A few weeks ago a tumblr was created with the title "Texts from Hillary." Its main focus is a picture of Clinton looking very suave and professional. She's sitting in an enormous plane, wearing sunglasses, and checking her phone. The picture quickly turned into a popular meme and even got the attention of the secretary herself. She met with the founders of the site and thanked them for giving her some good P.R. If we all remember 2008, we remember that Clinton was portrayed as shrill and unamusing. However, this site shows that she is simply very business-ortiented and focused, which got me thinking about how women in politics are depicted.
I read a report months ago about how people are less likely to refer to a woman by her last name than her first. I immediately remembered watching coverage of the 2008 Democratic primaries, and it was always a battle between Obama and Hillary. However, I believe Palin was referred to by her surname, because, unlike Hillary, Sarah could not be confused with Todd, whereas "Clinton" can certainly mean either Bill or Hillary. But I think it's important to make any future match up Clinton vs. Whomever as a means to treat both genders equally.
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