ABSTRACT
In the third and final presidential debate of 2016, Donald Trump leaned into his microphone and interjected, “Such a nasty woman” in response to a comment by Hillary Clinton. Immediately, Twitter lit up, and soon the statement became a feminist rallying cry. The hashtags #NastyWoman and #IAmANastyWoman trended. The “nasty woman” episode offered a glimpse into how women who use their voices in the public sphere can suffer negative consequences. An analysis of the campaign discourse offers examples of other ways that women – most particularly Clinton – were called out and verbally marginalized for not performing appropriate femininity. The chapter also offers an analysis of the ways language is gendered and examines the gendered nature of a common construction of Clinton – that of the dishonest, lying, cheating woman. The chapter primarily focuses on Clinton but also offers examples when other women who were brought into the mediated conversation during the election were scrutinized for not behaving in traditionally appropriate feminine ways. Lastly, the chapter offers evidence of how competing gender ideologies contended for dominance in the mediated discourse, showing how both traditional/patriarchal and contemporary/feminist voices interact in the public sphere.
