Pelosi, Pointing, and Power: Assumptions about Dominance, Emotionality, and Gender within Media Discourse

Abstract This study examines 59 online articles written about a photograph of Nancy Pelosi standing up in the White House cabinet room and pointing her finger toward Donald Trump. Trump released the photo and tweeted his own interpretation of it; online articles followed discussing descriptions and/or interpretations of the image and the surrounding events. This paper focuses on how the media discourse of this moment reflects views about the expression of power in politics, its tie to emotion and emotionality, and its sometimes subtle connection with gender. Analysis of the articles showed that the media interpreted the nonverbal cues in the photograph as reflective of individual power displays, relative power as enacted through dominance and submissiveness nonverbal cues, and changing relative power through one person’s nonverbal cues lowering another’s apparent power position. It also reflected an existing cultural belief that emotionality and power are generally inconsistent in politics, with some exemptions for anger displays, and the particular challenges of emotional display for women in politics. In doing so, the media coverage continued its masculinization of the political sphere in less visible ways.