search option. This secondary data pool consisted of 675
tweets.
Discussion of
Findings from Original Twitter Collection
Consistent
with other research on social media for this campaign, Trump dominated the
discussion on Twitter on this specific night.
Out of the 13,000 plus tweets, direct references to Trump appeared 8362
times (63.2%), whereas direct references to Clinton appeared only 6236 times
(47.1%). This dominance extended into the subset of tweets focused on
here: tweets that reinforced or rejected
sexism.
In order to locate the types of sexist rhetoric that was
commonly directed at Hillary Clinton, I first attended to two broad categories
of tweets: those that discussed her
personality and those that commented on her physical appearance. Concerning the former, the majority of the
negative tweets associated with Clinton expectedly portrayed her as being
overly poised (“fake,” “scripted”), emotionally distant (“robotic”), unlikable
(“shrill”, “bore”), elitist (“smug,” “holier than tho”), and ambitious (having
a “thirst for power”) (see Figure 1).
These descriptions align with the research concerning the adjectives
often used to describe strong female women (real and fictional alike). Surprisingly, even compliments directed at
Clinton oftentimes had connections to this rhetoric. While obviously meant as a compliment, noting
that she is “chill as hell” inadvertently aligns with the ice queen persona
assigned to powerful women. Likewise, one
tweet, assumedly intended as a joke, offered up a new conspiracy about Hillary
Clinton, that “she’s not human because she is showing an inhuman amount of
self-control and poise” (see Figure 1). Both critiques conform to the discourse
surrounding her “robotic” nature, although the later may intend to critique
such rhetoric. Further, posts
celebrating the fact that she “emasculated” Trump on stage, also are
problematic in that they play into the script for the power-hungry female and
the so-called crisis of masculinity plaguing American (see Figure 1).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
Asamjulian
|
9/26/2016 9:08pm
|
Hillary comes so off fake and scripted. #Debates2016
#DebateNight
|
KyleKulinski
|
9/26/2016 9:09pm
|
Hillary sounds aloof and robotic like a standard
politician, Trump doesn't. Bad start. #debatenight #Debates2016
|
Altrightcelt
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
#DebateNight Hillary can't help but sound shrill and
smug.
|
Elliottrhams
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Now Clinton is bringing out the claws already. Bad
move. #debatenight
|
BuckSexton
|
9/26/2016 9:32pm
|
Hillary Clinton's plan is to bore and scold America
into abject submission as POTUS. Just make it stop. #debatenight
|
freerangewrite
|
9/26/2016 9:33pm
|
#debatenight Oh the eye rolling. She reminds me of
my mother. Killer. #Debates2016
|
anash_89
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Here comes the Hillary rehearsed response 😴#debatenight
|
lauritatellado
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Damn. Hillary is chill as hell. I'll have what she's
having, por favor. #Debates2016 #debatenight
|
Juscohen
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
She just emasculated him on stage and it was
beautiful #debatenight
|
SOcean5
|
9/26/2016 10:08pm
|
#debates "Holier than thou" there's been
no truer line explaining Hillary
#debatenight
|
TomiLahren
|
9/26/2016 10:37pm
|
Hillary will come back from the dead just to attain
power. That is all she has in life is a thirst for power. #debatenight
|
Tay_76
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
New conspiracy about Hillary Clinton: she's not
human because she is showing an inhuman amount of self control and poise
#debatenight
|
Figure 1 Sample
Tweets Critiquing HRC’s Personality
Along with critiques of her personality were those
focused on her appearance. The most frequent among these, 62 in total,
commented on her attire, a pantsuit, a clothing item most often associated with
professional, perhaps feminist, women.
