She’s Every Woman: How Time’s Synecdochal Narratives about Women in Politics Functions to Reify Hegemonic Gender Hierarchies

• In Event: Women's authority, voice and negotiation of structures of power

Abstract

Time Magazine constructs deceptive unity between women by portraying synecdochal relationships, in which an individual female politician represents all women. Forced identification enhances bitter fragmentation between feminists with different viewpoints. To remedy this, we first need to understand synecdoche as a two way street, that the whole can, instead, stand for the part. Secondly, instead of envisioning a sisterhood, feminists need to develop a sense of ironic detachment to other women.

Author

• Valerie Wieskamp, Indiana University