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From presidential wife to leader in her own right? The media's representation of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the feminine ideal

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Date Issued:
2003
Summary:
This thesis examines how the media depicted First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton when she stepped outside of the traditional feminine roles of wife and/or mother and into the traditionally masculine/public world with her bid to run for the office of United States Senator from New York. It critically examines the cover, cover story images, and textual representations in Newsweek, Time, and New York magazines by means of a feminist semiotic and rhetorical analysis to discern potential meanings. The research concludes that the media circumscribe limited roles for First Ladies. First Ladies continue to be shown as victim, object, and/or appendage of a more powerful male, even when they consider political office. Therefore, it is argued that the media have a profound role in defining political women through the perpetuation of hegemonic constructions of femininity.
Title: From presidential wife to leader in her own right? The media's representation of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the feminine ideal.
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Name(s): Oxner, Amy Carol.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Scodari, Christine, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2003
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 125 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: This thesis examines how the media depicted First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton when she stepped outside of the traditional feminine roles of wife and/or mother and into the traditionally masculine/public world with her bid to run for the office of United States Senator from New York. It critically examines the cover, cover story images, and textual representations in Newsweek, Time, and New York magazines by means of a feminist semiotic and rhetorical analysis to discern potential meanings. The research concludes that the media circumscribe limited roles for First Ladies. First Ladies continue to be shown as victim, object, and/or appendage of a more powerful male, even when they consider political office. Therefore, it is argued that the media have a profound role in defining political women through the perpetuation of hegemonic constructions of femininity.
Identifier: 9780496219261 (isbn), 13088 (digitool), FADT13088 (IID), fau:9952 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2003.
Subject(s): Clinton, Hillary Rodham--In mass media
Women politicians--Press coverage
Presidents' spouses--United States
Feminism and mass media
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13088
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.