While not all of these were negative (e.g. “Just ironed my Official DNC @HillaryClinton pantsuit to wear as I cheer her on during #debatenight,”
gigglechick, 9/26/2016, 3:04pm); “Hilz in
her power pant suit. #debatenight #ImWithHer #powerpose #iseered,” Olivia_says,
9/26/2016,9:12pm), many were. The
negative jibes ranged from catch phrases (e.g. “liar liar PANTSUIT on fire #NeverHillary #debatenight,”
PannebakerFore4, 9/26/2016, 10:42pm; jokes (e.g. “Hillary's clearly a monster,
she's wearing a pantsuit made
out of Elmo's skin #debatenight,”
MalcolmWHW, 9/26/2016, 9:13pm); and
references to her economic privilege (e.g. “I wonder how much @HillaryClinton's designer pantsuit costs, since she's talking
about the 1% and all,” CamCastro14, 9/26/2016, 9:09pm). The fact that people were musing about the
color of Clinton’s pantsuit hours before the debate (e.g. “Inquiring
minds want to know: What color of pantsuit
will @HillaryClinton be wearing tonight?!! #debatenight,”
(HenryCoGOPer, 9/26/2016, 6:07pm) reveals just one of the many ways in which
she faced gendered scrutiny that her opponent did not. Along with these posts focusing on her
clothing were tweets focusing on her makeup, her eyebrows, her smile, her
accessories (or lack thereof), and her overall perceived energy level (see
Figure 2).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
TimRunsHisMouth
|
9/26/2016 9:06pm
|
I see Hillary went with a Mrs. Claus look instead of
Chairman Mao tonight to seem more approachable. #debatenight #TheGreatDebateFox5
|
PresTheodore
|
9/26/2016 9:07pm
|
Hillary Clinton is definitely wearing Kim Jong-un's
Christmas suit #debatenight
|
codyausanders
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Where is your American flag pin @HillaryClinton ?!?
Are you not a patriot?!?! #debatenight
|
Lindseyleveck
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Hilary's makeup artist should have given her more
contour & blush. She looks pale...really pale.#ghost #debatenight
#contouring #fail
|
Rafedean
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Hilary's onesie is made of 3000 power ties!
#debatenight
|
lisa_henneman
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Hillary's eyebrows are higher tonight #debatenight
|
amtucker444
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
I wish Hillary would get some sort of eyebrow
relaxant so her face is less like her face. #DebateNight
|
Fcorpaci
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Hillary looks tired. Maybe she needs to take a nap.
#SickHillary #debatenight
|
markramseysrec7
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Hillarys meds are wearing off. She looks and sounds
terrible. #debatenight
|
USAforTrump2016
|
9/26/2016 10:03pm
|
Hillary wipe that smug smile off your face...you murderer
#debates #debatenight
|
mike92882
|
9/26/2016 10:13pm
|
Is it just me, or does it seem Hillary's batteries
are running down? #Debate #debatenight
|
Sleepygramy
|
9/26/2016 10:13pm
|
She's like a limp noodle! #debatenight
|
Adlerdavison
|
9:19pm
|
|
Figure 2 Sample
Tweets Critiquing HRC’s Appearance
Of course, televised debates lend themselves to
observations of the candidate’s appearance, speech, and body language so such
comments are not unexpected. However the ways in which they fold in gender stereotypes
are noteworthy. To be fair, Trump
received his fair share of tweets critiquing his own appearance. However, while these were often as mean
spirited as those targeting Clinton, they did differ in that the quips about
his appearance were not grounded in any stereotypes concerning how a man should
present himself (see Figure 3).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
JessicaValenti
|
9/26/2016 9:08pm
|
Someone told Trump to stay still and he's having a
hard time with it #debatenight
|
robyns323
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
#Trump has his 'bring it biotch' game face on.
