Female candidates take on taboos in new campaign ads
Women are increasingly spotlighting gender as they make a record-breaking run in 2018.
By HEATHER CAYGLE 04/03/2018 05:00 AM EDT
From breastfeeding on camera to sharing intimate stories of sexual abuse, women running for office are turning campaign norms — and long-held gender stereotypes — on their head with a flurry of new ads that highlight once taboo topics.
With a historic number of women running for Congress or governor in 2018, many say it’s long overdue that female candidates stop conforming to a “winning” playbook written mostly by men.
President Donald Trump has played a part, too. A majority of the female candidates running this year are Democrats who are not only enraged by his presidency but motivated by the way he was seemingly able to break all the rules and still win.
“This is a guy who’s been accused of sexually assaulting and harassing dozens of women,” said Kelda Roys, a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate who breastfeeds her infant daughter in a recent video announcing her campaign.
“The idea that women will still have to walk this very narrow tightrope to be taken seriously and [be] seen as credible, I just think women candidates and women voters, they’ve had enough,” Roys said.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/03/women-rule-campaign-ads-495799
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