Throughout the course of this class, I was fixated on Hillary’s rhetoric. Her rhetoric didn’t do her justice. I always felt that she didn’t fully verbalize or represent what she stood for. I know that this class and studying her throughout this election changed my perception of her. I found myself differentiating Clinton the rhetor and Clinton the politician. The rhetor didn’t accurately represent who she is. Having done this, I saw how gender played a huge role in her misrepresentation. I think that because of this misrepresentation, many American’s didn’t feel that she would be their champion and thus turned to Trump and his hateful rhetoric; her failing rhetoric enabled Trump’s. I wanted to explore if sexism and gendered politics are partly at fault for the divide and result of the 2016 election through my final project.
My final project is a syllabus. It entails what my hypothetical class will learn for 16 weeks regarding gender, politics, and rhetoric. It utilizes my synthesis and some of my classmates posts, which were featured in my synthesis. Essentially, I wanted to make this class a post-election exploration of how, or rather, if rhetoric influenced the outcome of the election. I use the blog posts as the reading assignments rather than the articles/videos featured themselves because I find that each post engages a conversation about how Clinton was perceived. Even if the comments go off on tangents they are still relevant in showing the thought process during the election, which is important to know especially since my “class” is a post-election class.
The class introduces the sexism found in American politics. The posts themselves show the double standard for male and female politicians and the influence it has on female politicians. In this case how Hillary rebrands herself in order to fit the expectations of a female politician and how it impacts the way Americans see her. My goal, through this class is to showcase how gendered politics forces women into adapting a rhetoric which limits them as rhetors. In their attempt to appeal to Americans by adapting that rhetoric, they are not accurately representing their ideas or themselves. Despite being focused specifically on gendered rhetoric and taking place post-election, my project connects with many posts due to the fact that it assesses the factors which led to her loss-the factors which we explored throughout the course of this class. “Gendered Politics and Rhetoric” is my way of moving forward, beyond Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton and Beyond 