Аннотация:In this essay, the author examines political advertisements that employ the tropology of sex and romance in order to promote voter participation. The ads appear initially to be humorous attempts at “perspective by incongruity,” disrupting U.S. political culture by seeking to activate otherwise disengaged young women as a formidable political constituency. Although the ads challenge standards of political propriety, they leave intact the pieties of postfeminism and patriarchy which govern political dialogue on both the left and the right. Furthermore, the ads foster a “pleasure prerogative” which conflates female political agency with romantic engagement, (hetero)sexual consummation, and consumer consciousness. By valorizing the instant gratification of fleeting contact with the ballot box over the subdued satisfaction of a long-term commitment to deliberative democracy, these ads ultimately are corrosive to democratic culture.
