The monumental Presidential Election of 2008 flooded comedians with a wide range of new political humor material. This election differed from past elections, as a woman was running for Vice President. This gave and continues to give comedians a chance to make new jokes, specifically mocking a woman instead of the usual male candidate. Saturday Night Live and other political comedians have run with their witty remarks about Sarah Palin; however, I think they have started to run in the wrong direction.

Saturday Night Live (SNL), now famous for its “Sarah Palin” skits, has gained lots of attention from its former viewers and the media. While I do think Tina Fey does an uncanny impersonation of Palin, I believe that most of the laughs come from degrading jokes. Other comedians and the media have objectified Palin instead of portraying her as the individualistic, powerful woman that she is. They personified Palin as having less substance to her male counterparts and portrayed her in a slutty and “showgirl” way. Comedians and the media mock the possibility of having a woman in the White House, thus proving that this country has not progressed in its outlook of women in power.

Instead of being promiscuous like the Palin doll, the Obama action figure consists of broad shoulders, a tiny waist, and its hands on its waist. Why is the media portraying Palin as the slut and Obama as the super hero? The answer is simple: because she is a woman.

On Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey acts as Governor Sarah Palin in the political skits. She plays on many aspects of Palin, but most of the laughs come from mocking Palin’s sexuality in a degrading way. For example, in the Endorsement skit, as Bush, McCain, and Palin pose for a picture, Palin raises her skirt to show off her legs. The action of raising her skirt can be inferred as wanting to show skin for sexual attention from her male audience, thus making Palin look flaky and “easy.” Carly Fiorina, economic advisor to John McCain, says that SNL is portraying Palin as a “show horse, not a work horse” (Fox News). It seems that SNL writes the character of Palin as more of a performer than a serious politician, thus degrading her actual work and experience that she has achieved in the political world. Does SNL have Barack Obama raising his pant leg or unbuttoning his shirt to gain sexual attention? No. So why is SNL portraying Palin in this manner?

While SNL heavily concentrates on the idea of Palin being a woman and plays on her femininity, SNL fails to equally focus on Obama’s masculinity. Instead, most of the laughs concerning Obama come from SNL exaggerating the way he speaks and occasionally poking at his inexperienced background. The actor that plays Obama on the show exaggerates his annunciation by using different levels of inflection in his tone of voice. He talks softer in the beginning of his sentences, gradually getting louder to make the last word stand out. SNL also occasionally plays on Obama’s lack of political experience when Obama calls Hillary Clinton for advice at three in the morning. Also, in a skit where Obama and Hillary are being questioned, Obama is always being asked the same question that Hillary had just answered and given the correct answer to. This gives Obama the right answer to the same question. By “babying” Obama in this skit, SNL points out that Obama needs a little bit of extra help in this new political environment. Viewers do not ever see SNL mocking Obama for interests considered to be “masculine”, such as grilling or weight lifting, so why do we see SNL mocking Palin for “feminine” interests such as shopping?

Other political comedians besides Saturday Night Live have depicted Palin in a demeaning way. In a political cartoon intended to be printed on T-shirts, John McCain is “screwing” Sarah Palin. The caption reads, “Drill Baby Drill!” with an oil tower in the background. This picture is supposed to be poking fun at McCain’s and Palin’s oil policies, but the image seems to be more offensive than humorous. The double meaning of the word “drill” refers to having sex with Palin, not just oil drilling. The cartoon is very graphic as it has Palin’s chest spilling out of the top of her suit. The worst part about this cartoon is that its creator made it to be worn on a T-shirt, thus advertising to others that it is okay to “drill” a woman in power. This insulting illustration is not a political cartoon but a slap in the face to women trying to advance in the political world. I do not recall ever seeing a political cartoon with McCain or Obama being “screwed.” In most political cartoons of Obama, the artist exaggerates his large ears, not his private parts. So why are other political cartoonists drawing Palin in such promiscuous and graphic ways?

The media is also responsible for mocking Palin’s femininity to extreme and vulgar levels. There are many different Palin items available for the public to buy, such as blow up Palin sex dolls, Palin pornography tapes, Sarah Palin dolls that range from slutty school girl to dominatrix, and posters with her face on bikini models. As this mass marketing of Palin is occurring, there seems to be slim to no marketing of Barack Obama in this way. I have never seen an Obama sex doll; however, I have seen an Obama action figure. Instead of being promiscuous like the Palin doll, the Obama action figure consists of broad shoulders, a tiny waist, and its hands on its waist. Why is the media portraying Palin as the slut and Obama as the super hero? The answer is simple: because she is a woman.

While I understand that no candidate is above political criticism, I think that no candidate should be portrayed as a slut or whore because of their sex. By not exaggerating or objectifying Obama’s masculinity or body, comedians and the media fail to create the same demeaning persona about Barack Obama as they do for Sarah Palin. By treating Palin in such a degrading way, comedy is setting American culture back to the days when women held no rights or power in the political world. Comedy implores the message to young adults that a woman must “sleep” her way into political power, rather than through education and experience. This message says that women must cater to men in order to advance in this world, thus resorting back to the days of the Cult of Domesticity. I thought that we were getting past the days of women being below men on the power spectrum. I thought that women could succeed in life and not be mocked by the public or media for it. If Saturday Night Live and other political comedians continue to degrade Palin through her looks, then they also continue to push women from being respected in a position of power.