Blonde Republican Sex Kitten

Admit it: you'd let Elisabeth Hasselbeck search for your Weapon of Mass Destruction any day. Even if it doesn't exist.


Yeah Ainsley, I wanted to say hello, and to mention, you know, uh, a lot of people assumed you were hired because you were a blonde Republican sex kitten, and well they're obviously wrong. Keep up the good work.
—President Bartlet, The West Wing

A character type that has become more common in recent years as her very existence shows that not all Republicans are stuffy old men (or old maids), and that not all women are Democrats.

Like it says on the label, this character is female, attractive, and almost always blonde. Usually portrayed as more "traditional" in her gender expression than her politically opposite peers, though the characterization is by no means universal.

She'll sometimes be portrayed unsympathetically, as either a Stepford Smiler or a kind of grown-up, politicized version of Alpha Bitch. In these cases, she functions as an extension of the Strawman Political, since instead of bolstering the Republican argument she now (indirectly and unintentionally) attacks it. In these cases there's a reasonably good chance that she'll undergo a High Heel Face Turn upon realizing her party bosses are, in reality, chauvinist pigs.

There is also a nice chance that the Blonde Republican Sex Kitten is a Magnificent Bastard with a sharp mind that plays the "snobby feminine airhead" role because its either convenient or expected from her. In that case, it may be the cover of a particularly sneaky Femme Fatale.

Since shows heavy in Political Strawmen can over do it by painting the other side as evil, this character can sometimes be a raging example of Evil Is Sexy for an established character with opposing political views. The political dissonance can consequently ignite Belligerent Sexual Tension between the two, leading to a Slap Slap Kiss relationship, often involving arguments about contentious culture war issues as the making out gets heated. Sometimes the established character can find the kitten sexy because they're so diametrically opposed to everything s/he stands for.

A glance at some of the hosts and contributors for the Fox News Channel shows that this trope is most definitely Truth in Television.

Often a Political Stereotype even if she's not a strawman. See also Fox News Liberal.

Examples of Blonde Republican Sex Kitten include:

Comic Books

  • The 2008 miniseries DC Universe: Decisions, written to cash in on the U.S. presidential election, has Lois Lane spilling Republican talking points (or at the very least, opinions that the libertarian wing of the Republican Party would endorse) while asking Clark who he plans to vote for. Given that DC likes to keep its heroes nonpolitical (besides ultra-left wing Green Arrow and uber-conservative Hawkman, anyway), this will most likely be ignored in future stories. That said, it's not altogether inconsistent for a fairly wealthy army-brat who makes her living off of the personal freedom of the press to be interested in a moderate-Republican former soldier like John McCain. Counterpoint being that Lois Lane is a crusading seemingly liberal journalist with a primary focus on social issues. In the past, her opinion of the Republican Party has been shown to be quite negative. But generally as throwaway references, most of which are quite old: anger at "12 years of Republican administrations" was cited as one of the causes of the anger that enabled her Demonic Possession during the Eclipso: The Darkness Within crossover in the early 1990s. Arguably, since the actual lines Lois spoke in "Decisions" seem to largely be in line with libertarian-Republican views and not necessarily conservative-Republican views, it actually could still fit well with the Eclipso anecdote, as most libertarians generally resent social conservatism and have generally been unhappy with its prevalence within the GOP in recent decades.
  • One issue of the 2000s revival of The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke features a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Coulter named "Mare Noltly" who unsuccessfully tries to seduce the hero when he questions her on a recent murder.


Film

  • In Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, in the comedic half of the movie, Will Ferrell's character begins dating a blonde Republican who posed for Playboy.
  • The title character of Ninotchka is a blonde communist sex kitten whose eventual defrosting arguably makes her something of a Fox News Communist as well. Notably though, the movie doesn't portray the average citizen of the Soviet Union as bad, only the government- which is more surprising when you consider the movie was made in 1939.
    • The US hatred of communists stems from post World War 2.
  • Head of State has Blonde Sex Kitten Of Vague Party Affiliation, who is personnel in Mays' presidential campaign staff. She was a professional whore for presidential candidates, retained to prevent sex scandals by providing sex on an as-needed basis.
  • Margaret Thatcher - or at least one of her successors thought so

The Prime Minister: You have this kind of problem? Yeah... of course you did, you saucy minx!

