A double-headed hydra: Marine Le Pen’s charisma, between political masculinity and political femininity

Abstract

Although charisma is more commonly associated with masculine leadership, Marine Le Pen (MLP) is a woman politician whom supporters view as charismatic. Combining theories of hegemonic masculinity, and hegemonic femininity, with Max Weber's typology of legitimate domination, this paper elaborates a framework for identifying how political masculinity and femininity are relationally structured within types of legitimate domination, including charismatic domination. I apply this framework to empirical analysis of the French radical rightwing leader and her supporters. Charisma, I suggest, is a form of political masculinity a woman can enact, but which allows for expression of political femininity. Drawing from participant observation data gathered on the French National Front between 2013 and 2017, and from interviews with party members, I show how activists viewed MLP as an admirably virile figure. Simultaneously, she was venerated for her feminine corporality, and her expression of feminine care, or caritas. Like a double-headed hydra, MLP was viewed as extraordinary due to her combined political masculinity and political femininity. Contra theories of hegemonic masculinity, MLP shows that a charismatic woman can perform hegemonic masculinity without being punished by supporters for doing so. Rational-bureaucratic domination, by contrast, is predominantly masculine, and allows for little expression of political femininity.

Women Leading the Opposition: Gender and Rhetoric in the European Parliament

“…This aspect is negatively confirmed by Marine Le Pen's lavish disapproval of the Commission, outpacing her male counterparts-and all other party group chairs. Women in far-right movements and parties rely on the display of strength and charisma in their leadership performance to a great degree as they encounter highly genderunequal party-political contexts and a political ideology that is openly misogynistic (Geva, 2020).…”

Exploring the Language Usage in Mark Twain’s Novel “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”: Hegemonic Masculinity Analysis

“…Tom, in particular, is always considered as the most charismatic boy among the other boys by the children his age because he never wants to lose to the others and always tried to maintain his dignity as the toughest boy. Charisma is often associated with masculine leadership, although Geva (2020) argues that it is a form of political masculinity that women can enact.…”

From Opposition Leader to Prime Minister: Giorgia Meloni and Women’s Issues in the Italian Radical Right

“…Extant research has recently focused not only on radical right parties' ideas on gender but also on which role their women leaders play in this context, with relevant works on the Danish Pia Kjaersgaard, the French Marine Le Pen, the Israeli Ayelet Shaked, among others (Ben-Shitrit et al, 2022;Campus, 2017;Geva, 2020;Meret, 2015). Thus, in this article, we aim to understand the relevance and position of Giorgia Meloni and her party on women's issues by combining the analysis of their parliamentary activity and political discourse.…”

“…The increasing presence of women leaders in PRRPs is also a noticeable trend, which may have a connection with the "engendering" of their politics. While they do not necessarily embody the traits of hegemonic femininity that one would expect (e.g., Geva, 2018Geva, , 2020Meret, 2015), women political leaders on the right claim to represent the interests of women (Celis & Childs, 2018). But which interests?…”