Peter Broisseau / en Boxing rebranded Justin Trudeau as leader: 茄子直播 study /news/boxing-rebranded-justin-trudeau-leader-u-t-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Boxing rebranded Justin Trudeau as leader: 茄子直播 study </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-06-04T13:04:57-04:00" title="Thursday, June 4, 2015 - 13:04" class="datetime">Thu, 06/04/2015 - 13:04</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Elise Maiolino's research suggests boxing made Trudeau appear more honourable and tough (image by Taha Ghaznavi via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/peter-broisseau" hreflang="en">Peter Broisseau</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Peter Broisseau</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">From 'pretty boy lightweight' to courageous leadership material by the third round</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p> If Justin Trudeau someday becomes prime minister of Canada, he may owe his success in the blood sport of politics to a media image forged in the rough and tumble of the boxing ring, a new 茄子直播 study suggests.</p> <p> 鈥淏y engaging in performances of traditional masculinity, he created a new brand for himself, and that was done through the media鈥檚 construction of him,鈥 says <strong>Elise Maiolino</strong>, a&nbsp;PhD candidate in sociology at University of Toronto.</p> <p> 鈥淲hether it was his or the media鈥檚 intention, this is what the coverage enabled.鈥</p> <p> Before he beat Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in a 2012 charity boxing match, the underdog Trudeau was widely viewed by journalists as a 鈥渞eed thin, pedigreed Dauphin,鈥 a pretty-boy lightweight who lacked the gravitas for leadership in the political arena.</p> <p> After the fight, he became a man lauded for his 鈥渢oughness, strength, honour and courage鈥 who vaulted into the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada and became a legitimate contender to win the next federal election.</p> <p> In the eyes of the media, that boxing match was both a turning point and rebirth for Trudeau. It was an opportunity to recuperate his 鈥渕asculinity鈥 says &nbsp;Maiolino,&nbsp;whose analysis of more than 200 English-language newspaper articles published shortly before and after the fight appears in the May issue of the <em>Canadian Review of Sociology</em>.</p> <p> The impact of the boxing match has continued to resonate well beyond the few months of intense coverage it generated.</p> <p> Elected Liberal leader a year after the match, Trudeau himself said he 鈥減roved a Liberal can take a punch,鈥 and in so doing, not only restored his own identity but pulled a party that seemed down and out off the canvas and back on its feet.</p> <p> Justin Trudeau in boxing gloves is now such a powerful image it is <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/05/the-contender/389540/">the illustration used in a profile of him in the May issue of <em>The Atlantic</em> magazine</a>, and the event perhaps even influenced the hyper-masculine world of U.S. politics, where a presidential hopeful agreed to square off with a former heavyweight champion in a similar charity boxing event.</p> <p> Trudeau is far from one-dimensional, says Maiolino, and can draw on multiple aspects of his masculinity, whether it鈥檚 practising yoga on the front lawn of Parliament Hill or donning a Stetson on a tour of Alberta.</p> <p> 鈥淏ut it is still reliant on his ability to take that punch to demonstrate his masculinity.鈥</p> <p> While gender identity has become more flexible for both men and women, the Trudeau-Brazeau match illustrates the durability of 鈥渉egemonic masculinity鈥 in Canadian politics, says Maiolino.</p> <p> Jean Chr茅tien鈥檚 legacy includes the 鈥淪hawinigan handshake鈥 he applied to a protester鈥檚 neck in 1996 and St茅phane Dion was labelled 鈥渟ubmissive, weak, effeminate and nerdy鈥 by the media in contrast to opponent Stephan Harper鈥檚 cultivated image of 鈥渋ron control鈥 masculinity.</p> <p> Reaching further back, Robert Stanfield was widely regarded to have lost a federal election in the 1970s to arch nemesis Pierre Trudeau, Justin鈥檚 father, after a photo of him awkwardly flubbing an attempt to catch a football was splashed on the front pages of newspapers across the country.</p> <p> Pathways to power remain narrow in Canada and although it was not part of the published study, Maiolino says that truism applies to women as well, whose struggles to balance masculine and feminine performances have perhaps been masked by the successes of leaders like<strong> Kathleen Wynne</strong> and Kim Campbell.</p> <p> Maiolino says she hopes the study inspires people to think about how identity plays a role in elections.</p> <p> 鈥淲ould a woman have gotten into a boxing match and how would the media have covered that? I don鈥檛 know, but it鈥檚 interesting to think about.鈥</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-06-05--trudeau.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 04 Jun 2015 17:04:57 +0000 sgupta 7067 at