#debatenight
|
ch00chelo
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Is it me or does Trump looks less orange than usual
tonight? #debatenight
|
joshua_ariza
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
Donald Trump's hair is like a bootleg version of
Hillary's hair. #debatenight
|
stedd1177
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
YES the Trump faces have returned!! #DebateNight
|
heidibrander
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Kudos to Hillary Clinton for shaking Trump's hand
even though he's got DOUBLE PINKEYE! #debatenight
|
h6yd6n6
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Orange is the new Hitler #DebateNight
|
emily_gerds
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
Trump's hair looks like the aftermath of a 7 yr old
"brushing" through a tangled American Girl doll's hair #debatenight
|
Figure 3 Sample
Tweets Critiquing Trump’s Appearance
Accompanying more implicit sexist comments concerning
Clinton’s appearance and personality were more explicit sexist remarks. For example, one recurrent theme throughout
the night was her husband’s infidelity (see Figure 4). While the tweets did not always mention
Hillary Clinton specifically, they join the broader rhetoric that she herself
was (at least partially) to blame for Bill Clinton’s past sexual
indiscretions. Her opponent amplified
this discourse in the early months of the election when he retweeted the post “If
Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy
America?” (Ames and Burcon 217). Comments like these that allude to Clinton’s
supposed lack of sexual appeal underscore the ways in which ageism and sexism
combine to undermine women. And while we
might at least take some comfort in the fact that Clinton not often sexualized in
Twitter posts – another strategy used to undercut a woman’s power – there was
the rouge comment here or there that reveal that any woman is subject to random sexual commentary (e.g. “I wonder if Hillary sexts
#debatenight,”” (barstoolnate, 9/26/2016, 10:13pm).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
HillarysCrooked
|
9/26/2016 9:03pm
|
The Clintons were just introduced - the only family
with more drama than the Kardashians.#debate2016 #debatenight
|
Tedheller
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
The words "Monica Lewinski" are bouncing
around his larynx right now just dying to get out. #debatenight
|
Nicoleeeliz
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
"Trump loves hanging around beauty
pageants." So does YOUR husband Hillary. #debatenight
|
mrniceguyvsop
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Is Bill still getting that Lewinsky??#debatenight
|
Jemelehill
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Was Trump about to pull the Lewinsky card?
#debatenight
|
alpha456
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
#debatenight Ur a liar @HillaryClinton u
stood against women ur husband raped #WarOnWomen
|
imnotscotwalker
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Bill Clinton *also* likes hanging around
women. Ijs. #SerialSexualAssaulter #debatenight
|
JGalt09
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Hillary Clinton called Bill's many women
bimbos and trailer trash. #debatenight
|
Figure 4 Sample
Tweets Discussing Bill Clinton’s Infidelity
In terms
of blatant gendered slurs, there were fewer than expected present within the
debate’s live tweeting stream. More mild
instances characterized her as a witch (e.g. “Hillary is just missing her
witch's broom tonight. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Watch out. Make
America great again! #debatenight,” hannysan_xo, 9/26/2016, 10:38pm), but
others involved more vulgar language (e.g. “Release your emails, bitch.
#debatenight,” (@mikemikedc777, 9/26/2016, 9:36pm; “#debatenight Bitch!! You
armed ISIL! Is she insane?” teslintobe, 9/26/2016, 10:13pm; “The Whore of The
Wall Street is mocking the Wall Street? #debatenight #debates #Debates2016,” America_1st_,
9/26/2106, 9:18pm). Of course, instances of such slurs are not surprising as it
has been well documented that Internet communication makes such inflammatory
sexist language more prevalent.
While many user’s stances on feminism might be deduced
from their language concerning Clinton, some pointedly critiqued the movement
(or Clinton’s role as its current figurehead).
As such, tweets specifically mentioning feminism, misogyny, and sexism
were not always doing so in a pro-Clinton fashion. A subset of these were critical of the ways in
which her campaign used the so-called “woman card.” Some parroted the oft-made argument that
voting for a woman simply because she was a woman wasn’t feminism. And others brought up the fact that Trump was
the first presidential candidate to hire a woman to be his campaign manager as
evidence of progress in the women’s movement (and perhaps as an implied
argument that this choice should then prevent him from being labeled as sexist)
(see Figure 5). Others outrageously
suggested that Trump’s treatment of Clinton was evidence of feminism’s success:
“Surely it's a win for feminism that
Trump feels able to attack his opponent, without chivalry, as if her gender was
irrelevant? #debatenight,” (timothy_stanley 9/26/2016
10:34pm). The reframing of Trump’s misogynistic behavior as a positive move
away from an outdated model of “chivalry” is representative of post-feminism
sentiments that work to solidify the problematic notion that feminism itself is
antiquated. And, of course, there were
posts that flat out expressed their disregard for the women’s movement in less
tactful ways (see the hashtag #feminismiscancer in Figure 5).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
Samantha_uren23
|
9/26/2016 7:35pm
|
A woman president would be
amazing. But to vote 4 her becuz she's a woman isn't #feminism... know the
facts and get educated. #debatenight
|
Yvonne2016MAGA
|
9/26/2016 9:01pm
|
Wow the 1st rigged primary
elected female candidate for president #debatenight about to begin yay! for
feminism?
