Politicizing Bodies: Hegemonic Masculinity, Heteronormativity, and Racism in News Representations of Canadian Political Party Leadership Candidates

Based on the argument that bodies are politicized when their gendered, sexualized, and racialized features are woven into mediated political discourses, our study investigates newspaper coverage of candidates for the leadership of Canadian national political parties. A systematic intersectional analysis of reporting on 30 candidates who competed in 13 leadership contests found that only certain bodies are seen to embody and personify political leadership. High-profile women, a gay man, and a Black woman were noticed for their visual dissonance from the prototypical body of the political leader, as news coverage highlighted their physical characteristics in ways that marked them as aberrant and inauthentic in their desire for political power. Men with physiques incompatible with idealized masculinity were also presented as incapable of offering commanding performances on the political stage. We conclude that deeply held cultural norms, based on hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and racism, are expressed in news mediation of political leadership competitions.