  • A French example is the daughter in Potiche. Her politics are in line with her conservative father and husband which puts her in contrast with her more-liberal thinking mother. Her conservative opinions later force her mother out of the CEO position of the family business.
  • Julia Roberts plays Joanne Herring, a spunky, red-haired version in Charlie Wilson's War. Her hyper-femininity is mostly a facade, as she's the third wealthiest person in Texas, who uses her money and connections to be politically active behind the scenes.


Literature

  • Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars Trilogy has Phyllis Boyle, who fits this trope to a tee in the second book.
  • Melissa Good's Fanfic completely original story, Tropical Storm, whose two lead female characters just happen to physically, emotionally and characteristically resemble another pair of female leads from a series that shall not be mentioned due to copyright law,[1] includes in its universe a woman by the name of Kerry, who is Blonde, Sexy, and a Republican (though of the Log Cabin variety).


Live Action TV

  • Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter) from The West Wing, for whom this trope is named. At least two Procter fan-sites have this name. Unlike some of the other examples here, Procter's character is a goodie. She was also memorable for being introduced as a Blonde Republican Sex Kitten, Cousin Oliver, Minnesota Fats, Southern-Fried Genius, and Token Minority all at once.
    • Would Joe Quincy count as a male example? Donna even points out he's the male equivalent of Ainsley Hayes.
  • Avery from Thirty Rock is a blonde, sexy (she's played by Elizabeth Banks), conservative talk-show host. In other words, a perfect match for Jack Donaghy. "Welcome back to Fox News. I'm blonde."
  • Marcy D'Arcy from Married... with Children was a hardcore Republican and a feminist (albeit perhaps more the Straw Feminist, particularly in the later seasons when every character on the show had their personalities Flanderized). The only things that made her a subversion of the trope was that Marcy was a brunette and enjoyed sex (which was later Flanderized into her being a sex maniac).
  • Harriet Hayes from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is a version of this trope, being an evangelical Christian. Goody. She's based on Kristin Chenoweth (in particular, her relationship with Aaron Sorkin), though Chenoweth self-identifies as a liberal Christian and unambiguously supports gay rights.
  • Kitty Walker from Brothers and Sisters. Full name Katherine, making it two uses of a Meaningful Name. Also a goodie, but that show doesn't really have heroes and villains.
  • Slight variation: Sharon Tyler from Wonderfalls perfectly defines this trope, even if she happens be a lesbian.
  • Dr. Elliot Reid from Scrubs. Semi-subversion—she is young, attractive, conservative and has what she considers to be loose morals (though they are pretty normal for a TV person), but she is also extremely neurotic about all the pre-marital sex she has. Of course, she's extremely neurotic about everything. For most of the series, she hides the fact that she is even a republican (or at least votes that way).
  • Jane Halliday from L.A. Law, a beautiful blonde Fundamentalist Christian.
  • Law and Order:
    • One episode has Veronica Tandy, described by Detective Green as "the most hated bitch in America," as the intended victim of a shooting. Even other Republicans don't like her much, since she seems to be more successful at getting people mad than at actually conveying her ideals. This might be less of an example of the trope and more of an active Take That at Ann Coulter herself.
    • ADA Abbie Charmicheal also counts, being a conservative Republican played by model Angie Harmon (who is a Real Life example of this trope herself).
    • Yet another Coulter Expy called Judith Barlow. L&O likes to go to that well.
  • Tracy Strauss on Heroes. However, thanks to Characterization Marching On, she's more or less grown out of this. In fact, a recent episode showed her trying to get that career back, but after heavy consideration, decided against it.
  • Sarah Harding in the To Play The King section of House of Cards (British series), who's also something of a Bastard Understudy to Urquhart, and his near-equal in guile: when he decides to have her killed off, he laments her "lovely intricate mind".
  • On The Daily Show, Samantha Bee plays a caricature of the Blonde Republican Sex Kitten.
  • Sarah Newlin on True Blood is certainly one. Plus she's a fundamentalist Christian.
  • Although she's not as hot as some of the others on this page, almost everything else about Angela from The Office basically says this trope. A blonde, right-wing fundamentalist Christian who has affairs with two guys at the same time? Sounds like this. She even likes cats!
  • Quinn's mother from Glee.
  • One Saturday Night Live sketch parodied Fox News, where one of the guests was an attractive blonde lady called "Attractive Blonde Lady" (played by Abby Elliott) who served no purpose other than sitting there, looking pretty, and saying "God, it's like [X Presidential Administration] all over again!"
  • The rather Anvilicious Masters of Horror episode Homecoming, had Jayne Cleaver, an obvious Expy of Ann Coulter. Fallen soldiers return from the dead as zombies to vote in protest of unjust wars.
  • Kirsten Cohen from The OC is an attractive blonde Hot Mom, and at one point in the series it's mentioned that she's a political conservative.
  • Brought up in the Republican episode of Party Down where Roman is asking one of the males if it's true that Republican women are "maniacs under the sheets". The guy's girlfriend is blonde, coincidentally enough.
  • Emma Messinger of The Thick of It, except replace "Republican" with "Tory".