|
TomiLahren
|
9/26/2016 10:35pm
|
Oh Hillary don't you even
go there with the woman card. Don't even crack that can of worms.
#debatenight
|
DLoesch
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Clinton playing that #Vagina2016
card. #debatenight
|
LilithLovett
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Oops, Hillary pulling the
"Sexist, misogynist" card, time to take another shot.
|
Michael_Voris
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Trump is the first
presidential candidate to have a woman as his campaign manager. #Feminism
#debatenight
|
Muhfeelz
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Hillary thinks women should
get equal pay, but not have to do equal work? #debates #debatenight
#feminismiscancer
|
alli_dance1999
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Of course they would bring
up the sexism card... #debatenight #Debates2016
|
Figure 5 Sample
Tweets Critiquing (Attention to/Portrayal of/Concept of) Feminism
Despite this subset of tweets that rejected any positive
association with Hillary as a champion or representative for feminism, the vast
majority of the tweets including the words feminism, sexism, misogyny,
patriarchy, or double standards seemed to be using this labeling strategy as a
means to engage in a form of feminist digital activism or feminist social
education. These posts (see Figure 6) discussed
feminism more broadly, or in relation the election, and tagged specific moments
within the debate as instances of misogyny. In terms of frequency of such
posts, 54 tweets specifically mentioning sexism, 47 used the term sexist, 41 posts
included the term feminism, 54 tweets included the word misogyny, and 28
referenced patriarchy. Some of these
took the form of direct addresses. For
example, many posts specifically integrated Hillary Clinton’s Twitter handle to
comment on the ways in which she personally was experiencing and/or combatting
sexism (e.g.“As a woman who's endured 50 years of sexism and misogyny, I want to thank @HillaryClinton for standing up for all
of us. #DebateNight (bluebelletrist, 9/27/2016,
12:13am). But more common were
relational posts wherein viewers of the debate referenced the ways in which the
sexism directed at Clinton mirrored their own experiences (see Figure 6).
Arguably, the popularity of feminist cultural critic, Jessica Valenti’s, post encapsulating
this issue – the post received 4533 likes and 2917 retweets – proves how much
Clinton’s experiences on the stage resonated with female viewers watching at home: “A lot
of women watching are going to recognize the way that he's interrupting her
& yelling #debatenight” (9/26/2016, 9:26pm).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
SikhProf
|
9/26/2016, 7:49pm
|
My #DebateNight prediction:
Man will speak nonsense. We will excuse him. Woman will slip up slightly. We
will skewer her. (See: sexism)
|
Johnbrougher
|
9/26/2016, 8:34pm
|
no matter what happens
tonight, it looks like the real winner will (of course) be sexism and
patriarchy. #debatenight
|
emmaladyrose
|
9/26/2016 9:04pm
|
"First time there's
been a woman on this debate stage..." Let that sink in. #debatenight
|
somethingmonica
|
9/26/2016 9:07pm
|
That Hillary's legitimacy
has to be juxtaposed to Trump is a real freaking tragedy for feminism
#debatenight
|
AAUWTX
|
9/26/2016 9:08pm
|
Equal pay and family paid
leave mentioned in the first few moments of the debate. #debatenight
#feminism
|
edutinker
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
She's calling him
"Donald" to un-sexist her getting called "Hillary",
right? #Debates2016 #debatenight
|
girlactor
|
9/26/2016 9:27pm
|
I love watching a strong
woman smile and stay calm while a man screams nonsense over her. #debatenight
|
minaradman
|
9/26/2016 9:28pm
|
Donald yelling over Hillary
is a metaphor for the patriarchy and how men have treated women for decades
