On January 20th 2021 Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman Vice President of the United States. She became the first woman of colour and the first woman to hold the office. Harris has assumed office at a time of high anxiety and polarisation following a bitter general election which culminated in the storming of the Capitol Building by Trump supporters on 6th January. I will assess the responses to Harris from a psychosocial perspective, employing Melanie Klein’s psychoanalytic theories to explore the drivers behind these responses and the potential hazards of them too.
Object relations theorist Melanie Klein wrote of idealisation in Notes on Some Schizoid Mechanisms. She argues idealisation starts with the first object, the breast, which takes the shape of the “good” object and leads to idealisation of said object. Klein argues that in times of heightened anxiety this idealisation can become excessive and used as a means to escape perceived persecution. In The Origins of Transference Klein writes,
The infants relative security is based on turning the good object into an ideal one as protection against the dangerous and persecuting object
Applying Klein’s idealisation theory in a psychosocial reading of the responses to Harris, it could be argued that she has come to represent the “good” object for many of her supporters.
To say that Harris has taken office at a time of heightened anxiety would be an understatement. In terms of gender relations she is a woman coming to the fore after a period of intense gender conflict and unease. Donald Trump’s presidency was deeply entrenched with misogyny, he was openly misogynistic in his discourse. This was clear in his gendered attacks on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, his response to women reporters throughout the campaign and presidency, and most overtly in the surfaced tape of him discussing grabbing women and forcing himself upon them. The response to Trump’s misogyny can be seen in the increased activism by women in the United States, starting with the Women’s Marches that were seen both domestically and internationally the day after his inauguration. 2017 also brought the rise of the #MeToo movement followed by #TimesUp which saw women speaking out about their experiences with sexual assault and shining a light on the horrendous actions of many men throughout society. This increase in visibility of women speaking out has been met with an increased level of misogynistic rhetoric towards women, both online and in the public sphere. Misogynistic hate speech on online spaces has reached epic proportions, especially for Black, queer and trans women. Needless to say, the mood during the last four years has been rife with persecution of women.
Within this persecution so has there been a need for some perceived salvation from the misogynistic, patriarchal tone; enter Kamala Harris. Although her own campaign for the presidential nomination was short lived it was not without key, vocal moments in which she inspired women. For example her response to Joe Biden during a candidate debate in which she vocally stood up as a women of colour and spoke of her first-hand experience of segregation as a child. When Harris was chosen as Biden’s running mate for the general election she quickly become an idealised figure for many women. Whether it was images of her dancing in the rain at a campaign rally, her inspiring convention speech, or defiantly reminding Vice President Pence “I’m Speaking” at their debate. Following the debate Vogue ran a piece on Harris with the headline “Kamala Harris is Every Woman Trying to be Heard”. Harris became a beacon for many women who for the last four years had felt shut out of the Executive Branch. She was showing how empowered women can be and the role they can play in public life. She became the ultimate “good object” and one that, for many, could do no wrong.
Klein argues that when in the paranoid schizoid position the splitting of objects occurs as a defence mechanism. Objects are only “good” and “bad”, integration is not possible. Klein argues that the alternative position to this is the depressive position, in which objects are integrated as a mix of both the “good” and the “bad”. Within the polarising environment that is the United States since the rise of Trump as the leader of a political movement it could be argued that splitting, in the paranoid schizoid position, is at an all-time high. For many followers of Harris she is a representation of the “good” and an antidote to the “bad” that is the right-wing, patriarchal politics of the MAGA movement. She is also the “good” in terms of women’s equality and an answer to the patriarchal dominance. So too can she be seen as an embodiment of the “bad” for her detractors.
It remains to be seen how Harris will find her role as Vice President and whether she will be able to live up to the idealised perfection many see in her as the “good” object. Klein argues that as the idealisation of the object is a defence against the perceived persecutory object it is unstable and liable to break down. It may be that a lack of integration of Harris as a whole object, which will require a depressive lens, could lead to her being dismissed as the idealised woman leader and she may be replaced in the minds of her supporters with another.
At present Harris is on a pedestal with many of her supporters, the perception is that she is the person they have been waiting for. She is the “good” object on to which all phantasies of the perfect woman leader can be projected. This is an unsustainable position to be in, especially when one holds political office. The best outcome for Harris is that with a less divisive figure in the Oval Office the polarisation and splitting tendencies of citizens will lessen. With a move towards the depressive position so will there be room for Harris to develop in her role and become an integrated object who is allowed to make mistakes.
Klein, M., 1997. Envy and Gratitude and Other Works 1946-1963, Vintage Press: London
Words: Dr Amy Tatum
Dr Amy Tatum is a lecturer in Communication and Media at Bournemouth University, her research explores gender and political leadership with a focus on US politics. She has published research on women political leaders, AI bias, and gender and media representation.
Featured image courtesy of Gage Skidmore.