Political Wives, Scandal, and the Double Bind: Press Construction of Silda Spitzer and Jenny Sanford Through a Gendered Lens

Abstract

U.S. media has paid significant attention to sexual transgressions of male politicians. Yet politicians' wives have also been under the media spotlight even when they did not engage in illicit activity. This study presents feminist textual analysis of 272 news articles covering Silda Spitzer, (then) wife of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, and Jenny Sanford, (then) wife of former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford. Findings indicate that the press placed these women in a double bind of presence/absence, criticizing Silda Spitzer for playing the “good wife” who stands by her husband and chastising Jenny Sanford for pursuing an independent path from her husband during his scandal. This analysis illustrates the hegemonic role of the news media, which both establishes an idealized role for wives whose husbands are in public crisis and criticizes a political wife when she attempts to fulfill that role.

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