#debatenight
|
TamaraLChambers
|
9/26/2016 9:29pm
|
Girl: I have a feeling I'll
be blamed for everything by the end of the night. Guy: WHY NOT 😩😤ðŸ˜#debatenight #feminism
|
crissteding
|
9/26/2016
9:29pm
|
All women recognize
Hilary's please-stop-talking-over-me-asshole smile. #debatenight
|
TBombin
|
9/26/2016 9:30pm
|
Donald Trump is literally
the patriarchy personified into one horrible person #debatenight
|
realtrueheather
|
9/26/2016 9:35pm
|
In case u don't live in the
oppressive structures of sexism and misogyny now u get to watch it live on tv
#debatenight
|
Aidan
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
a rude white man not
letting a women speak, what's new #debatenight
|
piacreyes
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
New drinking game: every
time Trump interrupts Clinton everyone takes a shot #debatenight
|
sammitche
|
9/26/2016 9:59pm
|
A white female in a
position of power standing up for male poc is feminism. #debatenight
|
everywhereist
|
9/26/2016 10:01pm
|
As a woman, this feels so
personal b/c I've felt this sort condescension from men before.
|
EmilyLindin
|
9/26/2016 10:11pm
|
This debate should go down
in history as the moment everyone realized that we need more women in
leadership #debatenight
|
VictoriaAveyard
|
9/26/2016 10:11pm
|
Trump has never been forced
to listen to or allow a woman to speak this long in his entire life. #debatenight
|
juliarosen
|
9/26/2016 10:13pm
|
Lull right now. Guess I got
used to Trump shouting over Hillary. #debatenight #normalizingsexism
|
raymita
|
9/26/2016 10:13pm
|
Secretary Clinton made
women’s rights an international issue: fighting sex trafficking, child
marriage, and sexual violence. #DebateNight
|
Romper
|
9/26/2016 10:25pm
|
Pouring one out for every
woman who has been criticized for her "temperament" by a screaming
man.
|
wtflanksteak
|
9/26/2016 10:35pm
|
"Until he [LISTS
RESUME], he can talk to me about stamina." EVERY FUCKING WOMAN JUST FELT
HER HEART GROW.#debatenight
|
brosandprose
|
9/26/2016 10:35pm
|
When a woman is more
qualified, it's deemed "bad experience." I see you, Donald. I see
you. #debatenight #sheslays
|
DylanRatigan
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
His misogyny. This is where
she correctly kills him. #debatenight
|
TeaPartyCat
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Trump: "I never said
all these demeaning things about dumb ugly bitches that Hillary claims I
did."
|
mess_ofme
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
"It's okay that I said
rude and sexist things against Rosie O'Donnell because she was mean to
me." #temperament #debate2016 #debatenight
|
Jackie_Emerson
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
YES @HillaryClinton calling
out @realDonaldTrump's BLATANT SEXISM. #debatenight
|
realsesmith
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Secretary Clinton brings up
Trump's sexism while Trump tries to mansplain her. Thanks for proving the
point! #debatenight
|
deweysnotdead
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
@HillaryClinton tearing
down the patriarchy, y'all #debatenight
|
wtflanksteak
|
9/26/2016 10:37pm
|
Every woman is relating to
this debate in a painful and emotional way right now.
|
msrita68
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
So he is doubling down on
his sexism...this is unreal #debatenight https://t.co/bC3NDWe3SI
|
bo0tlegfendi
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
trump is such a sexist pig
its disgusting #debatenight
|
cottagedogs
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Agreed. We've come too far
as a nation to elect a #racist #misogynist. #americaisalreadygreat
#debatenight
|
justplainjess1
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Trump: I was going to say
something VERY AWFUL about Hillary but I didn't. HALLELUJAH SEXISM IS OVER!!
