Dr. Leslie Dorrough Smith on Masculinity, Politics, Christianity
Masculinity
Politics
Christianity
“So if a politician comes across as masculine, hyper-aggressivethe American public is more likely than not willing to forgive that particular politician for whatever sexual indiscretions he's committed”
“the family is the basic core building block. of society, many conservatives will argue because it is the place where male energies are harnessed through female morality”
“it does associate masculinity with sexuality and it also associates femininity with asexuality or with a lowered sex drive or at the very least with a sex drive that is only appropriately expressed within the confines of heterosexual marriage.”
“many of the sex and gender norms that have been generated within Evangelical groups ... what you often find is that there is this sense that God made men sexual because their ...libidos are actually the power that drives society.”
“He (David Patraeus) was in most news outlets described as a guy who just let his guard down. And he's learned his lesson. She (Paula Broadwell) was described as a Vixen, as a tornado, a sexual tornado who came through and obliterated everything around her”
Unruly female sexuality has the power to destroy entire systems of power
“Jessica Hahn, she was...viewed as this sort of homewrecker who... trumped into the Baker's marriage and tore apart the entire empire.”
“part of patriotism is believing that your nation is strong, but also moral... you got to have both of those two things together”
Strength and morality exist together, so if men are strong they must be moral
“we have normalized white male heterosexuality as the productive normal family man...it’s very classed too...but if you're black... you are read as a hyper-masculine threat to the rest of the nation."
“In the case of...Katie Hill, a woman who runs for office….she doesn’t have any sort of symbolic capital to offer the public to convince them that she can fulfill that leadership protection role...The public already does not associate...female identity with leadership”
Christian gender essentialism prevents women from being seen as leaders
Men can defend unruly behavior by arguing it is the symptom of their political strength
A return to productive sex with the bearer of your children is all it takes to reclaim power
“the focus group was watching what I...call the apology spectacle. Right. They're watching a politician with the flags in the back and Wife by the side”
“many of the sex and gender norms that have been generated within evangelical groups...what you often find is that there is this sense that God made men sexual because their ...libidos are actually the power that drives society.”
“moralistic rhetoric can be used to understand his sexual peccadilloes as a bit undesirable, perhaps, but as a sign of the raw energy and drive, it takes to make a nation great.”
“religion is a way of communicating with authority...Religion gives authority to speech, to action and so on. It's also a way to create social boundaries.”
“Evangelical rhetoric...enables Americans to excuse certain politicians for their sexual misbehavior”
"According to Evangelical propaganda, “the family is ideally the male and female sexual unit together. And that's what creates children and productivity and free societies”