Danielle Smith did it, so did Ed Sheeran. When is it OK for a public figure to cry in public? - National Post
From left, Danielle Smith on a virtual meeting held by Alberta and the West Assembly on Sept. 19; Ed Sheeran at a concert in Philadelphia on Sept. 19; Justin Trudeau meeting with First Nations groups in 2021. Photo by AATWA / Instagram / GettyArticle contentTo cry, or not to cry? In the realm of politics, that is the question. And the answer, says one University of Toronto expert, largely depends on your sex.
“If you’re a woman in the public sphere, you cannot win in terms of the expression of emotion,” said Megan Boler a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and acting chair of the Department of Social Justice Education at the university. “You are hung in the court of public opinion either way.”
Two recent examples of crying in public were tears shed by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran. The reasons for the tears were as different as the people shedding them.
Smith’s emotional outburst came last Saturday during a virtual conference about the upcoming referendum on separation from Canada.
She began by saying: “Let me start with the feeling. Because if you understand the feeling, the rest makes sense.” She said many Albertans are angry or even hurt by a decade of feeling like Ottawa “was working to shut our economy down.”
Smith listed a number of grievances, including cancelled pipelines, emissions caps and electricity regulations, adding: “When a proud, hardworking people feel their contribution is taken for granted and their livelihood is treated as something to be phased out, some begin to ask a painful question.”
She paused for several long seconds and cleared her throat before continuing: “Does this country actually want us?”
The outburst, while rare, was hardly new. Boler recalled Hilary Clinton tearing up during the Democratic primary campaign in 2008. She noted that, while it had the effect of humanizing a politician often seen as cold and unfeeling, it ultimately may have hurt her chances against her opponent Barack Obama.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton talks to a television reporter about her emotional response to a question earlier in the day as she campaigned at The McConnell Center, Jan. 7, 2008 in Dover, New Hampshire. Photo by Joe Raedle /Getty ImagesArticle content“It came back to bite her,” said Boler. “People felt that it was an example of a woman’s hysterical tendencies and a symptom of the fact that women are too emotional to be in the public sphere or be political leaders.”
