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TOPIC: Study: Sexist insults hurt female politicians (USA Today 9/22/10)

Jen the Michigander

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Date: Sep 25, 2010

Study: Sexist insults hurt female politicians (USA Today 9/22/10)	Permalink

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2010-09-22-sexist-insults-female-politicians_N.htm Calling a female candidate such sexist names as "ice queen" and "mean girl" significantly undercuts her political standing, a new study of voter attitudes finds, doing more harm than gender-neutral criticism based solely on her policy positions and actions. Harder-edged attacks, such as referring to her as a prostitute, were equally damaging among voters, according to research commissioned by a non-partisan coalition of women's advocacy groups. The survey said the advice often given to women — to ignore the attacks rather than risk giving them more attention or legitimacy — turns out to be wrong. In the study, responding directly helped the female candidate regain lost ground and cost her opponent support. Among the findings: • The female candidate lost twice as much support when even the mild sexist language was added to the attack. Support for her initially measured at 43% fell to 33% after the policy-based attacks but to 21% after the sexist taunts. The drop was significant among both men and women, those under 50 and over 50, and those with college educations and without. • The sexist language undermined favorable perceptions of the female candidate, leading voters to view her as less empathetic, trustworthy and effective. • Responding directly helped the women candidates' regain support. The rebound occurred both after a mild response — the female candidate calling the discussion "inappropriate" and "meritless" and turning back to issues — and after a more direct counterattack that decried "sexist, divisive rhetoric" as damaging to "our political debate and our democracy." Bennett herself faced the issue when she unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District in 2008. A blog posting derided her with vulgar, sexually explicit language that was reported in the local newspaper. "I was advised, 'Ignore it,' and I consistently said, 'No comment,' " she recalls. "I realized after my race was over that was a mistake." __________________ Nobody puts THIS baby in the corner!

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