Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Political Science

Advisor

Keena Lipsitz

Committee Members

Charles Tien

David Jones

Subject Categories

American Politics | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Keywords

user anger against politics on Twitter, anxiety against female candidates on Twitter, shame on women in politics, Martha McSally, Kyrsten Sinema, Claire McCaskill, Marsha Blackburn, Disgust and Republicans on Facebook and Twitter

Abstract

This is a study that determines whether or not new media amplifies gender stereotyping during campaigns. Numerous studies about women and the media, which have been conducted by scholars using traditional media, show that women endure more gender stereotyping then men. More recent studies show that women have made some ground and gender stereotyping is not as prevalent. These studies, however, were conducted using traditional newspapers. This is a study that compares traditional media and online news sources to determine if gender stereotyping is more prevalent in the latter. Another feature of this study is that it contains interviews of women and men examining their concerns about new media scrutiny. These interviews will be used as a gauge to determine if their concerns are legitimate during a content analysis of four 2018 Senate races which control for gender. New media invites interaction from viewers and can create a hostile environment which can possibly deter women from running for elective office. This study will also include a content analysis of candidate Twitter feeds in the four races followed. Overall, the goal of the study is to assess whether gender stereotypes are more prevalent in new media.

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