#DebateNight
|
chicagojewlz
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Donald Trump said Hillary
Clinton doesn't have the penis, i mean look, to be president. Which is
apparently orange. #debatenight #Debates2016
|
allistewart
|
9/26/2016 10:38pm
|
Would Hillary be expected
to be nice if she were a man? #debates #debatenight #sexism #unconsciousbias
#consciousbias
|
LiberalMmama
|
9/26/2016 10:57pm
|
Hillary calmly explains
Trump's misogyny. Trump interrupts 2x&then randomly attacks Rosie
O'Donnell. #debatenight #TrumpHatesWomen
|
Figure 6 Sample
Tweets Discussing Feminism, Patriarchy, Misogyny, and Double Standards
RQ 2) What strategies were used to
combat sexist rhetoric (present in either the live broadcast or the Twitter
feed) by live tweeting viewers?
Labeling was simply one strategy used by Twitter users
to draw attention to and resist sexist rhetoric. Since Twitter privileges humorous tweets (in
that they circulate more frequently), many of the successful strategies – in
terms of bringing visibility to the critique at hand – used by users to address
sexism took on the form of jokes. One
popular strategy was subversive tweets that coopted common sexist commentary in
order to amplify and counter the stereotypes contained within them. The most prevalent collection of these tweets
reframed or redirected the misogynistic advice that women should be outwardly
friendly. As can be seen in Figure 7,
many users sarcastically posted direct addresses to Donald Trump, encouraging
him to “smile more.” Many of these posts
critiqued multiple instances of sexism at the same time by also addressing
expectations that women should be serve in domestic roles (e.g. “make us some
sandwiches”), avoid “shrieking” or nagging, not be “emotional,” and be, of
course, and be pretty (See Figure 7).
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
OhNoSheTwitnt
|
9/26/2016 8:38pm
|
Hillary should smile more and not raise her voice.
Maybe bring us coffee. Also would it kill her to make us some sandwiches? #debatenight
|
MileyMalfoy
|
9/26/2016 9:09pm
|
|
RaquelEvita
|
9/26/2016 9:09pm
|
Donald, why do you look
so tired? Why don't you smile?
#debatenight
|
Jeremyscheuch
|
9/26/2016 9:10pm
|
What's up with @realDonaldTrump's outfit and naggy
voice? He should smile more. #debatenight
|
frdmfightr
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
He would be friendlier if he smiled. #debatenight
|
dianelyssa
|
9/26/2016 9:27pm
|
|
ClinicEscort
|
9/26/2016 9:29pm
|
|
erinlooney11b
|
9/26/2016 10:03pm
|
My brother: "Listen, #Hillary. Next time, don't
smile so big when he's making an ass out of himself." #debatenight
|
ElayneBoosler
|
9/26/2016 10:07pm
|
|
JessicaValenti
|
9/26/2016 10:25pm
|
Donald really should smile more.
#debatenight
|
rickporter
|
9/26/2016 10:27pm
|
Don,
smile more. Don’t shout so
much. Show us that “winning” temperament. #debatenight
And maybe don’t grip the podium so hard.
|
IanGonzales
|
9/26/2016 10:37pm
|
|
Figure 7 Sample
Tweets Subversive Tweets Commenting on the Gendered Directive to Smile
In total, 75 tweets focused on the smiles of the
candidates or the moderators in order to carry out their social critique.
Another instance of repurposing sexist rhetoric took on
the form of tweets wherein Clinton’s status as a grandmother was
highlighted. As alluded to earlier, Clinton
faced ageist critiques concerning whether an older woman could serve as commander
in chief with people posing questions about whether her status as a grandmother
or post-menopausal woman would impede her abilities to lead (Ames and Burcon
152, 218). Concerning the latter, TIME magazine “dealt Clinton the supreme
backhanded compliment of declaring her ‘The Perfect Age to be President’,
before going into great detail about the ‘hormonal ebbing’ she might be
experiencing” at this stage in her life (Bates). With rhetoric such as this circulating in the
media, I expected to find tweets that negatively attended to Clinton’s age or
labeled her as a grandmother as a form of insult. Surprisingly, there were relatively few of
these (e.g. “Grandma looks portly in red #debatenight,”
JammieWF, 9/26/2016, 9:06pm; “Can't wait to watch Americas most annoying grandma face off against a giant angry
orange,” _GreenEggnSam, 9/26/2016, 7:35pm).
