A new study ponders the political fortunes of tough females (pdf):
The conventional wisdom is that female politicians are greatly constrained by a toughness-related double bind: if a woman fails to demonstrate toughness, she confirms a stereotype that women are not strong enough to lead; yet if she demonstrates toughness, she will be disliked for violating gendered expectations. … Contrary to the conventional wisdom, female politicians do not suffer a disproportionate penalty for acting in a tough manner; in fact, this analysis shows that tough women benefit on several key measures relative to tough men.
That study tested toughness as reported in print only. Joshua Tucker looks toward radio and TV:
It would be interesting to see if this finding holds up when transferred to audio-visual media, which is likely to be the primary way in which most voters become acquainted with Ms. Bachmann. One could imagine that these kind of gender stereotypes in terms of behavioral expectations would be more easily offended by visual cues than by print media.
The Dish 