Ron Paul: feminist?

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By Jonathan Bradley in Sydney, Australia

1 March 2012

There's a certain genre of political advertisement that features a couple discussing a particular issue, often literally around the kitchen table. With dismal regularity, the couple will conform to tired gender roles: the woman will ask a series of questions, while the man authoritatively relays to her the commercial's talking points. The implicit message: women ask the questions and men have the answers.

Conor Friedersdorf says the above commercial, from a Ron Paul-affiliated SuperPAC^[1], has a "feminist twist" at the 0:50 mark. I'll spoil it for you: the "woman" in the commercial listens to the "man" talk up the virtues of Ron Paul, then tells him, "I can make up my own mind, Martin. I don't need a lecture."

I don't think I'm particularly well placed to judge whether this a positive subversion on a tired trope here. For a start, I'm not a woman. Also, I have an inordinate hatred of commercials featuring children pretending to be adults^[2]. But I don't know whether a small correction at the end really does make up for the fact that this is, basically, one more commercial in which a knowledgeable man lectures an apparently clueless woman.

Thoughts on this, anyone? Is this ad subversive, or the same-old with an apology tacked on to the end?

1. Even if this commercial is feminist — or if it is sexist — it doesn't reflect in any way on Ron Paul himself. The group that produced it, RevolutionPAC, is prevented by law from coordinating with Paul's campaign.

2. Oh god, those horrible E-Trade commercials with the talking babies.

Tags: Advertising, Election 2012, Feminism, Gender, Republican Party, Republican Primary 2012, Ron Paul