The majority of the
tweets that contained variations of the term grandmother did so as a means of
praise, or as the form of a benign joke (see Figure 8). By reframing Clinton as
a “sassy grandma” and enthusiastically tagging her as a “grandma-in-chief” on
Twitter, the power of this ageist rhetoric is diffused ever so slightly.
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
Tyler2ONeil
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
"I call it Trump-ed up
trickle down."Hillary, you're a grandma. No telling dad jokes. #debatenight
|
AnnieScott
|
9/26/2016 9:26pm
|
Things this #debatenight is like:
watching your sassy grandma argue with Comcast
|
BabeParker
|
9/26/2016 9:31pm
|
We know Hillary is a good grandma bc she's unfazed by non
sequiturs and tantrums #debatenight
|
smartashsahm
|
9/26/2016 9:36pm
|
That was a KO from a granny in a pant suit
@realDonaldTrump & damn we all loved it! #DebateNight
|
mrdavechild
|
9/26/2016 10:04pm
|
|
JinxAdam
|
9/26/201610:14pm
|
Hillary Clinton
kinda looks like a grandma who tries to be hip so she buys you cigarettes
when you're 15 #debatenight
|
Kpfallon
|
9/26/2016 10:23pm
|
Love when Hillary goes nerdy grandma. "Woo! Ok!"
*shimmy shimmy* #debatenight
|
AdamSmith_usa
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
"…he can come talk to me about stamina."
YASSSSS GRANDMA-IN-CHEIF #debatenight
|
Figure 8 Sample
Subversive Grandma Tweets
These strategies, as well as many others, were
highlighted well at particular moments within the presidential debate. One of these was when the debate moderator,
Lester Holt, gave Trump the opportunity to explain (and potentially retract)
his previous comment that Clinton did not have a “presidential look.” Instead of apologizing for the statement,
Trump attempted to explain that he simply meant she did not have the “stamina”
to be president – a comment that was likely intended to draw attention to
Clinton’s recent bout of pneumonia (which she worked through against medical
advice). Twitter erupted at this moment
as users countered with their own critiques of Trump’s perceived levels of
energy and/or health, commenting on how much he sniffled, how many glasses he
drank, and how pale he was (see Figure 9).
Others posted jokes to show how invalid they found Trump’s claims were
(e.g. imagining Clinton completing backflips across the stage while Trump
disintegrated). Still others simply
pointed out the long misogynistic history of implying that women were weaker
than men (e.g. “Accusing
women of ill health has long, anti-feminist history. #debatenight,” womeninhighered,
9/26/2016, 10:38pm). And others
turned to information sharing to defend Clinton’s stamina (e.g. “Hillary Clinton went to
112 countries, more than any other Secretary of State before her. That's stamina. #debatenight,”FemMajority,
9/26/2016, 10:34pm; “Hillary Clinton traveled 956,733 miles as Secretary of State. Trump
repeatedly dodged Vietnam for "bone spurs." STAMINA, lol. #debatenight,”
goldengateblond, 9/26/2016, 10:36pm).
One of the most common strategies used was the use of
quoting. In this instance the retweeting
of Clinton’s own response tweeted from her account almost immediately as she
said it on stage: “When Donald Trump
spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk
to me about stamina.” This comment received 44,907 likes and was retweeted
20,393 times. Although the use of
quoting as a form of social commentary can lead to ambiguity as one can only
assume the user is quoting because she agrees with the statement, in this case
it seems relatively straightforward.
