Justin Trudeau Rhetorical Analysis

Critiquing Sexist Discourse

Veronica Criollo
209768474
Language & Gender/ LING 2410
Professor Sean Meade
T.A Jessica King
Wednesday November 20, 2013
York University

Through language one can analyze discourses seen through others. Politically language is used to convey a specific idea/ ideal to others in the hopes of persuading society to vote for that specific person or what their party had assured to change within the government. Most times due to parties trying to out beat one another political campaigns are issued and criticized by the public. Justin Trudeau running for Prime Minister is a primary example within today on how ones language or actions
can change people’s outlooks on the political sphere and make a decision on if he would be a better leader than Prime Minister Stephan Harper. Many attacks over the past 2 years from the Conservatives have put Justin Trudeau on the spotlight to defend himself due to his youngness and only being in politics through following his father’s footsteps and supporting some subjects which are questionable such as legalizing marijuana. The Conservatives and media have attacked Justin Trudeau based on his past, his looks and his mistaken words that can be analyzed into a negative way, giving society the perception that he could never lead this country. Recently Justin Trudeau and his party put out a campaign known as “Justin Unplugged” this was a women’s only campaign that right away was seen as a sexist event to the public, as if Justin Trudeau just wanted women to come talk to him and awe over his good looks. This type of campaign makes Justin Trudeau give himself bad credit for what he does/ says throughout the night known as “ladies night” making him appear unqualified. Politically, those running for such a high position in the government are to be seen in a certain light and suggest only specially what is directly affected by what exactly they are changing through policies they are promoting, Justin Trudeau through “Justin Unplugged” tries to have questions asked on topic of his political running and what changes he is to make but when asked certain questions is easily lead off the main topic, making remarks which that through his linguistic and performativity skills he gives himself the appearance to many that he is not aware of what he is stating that could effect his confident effects within the government.

Justin Trudeau within politic is a very controversial candidate. He has himself consistently in the public eye and has no space for error. Justin and his committee came out with a event called “Justin Unplugged” created by Lindsay Davison, this as she states in the Globe & Mail “an event that was designed FOR women, BY women”. This depending on the viewer/ reading could have either been a good or a bad thing depending on the way on takes the wording into context. Just based on the pamphlet itself it displays Justin Trudeau in a pop art photograph where he is simple looking at the camera, not exactly smiling but grinning slightly. This can be seen as being seductive which within photograph is very feminine, yet it is also seductive enough to invite women who admire his looks and want to know him better. The invitation section states for “cocktails, candid-conversations, curiosity- inducing ideas” and getting to “(really) get to know the future prime Minister” this small yet simplistic wording gives a very sexualized notion especially where stating “curiosity- inducing ideas” many may see this as more of a Q&A with the more personal side of Justin rather than political. Also the pamphlet contains general questions such as “ who are your real life hero’s” which are not politically seen as serious questions. This demonstrates how having only women invited could be a power struggle issue, seeing as women are less dominant linguistically therefore giving him a prevailing opportunity to speak to women through simplistic language and connect with them through his femininity to sit there and slowly answer women’s questions. This can be show that Justin is less intimidated by women therefore having a room of them who will mainly care for his looks rather than his actual words, it can be an advantage to him yet he is naive to think that women do not today have a major impact within politics this makes Justin Trudeau very sexist to have to surround himself with women but it can also be seen as a political play to entice women to vote more him for taking the time to only speak with women.

Many who are not part of politics seem to involve themselves in some way to inform themselves and other to make better decisions come the election date.
Justin Trudeau having women who do not know much about politics can be an advantage because they are easier to persuade into agreeing with policies that are seen to be beneficial to them. Lindsay Davidson wrote an article in the Globe & Mail called “ I Organized Trudeau’s ‘Ladies night’- and got a lesson in our ugly politics” this article discusses how Lindsey volunteers as a coordinator of the event although not knowing much about regarding politics and the debates. As she states she decided be become a part of the event to have others much like herself whom were not very informed. It is very stereotypical that due to it being only women invited so Justin Trudeau would be able to get women’s questions answered that it is automatically sexist and called ladies night which is not the actual name of the event Davidson
states
“The evite circulated for a month with nothing but positive response. And then, a tweet went out from a female Conservative Minister accusing our event of being ‘patronizing’. More tweets followed accusing our event of being sexist and offensive.” (Davidson, 2013)

This shows how based on one Conservative can spin media coverage and rather than see it as a way for women to get their questions out is to see it in a gendered or sexual connotation. Having tweets come out accusing the party of being sexist can cause big uproar; they will see Justin Trudeau as weak and not serious about his campaign to be prime minister.. A quality seen for leaders can include respect and through these actions it is seen as disrespectful for women. This is seen through the joke questions being asked over twitter which Davidson writes “ Women used our hashtag (#askjustin) to mockingly ask Justin Trudeau such questions as: “My mascara is clumping, what should I do?” (2013). Having the event being viewed as sexist shows that women are seen in the media as weak and that Justin Trudeau is weak and may not be the best candidate to run Canada’s Government. This illustrates how ideological assumptions can affect not only when speaking with friends but also within the political sphere giving citizens the assumption that Trudeau is not like his father and not a good leader.

