Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been in the public political eye for basically 30 years. She has endured great setbacks while having amazing successes. During this election cycle, she was nominated by the Democratic Party to be their candidate towards the 2016 Presidential Election. She faced untold amount of scrutiny for everything she did, didn't do, and could have done. Clinton's campaign was without mistakes, over-estimations, and under-estimations. She was and continues to be an exemplary role model for people everywhere, particularly women. She let the rhetoric thrown towards her, particularly the sexist rhetoric roll right off her shoulders. She responded with sharp quips, jokes, and a sense of preparedness that could not be ignored by her counterparts. She used his own words against him in campaign ads, in debates, outside debates. His words were so harmful and painful, that Hillary didn't have to say a thing. All she had to mention was he was unfit to be President. Even though he is unfit, he is now our President. Even though Hillary will not serve as our President, she will now scrutiny based on her campaign, campaign strategies, and herself. She is the most qualified person to run for President, probably ever. I will repeat my advice for her, be yourself, stay strong, use quips and funny language, and stay Hillary.

In 1984, as seen in my scrapbook, The Women in Film organization had their annual Christmas party. It brought out some of Hollywood's elites and members of the WIF team. The flyer and included magazine were found in one of the national pockets of my scrapbook. Both, as the party suggests, were celebrations of the continued work to integrate women in front of and behind the camera.

I wanted to connect this entry in the scrapbook with my political rhetoric topic. Women in Film was founded in 1973, and their tireless work has made some progress in opening up positions for women in film. However, like other aspects of women's representations, the progress is slow building and there is a lot of work to do. According to the Women in Film website only 1.9% of popular grossing films were directed by women last year, and only 21% of these films had a female lead, among other struggled filled statistics. With this limited representations behind and in front of the camera, stories are not be told, the female perspective is not being seen, especially not in the highest grossing films of the year. Therefore, stereotypical, sexist, and misogynistic, representations of women can continue which reflect a rhetoric about women.

This rhetoric reflects a critical approach features the camera having a male gaze, first raised by Laura Mulvey in the mid-1970s. This theoretical approach suggests that representations of women on the screen are sexualized and that the camera is used to sexualize their bodies and limit them as beings to be looked upon. With this gaze intact in some of the most popular films of the year, sexist rhetoric about women, especially their role in the film industry can continue. As women continue to fight for a greater representation in the film industry, others in the industry continue to fight against their progress. This idea can be extended to other identities as well who are not in the majority.

Dr. Warren Farrell is considered the "Father of the Men's Movement". He started out as a vocal feminist, being one of the only male members of the National Organization for Women, serving on the New York City Board of Directors. He has written ten books, mainly related to men's and women's studies. His main focus is focusing on ways in which women's liberation has failed to recognize men's disadvantages within patriarchal power structures--that is, that men are as oppressed by male-dominated power structures as women are. Farrell was known for creating audience participation role-reversal experiences to get both sexes "to walk a mile in the other's moccasins." The most publicized were his "men's beauty contest" and "role-reversal date."

Warren Farrell's books have been published in 16 different languages and received great praise and great criticism from a variety of sources. He has been called the "sage of the men's movement" and the "male Gloria Steinem". Some readers have taken Farrell's connections of feminist ideas to men's issues to far, inciting violence, hatred towards women and attempting to destroy the feminist movement. Although Farrell started out as a feminist, I don't think he would self-identify as one now. His male focused, dare I say, male victim language has caused quite a bit of controversy and has led to some male adopting his ideas in use to justify privileges and support male superiority. However, I think Farrell is an interesting voice in the rhetoric towards groups in this country. He understands that gendered standards are not good for anyone, not matter how they identify. I would love to read some of his materials, just to pick his brain a bit and see how he fits into some masculinities studies work I continue to work on. 

