Sex Scandals, Gender, and Power in Contemporary American Politics

The increasing tabloidization of politics and focus on politicians involved in sex scandals is both problematic and important. This book examines how gender impacts political sex scandals in the United States, in the past and today; explains how political sex scandals contribute to the mistrust of government; and identifies why these titillating events do have serious consequences for our political system.
• Explains how sex scandals regarding political figures significantly impact people's opinions of politicians and government as well as how sex scandals harm the U.S. political process• Demonstrates how political sex scandals are a representation of society's broader gender dynamics, conveying subtle messages about power and morality• Offers data and statistics about political sex scandal occurrences, including breakdowns of political scandals by party lines and the most common type of political sex scandals• Supplies extensive analysis of how voters respond to different "types" of political wives (such as the supportive political wife versus the absent political wife)

Hinda Mandell, PhD, is assistant professor in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology.