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The president of the United States traditionally serves as a symbol of power, virtue, ability, dominance, popularity, and patriarchy. In recent years, however, the high-profile candidacies of Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Bachmann have provoked new interest in gendered popular culture and how it influences Americans' perceptions of the country's highest political office. In this timely volume, editors Justin S. Vaughn and Lilly J. Goren lead a team of scholars in examining how the president and the first lady exist as a function of public expectations and cultural gender roles. The authors investigate how the candidates' messages are conveyed, altered, and interpreted in "hard" and "soft" media forums, from the nightly news to daytime talk shows, and from tabloids to the blogosphere. They also address the portrayal of the presidency in film and television productions such as Kisses for My President (1964), Air Force One (1997), and Commander in Chief (2005). With its strong, multidisciplinary approach, Women and the White House commences a wider discussion about the possibility of a female president in the United States, the ways in which popular perceptions of gender will impact her leadership, and the cultural challenges she will face.

Table of Contents

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  1. Front cover
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  1. Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. 1. The Mechanized Gaze: Gender, Popular Culture, and the Presidency
  2. pp. 1-22
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  1. Part I: Framing Candidates,Understanding Voters
  1. 2. Puritan or Pit Bull: The Framing of Female Candidates at the National Level
  2. pp. 25-48
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  1. 3. Colbert Nation: Gender, Late-Night Television, and Candidate Humanization
  2. pp. 49-74
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  1. 4. Soccer Moms, Hockey Moms, National Security Moms: Reality versus Fiction and the Female Voter
  2. pp. 75-94
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  1. Part II: Hollywood’s Influence on Presidential Politics
  1. 5. Fact or Fiction: The Reality of Race and Gender in Reaching the White House
  2. pp. 97-120
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  1. 6. Gendering the Presidency without Gender in the Presidency
  2. pp. 121-134
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  1. 7. It’s a Man’s World: Masculinity in Pop Culture Portrayals of the President
  2. pp. 135-160
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  1. Part III: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”? Alternative Avenues for Political Information
  1. 8. Sitting with Oprah, Dancing with Ellen: Presidents, Daytime Television, and Soft News
  2. pp. 163-180
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  1. 9. The Checkout Line Perspective: Presidential Politics as Celebrity Popular Culture in People
  2. pp. 181-204
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  1. 10. Viral Videos: Reinforcing Stereotypes of Female Candidates for President
  2. pp. 205-226
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  1. Part IV: Women in the White House: First Ladies, First Couples, First Families
  1. 11. High Culture, Popular Culture, and the Modern First Ladies
  2. pp. 229-248
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  1. 12. The First Family: Transforming the American Ideal
  2. pp. 249-268
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  1. 13. The Presidential Partnership: A Gender Seesaw
  2. pp. 269-286
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 287-290
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  1. Selected Bibliography
  2. pp. 291-304
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 305-310
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 311-324
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