User talk:Lkondi

Sylvia Bashevkin
Sylvia Bashevkin is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. From 2004-2005 she served as Vice-Principal of University College in the University of Toronto and from 2005-2011 she served as Principal. Bashevkin is a widely published author specializing in Canadian, American, and British politics, and is best known for her work in the department of Women and Politics. Bashevkin served as President of the Canadian Political Science Association in 1993-1994 and later became President of the Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association in 2003-2004 and she received the award for "Canada 's Most Powerful Women: Top 100". Bashevkin is the author of many books including Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden Story of Canada’s Unfinished Democracy, Tales of Two Cities: Women and Municipal Restructuring in London and Toronto and Women on the Defensive: Living Through Conservative Times, just to name a few. She has also written countless journal articles and chapters in books. In her most recent book, Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden Story of Canada’s Unfinished Democracy, she examines women in formal politics and the unease that society feels when women acquire positions of power. Bashevkin explores the reasons why Canadians are extremely apprehensive with women politicians in power and the obstacles women in politics must overcome to get these positions. Whether a woman is confident and strong-willed, or is team-oriented, there seems to be something missing in regards to what constitutes equal power and authority. She makes note of how female politicians are referred to by their first names rather than the respectful way men are quite often referred to by their last names. Bashevkin focuses on the role of the media, physical appearance, and the personal lives of female politicians to explain her argument that women plus power equals discomfort.

Chapter four of Sylvia Bashevkin’s book titled “Vexatious Vixens,” discusses the way in which women in Canadian politics are scrutinized for their sex lives. Bashevkin begins the chapter by talking about the endless fascination of female politicians and their “romantic entanglements” portrayed in the media. She reveals the stark distinction of the behavior toward the private lives of men like Pierre Trudeau, and the way political reporters “tend to get swept up in a vulture like rush…picking over every sordid detail of a woman’s romantic life" (Bashevkin, 88). She titled the chapter “Vexatious Vixens” to relate to the way women in politics are portrayed as “demanding, sultry and not fully on top of their public responsibilities” (Bashevkin, 88). Trudeau's statement that "the state has no business in the bedroom of the nation" should not disregard a woman's personal life, just because a man made the statement. Bashevkin states that political observers view women in politics as “unusual creatures” of interest that stand out and are a “remarkable sight.”

Bashkevin looks at the way Belinda Stronach’s dating life was intruded on and poorly presented in the media compared to that of Pierre Trudeau’s private life, which was portrayed by the media with an exceptional level of caution. This could have been due to the fact that reporters were more afraid of how Trudeau would react than how a woman might. Agnes Macphail, Kim Campbell, and Belinda Stronach have received some of the worst sexualized treatment regarding their balance between work, life, and love. Agnes Macphail was described as too chaste and serious, suffering from the “chastity-is-a-problem phenomenon” (Bashevkin, 94). Kim Campbell and Belinda Stronach were said to be too distracted by their love lives. In today's society it seems that women in politics just can't do anything right. Kim Campbell struggled with many issues while she was in power, particularly gender related issues. She was nicknamed the “Madonna of Canadian Politics" (Bashevkin 101) because of her blond hair and bare-shoulders, coming off too “sexy.” This appeal to female politicians in power is similar to male politicians only when they have been publicly caught in a scandal or doing something unethical.

Bashevkin illustrates that the significant under-representation of women in positions of power in politics is unfinished in Canadian democracy. Bashevkin relates back to her women plus power equals discomfort argument in chapter two which explains how society picks apart everything about female politicians, making it hard for them to be successful. Society is more interested in the personal issues that “everybody is dying to know” about than the policies that these brilliant women stand for. This morally unfair application of the principle that all every person is equal in their rights and freedoms is the basis as to why Bashevkin argues that female politicians in power are portrayed as Vexatious Vixens. Women, Power, Politics clarifies why there are so few female politicians in the world today.

--Lkondi (talk) 04:34, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

Carol Cohn
Carol Cohn is a leading scholar in the area of gender and global politics. Her research includes the discourse used by defense intellectuals in the United States military, nuclear weapons and the arms race, and the gender hierarchy in present-day armed conflicts. After twenty years of teaching at the college and university level, Cohn took on the role as Director of the Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in 2005. Cohn has been working actively with the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security since 2001 and has recently been working with the Social Science Research Council to create a Global Centre for Research on Gender, Crisis Prevention and Recovery for the United Nations Development Programme.

Carol Cohn’s 1987 article, "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals" examines the ways in which the defense community uses provocative discourse to create a world supported by masculine hegemony while contributing to the detachment of human compassion from the tragedies of war. Cohn analyzes how masculinity has dominated every aspect of the community by using a “techno strategic” language when conversing over weapons and tactics for nuclear war. Everyday terminology in the community include phrases such as “penetration aids,” “vertical erector launchers,” and “deep-penetration.”

Cohn’s analysis emphasizes how powerful language and knowledge can be when used seductively to block out the realities of war. As a result of being surrounded by the sexual behavior and discourse, Cohn’s acceptance of the language altered her ability to think critically or express her own opinion. The convoluted use of jargon and euphemism made her less susceptible to past emotions that she would normally use to describe the significance of human life. The use of the coded language and pleasant acronyms such as PAL (Permissive Action Link) and BAMBI (Ballistic Missile Boost Intercept) separates the defense community from the reality of war and gives the impression as though the realities of war aren’t as significant. This was best illustrated when the outcome of nuclear war was accounted for in terms of who carried out the most strikes rather than how many lives were lost. Cohn speaks of the “MX missile,” a bomb containing ten warheads referred to as “The Peacekeeper”. The language was created so that the most gruesome issues could be deliberated over without any consideration of potentially inflicting serious harm to human life.

Carol Cohn’s experience has shown how gender hierarchy is embedded in the everyday life of the defense intellectuals to give appropriate meaning to terms such as ‘peace’ and ‘death’ so that they are more fitting for the nature of the community and the people within it. Cohn titled her article, "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals" to relate to the way the state is assumed to be masculine, rational, and state-focused from a Realist point of view. Cohn has raised awareness for others to recognize the way in which we gender war and nuclear weapons through our speech and actions. Her analysis has provided an in-depth study of the masculine way wars are fought and the hierarchy of gender that exists in the world of security and in everyday life.

--Lkondi (talk) 06:48, 26 September 2013 (UTC)