Compromising Positions argues that sex scandals aren’t really about sex. Rather, they are a form of cultural theater—a moment of highly visible, public storytelling—the purpose of which is to use specific racial and gendered symbols to create a collective sense of national worth and strength. To arrive at this conclusion, the book charts the ways in which attitudes about gender, race, and religion are woven together to create a certain sort of rhetoric about what America is, who is eligible to formally represent it, and what types of religiosity such leaders must display in order to legitimize their power. The book shows that Americans simultaneously condemn and excuse the sexual indiscretions of their politicians depending on the degree to which those politicians reinforce longstanding, evangelical symbols—many of which are heavily raced and gendered—that are associated with “American values” and a “Christian nation.” Such values include not just moral fortitude but also strength, courage, and conquest. The upshot is that sex scandals are less likely to occur at cultural moments when the public is open to reading a politician’s moral lapse as a symbolic form of national dominance. Put simply, when he is perceived as strong, domineering, and necessary for national health, many people will find ways to either forget his illicit sex or somehow read it as an American act.
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