 The movie business, like many, is dominated by men. Don't tell that to Sherry Lansing. Like many women in male-dominated fields, she was dismissed when she got into the business. The former actress, entered the business side of the film industry, making her way to the top. She became one of the most important producers and studio heads of the late 20th century. Lansing was the Keynote Speaker at the Conference of Cincinnati Women in 1988. Her topic was "A Woman in a Man's Industry". Her productions have received critical acclaim and some have become definite classics. She helped to the screen films that  
chronicled women' s stories and women's struggles. These films included classics such as 9 to 5, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Fatal Attraction. Under Lansing, the studio produced such blockbuster hits as Forrest Gump, Braveheart, and what was, at the time, history's highest-grossing film – Titanic (the latter two with Fox).Six of the ten highest grossing Paramount films were released during her tenure which included three Academy Awards for Best Picture.Overall, 80% of the films released by Lansing were profitable, a track record unmatched by any other long term studio management leader. 

Shirley Lansing was an incredibly successful film producer and studio head, as we can see by the award nominations, box-office success, and profitability of her productions. However, like many women, she faced discrimination in her field. She, like female political candidates faced a sexist rhetoric that permeates through the work of the person. She may be unmatched when it comes to profitability, but some have said that it is just because she made "women's movies" so of course women will make them successful. That is calling knowing your audience, not pandering to them and I didn't know that Braveheart is considered a woman's picture. She was presenting at an area conference, a conference which Jo McQueen gave her a Fantastic Feminist doll. Sherry and Jo shared correspondence of thanks and camaraderie, showing that the national and local can come together, and Sherry's feminist touch was not destroyed by a male dominated field, something female candidates should take to heart. 

Janet Guthrie, the keynote speaker at a conference for the Ohio Federation of Business and Professional Women Conference was not an academic, or a feminist scholar. She lived her life in the fast lane, literally! Guthrie challenged the men's world of auto racing, speeding, and pit-stopping with the best of them, throughout the late 1970s.

Janet is the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. Guthrie was originally an aerospace engineer and after graduating from the University of Michigan, she worked with Republic Aviation. She began racing in 1963 and by 1972, she was racing on a full-time basis. Overall, Guthrie went on to compete in 33 races in NASCAR over four seasons. Her highest finish, sixth place at Bristol in 1977, is the best finish by a woman in a top-tier NASCAR race, now currently tied with Danica Patrick in 2014.

As one of the most famous and recognizable female athletes 
at the time, I can see why Guthrie was chosen at the keynote
speaker at such an important event. She and Jo had dialogue 
about her racing jacket, which was and is currently in the 
Smithsonian Institute. Jo was unable to get her hands on the jacket,
which she wanted to use as a model for an outfit for the 
Fantastic Feminist doll. Guthrie is now an inductee in the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame and the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame.
The conference highlighted her athletic achievements in preparation for the conference itself. Janet, may not have been a feminist in the more radical sense, but she was a powerful woman who understood the importance of women in their respective fields. 

Sonia Johnson is an avid feminist writer and scholar and was a huge supporter of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment). My scrapbook had pamphlets such as this one, and correspondence from Sonia and Jo about Sonia's presidential campaign in 1984, a landmark year for women in politics. She, like the pamphlet shows she ran on the Citizen Party. The Citizen Party which was formed in the late 1970s as a response to President Carter's administration was pro-environmental in nature. The party was formed around four essential platforms including economic democracy or the idea that the business of business is to do business, but that the business of government is to regulate business to prevent abuses.

Sonia was the first women to run for president in this short-lived party, it dissolved in 1986, and she came in 5th in the election, receiving 71,947 of 92,641,042 votes or about 0.08%. She was nominated at the party convention and ran alongside Richard Walton of Rhode Island as her vice presidential candidate.

Before running for president, Johnson had started a family with her husband, four children in all, and had taught English in the United States and abroad. Johnson began speaking out in support of the ERA in 1977 and co-founded, with three other women, an organization called Mormons for ERA. She gained national attention in 1978 for her  testimony in front of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. After being ex-communicated from the Mormon Church in 1979, for an assortment of misdeeds, according to the church, her husband divorced her and she continued to promote the ERA. 

Based on my project which focuses on the rhetoric used for females in politics, she was promoted like every other candidate, however, she was too radical, even being labeled a "radical feminist" by her own party, to be nominated by a major party. The Citizen's Party was seen as pretty socialist, which probably helped her cause of getting a nomination. Although the number of votes she received was less than her male counterpart received four years earlier, it's important to note Sonia Johnson's contributions to women running for political office, particularly presidential office.