Two days after the event an article posted in the online National Post by Michael Den Tandt called “Justin Trudeau’s recent gaffes undermine his political strengths” makes big remarks on how the liberals are striving with the popularity due to 3 reasons based on Trudeau, one his fathers name, second is his policy to legalize marijuana has caught a lot of attention and finally, himself. He is a new face to politics, young and full of ideas. Unfortunately as the article continues Tandt discusses the Justin Unplugged event and how the night itself through his own words effects his political career. Tandt critiques the pamphlet for this event by stating that Justin’s picture is “dreamboat shots”(Tandt, 2013) and calling it from the 70’s giving Trudeau a sexualized image and states “a previous fundraiser capitalizing on Trudeau’s sex appeal wound up in a Conservative attack ad.” (Tandt, 2013) this shows that even after the attacks on his sexuality and giving the connotation that to lead the country one must be a “manly man”. This gives one a reason to Evaluate Trudeau’s past through the public eye and question if he could take control and run a country. During the event itself Trudeau is asked what country’s government he appreciates other than Canada’s and his response was
“You know, there’s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say ‘we need to go green fastest . . . we need to start investing in solar.’ I mean there is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about of having a dictatorship that he can do everything he wanted that I find quite interesting.”(Tandt, 2013)

This is a major concern to the party itself along with the public. Linguistically it is easy to see how Justin is critiqued as feminine, he clearly makes a bold statement by supporting China and then pauses and uses the words “I mean” to clarify and also add his counterpart Stephen Harper into dreaming about dictatorship to make his statement not seem so offensive. Tandt continues to analyze how the public can look at this statement in three ways. It can be seen as irony, he could have truly appreciated the Chinese government of dictatorship, although stated by Tandt that Justin discounted it without apology over twitter. Finally it could have been a pure poor choice of wording that came out wrong. This wording is now a major issue on the Liberal’s part as well having the leader of their party encourage dictatorship is never evaluated in a good way. This is a mistake on Trudeau’s part and with him not taking it back or explain more into detail to get himself out of stating his is for dictatorship he put a direct target on himself for the media. “They go directly to his weakness — a lack of experience and, occasionally, judgment — and undermine his strengths.” (Tandt, 2013) Media outlets directly look at Trudeau’s Linguistics’ and how this was not a metaphor for anything rather a gaffe on his part. Throughout this one statement it shows how Trudeau does not properly use Linguistic Capital which would help him get political gain, causing him to be criticized in many ways from physical performativity to linguistics.

The media consistently brands Justin Trudeau for many reasons that affect his political career.
His boyish looks make him seem to young for politics whereas in comparison his political opponent Stephen Harper is a older male who is settled down giving the framing that to be a true candidate in politics one must be older more mature, this is not a clear definition that Trudeau is not able to run a country. Trudeau has made mistakes in the past from being young which the Conservative party is sure to mention to the public to get votes. By the Conservatives exploiting Trudeau makes Stephen Harper look good as a candidate. The media itself puts into societies minds that a political leader of the country should follow certain qualities. They are as follows; to be masculine, take charge and make decisions that will help all, put aside the personal life, engage or communicate with people and to be confident just to name a few. Through these gendered stereotype’s Trudeau is no reason he does not fit under these categories, his voice may be higher pitched and less monotone as Harpers but this is not a linguist reason for him to be categorized into a female role. Trudeau has put aside his personal life; only the conservatives pull out his past to put him down as a leader. He engages people through communication and this specific event is a way to specifically focus on women and their concerns and questions yet media easily takes this and makes it become a sexist event, which was
not the intention. These specific put downs on Trudeau can be taken with a grain of salt but many see this as a serious issue and that no one will take him seriously based on his past jobs that are seemed to be feminine jobs and on poorly thought out statements much like the one on supporting dictatorship.

In Conclusion, Justin Trudeau’s event Justin Unplugged is seen as a sexist event for him to get a boost from women yet this outreach as explain by Lindsay Davidson shows that this is not a sexist event for Trudeau’s ego rather a outreach to women who want to take part into the political sector and know more about who is running for prime minister. The pamphlet itself is seen as a sexualized evite that specifically states women only to come and inquire questions such as those on the pamphlet to become a part of getting to know the “true” Justin Trudeau retaliation to what the Conservatives have stated about him. Finally Michael Den Tandt brings out a major statement which Trudeau clearly had a poor choice in words and articulated how dictatorship is something that he admires and through pausing and which makes it seem as mistake which is seen as a feminine quality and corrects himself by stating Harper dreams of it too. Justin Trudeau’s event itself although good intentioned, through the media is seen as a sexist through the feminine features of himself and how he has made so many mistakes linguistically which inhibits his linguistic capital. This entirely shows how the unclearly thought out process of Trudeau effects him and how he is viewed in the public. All of these plus the feminized categorization of his past is what is sexist of the political issues, giving assumptions that these attacks are specifically geared by Conservatives to only give a bad look upon liberals therefore throwing the votes to the conservative side.

Works Cited

"Justin- Unplugged in Toronto." Liberal Party of Canada » Justin. Liberal Party of Canada, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. .

Davidson, Lindsay M. "I Organized Trudeau 's 'Ladies Night '- and Got a Lesson in Our Ugly Politics." The Globe and Mail. N.p., 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. .

Tandt, Michael D. "Justin Trudeau 's Recent Gaffes Undermine His Political Strength." National Post. N.p., 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. .