Week 6 - Proposal

            The meme topic that I propose to study is sexual assault. This topic is most recently relevant with the confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh in the United States. This is not the only high-profile case that has come about recently, with Bill Cosby’s prison sentence beginning and an ongoing #metoo movement. There have been many politically driven memes that seek to examine and parody the injustices of American society. Many high-profile cases have been examined over the last few months, but I want to particularly focus on sexual assault regarding political office. Therefore, I will be only looking at memes that pertain to elected officials, those who previously held office, or are campaigning for public office.

 

This first image shows former presidential candidate Mitt Romney Speaking at a podium. I selected this meme for two reasons. First it represents the overwhelmingly white male government in the United States who are often more concerned with PR and media coverage than legislation. Secondly, I think the topic of deflection or spreading of misinformation is a highly relevant topic with allegations of Russian meddling in the United States and other elections.  Although there have been many sexual assault allegations against US politicians, I think it is important to cover the misinformation that is propagated on the topic, representative of outdated mindsets.

This second image depicts former president Bill Clinton reacting happily. His wife, Hillary Clinton, ran for president in 2016 against Donald Trump. The meme asks us to recall allegations against Bill Clinton that lead to impeachment hearing regarding sexual acts during his presidency, and subsequent lying to officials. This too presents a picture of an ageing male white government with outdated ideas regarding sexual assault. I think it is important that I selected politicians from both sides of the aisle for this initial proposal, as to not politically charge the research. However, I will seek to find the best memes on this topic rather than forcibly divide examples.