Twitter User
|
Timestamp
|
Tweet
|
thegeorgethomas
|
9/26/2016 9:12pm
|
@realDonaldTrump is lookin
pale. Are you ok? Sick? Unwell? #debatenight
|
inkandfolly
|
9/26/2016 10:03pm
|
Hey guys, Donnie is sniffling quite a bit. IS HE
DYING? #debatenight
|
atomic_13
|
9/26/2016 10:03pm
|
@HillaryClinton is that sniffle from
@realDonaldTrump bothering you? Is he feeling okay? It's bothering me #debatenight
|
jilliscol
|
9/26/2016 10:33pm
|
|
slouisehenry
|
9/26/2016 10:33pm
|
She doesn't have the presidential look. But you've needed
six glasses of water to get through this. #debatenight
|
Meladoodle
|
9/26/2016 10:34pm
|
"She doesn't have the look" says the
talking hairy pumpkin man #debatenight
|
Alicegoldfuss
|
9/26/2016 10:34pm
|
Breathless man leans on podium,
says woman doesn't have stamina
#debatenight
|
PiaGlenn
|
9/26/2016 10:34pm
|
|
catie_warren
|
9/26/2016 10:34pm
|
I physically flinch whenever I
hear the "she doesn't have a presidential
look" quote. It's 2016. She's a woman. Get over it. #debatenight
|
asmamk
|
9/26/2016 10:35pm
|
Trump just lectured the moderator about the first
woman nominated for pres from a major party lacking "stamina"
#debatenight
|
angeli_bean
|
9/26/2016 10:35pm
|
Hillary has a whole career's worth of stamina
standing up to men like Trump #debatenight
|
SamDoesPolitics
|
9/26/2016 10:35pm
|
"I just don't think she
has a Presidential look"
says a spray-tanned cheese-puff with a poodle on his head #debatenight
|
DalDeta
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
Trump: "She doesn't have the stamina."
*Hillary walks center stage and backflips*
*Trump disintegrates*
#debatenight
|
Mariashriver
|
9/26/2016 10:36pm
|
She's showing stamina in this debate. She looks damn
presidential to me. Smart. Calm. Classy. #debatenight
|
Figure 9 Sample
Tweets Critiquing Trump’s Comment on Clinton’s Stamina/Presidential Look
Another
key moment in the debate that led to a large amount of quotes, commentary, and fact
checking was toward the close when Clinton highlighted Trump’s history of
misogynistic behavior by discussing how he publically shamed a former Miss
Universe for weight gain. Two of her
comments “This is a man that has called women pigs, slobs, and
dogs” and “The woman Trump called ‘Miss Piggy’ has a name: Alicia Machado” became two of the most
tweeted lines of the debate (the latter receiving 38,241 likes and 23,817
retweets from Clinton’s Twitter account in addition to quotes and paraphrases). Trump’s response included a reference to
a former Twitter war he had engaged in with celebrity Rosie O’Donnell, who he
had also criticized for her appearance.
Rather than apologizing for his past comments, Trump doubled down,
arguing that they were justified.
Immediately tweets began responding to his answer (e.g. “I'm sorry, she DESERVED it?!
Our girls deserve so much better than this clown. #ImWithHer #debatenight,” amytondreau,
9/26/2016, 10:38pm; “The way you fucking treat females isn't nice, my mf dude.
#debatenight” (babocheoreoms, 9/26/2016, 10:38pm) and pointing out the victim
blaming within this type of rhetoric (e.g. “Trump just literally victim blamed
people he's verbally harassed on national television. #DebateNight,” rj4gui4r, 9/26/2016, 10:38pm).
Information sharing/fact checking posts also started appearing that
provided links to articles that documented Trump’s previous instances of
misogynistic remarks. For example, the
publication WIRED posted “Fact
Check: True. Donald Trump did say all those terrible
things about women” (9/26/2016, 10:36pm) and posted a link where readers could
learn more about them.
What this study reveals is that while online
communication platforms like Twitter continue to provide users with ample
opportunity to circulate sexist messages, these are being resisted through various
strategies. Further, users are turning
to Twitter to as a means to discuss instances of misogyny occurring offline as
well. While the impact of this means of digital
activism is often debated, the efforts to combat sexism made by those live tweeting
the presidential debate is still worthy of note.