Theater


Web Comics


Western Animation

  • The Family Guy episode "You May Now Kiss The...Uh...Guy Who Receives" had Chris attracted to a BRSK who wants him to join the Young Republicans to help ban gay marriage (which was set up as a distraction away from the fact that Mayor West spent the town's tax money on a gold statue of Dig 'Em the Sugar Smacks Frog). Sadly, the plot of Chris choosing between supporting Brian's belief in gay marriage and being a Young Republican so he can score some boob was never resolved.
  • American Dad's Francine Smith, by association with her extreme Strawman Political Republican husband. (Occasionally, however, she does stand up to her husband and - if only temporarily - sways him to a feminist point of view.)
  • The Simpsons recurring character Lindsey Naegle (the network/business executive who keeps changing jobs because she's a sexual predator). Of course, she was also shown as part of the Springfield Democratic party on "E Pluribus Wiggum," so she may be a swing voter or the Simpsons writers screwed up -- again.
  • The Ann Coulter character on The Boondocks plays this up for book sales, but is actually liberal personally. The way she sees it, it's either this or stripping. Also, Ann likes the dark meat.


Real Life

  • Actress Bo Derek (see 10, Bolero, and Tommy Boy) is a self-described moderate Republican.
  • Fox News Channel has quite a few. See for yourself.
    • Including but not limited to regular hosts Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
    • Also a number of their regular contributors. See Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Monica Crowley, among others.
    • Former Fox anchor Suzanne Sena now parodies the trope as Onion News Network anchor Brooke Alvarez.
  • New Zealand MP Nikki Kaye, although she's quite liberal for a National MP.
  • Elisabeth Hasselbeck (The View).
  • The fact that Sarah Palin, the former beauty contest winner/mayor/governor/Vice Presidential nominee, is brunette will probably lead to an increasing number of non-blonde examples of this trope.
    • Christine O'Donnell and Michele Bachmann are also brunettes.
    • FOX news contributors Andrea Tantaros, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Julie Banderas and SE Cupp have dark hair.
  • Argentine conservative politician Cynthia Hotton
  • Debbie Schlussel, the rare Jewish example. And you thought Ann Coulter was as hardline as BRSKs could get.
  • It's been rumored that Sarah Michelle Gellar (another Jewish example!) might be this trope, due to the fact that she apparently expressed some views that were in line with the GOP.
    • Although never vocal about her political views, she is a registered Republican. If Gellar is a Republican, she is an unconventional one considering some of her statements on gay rights and religion.
    • ...Which is increasingly common for Republicans below the age of 40 at least.
  • Janine Turner, formerly of Northern Exposure (and formerly a brunette), is a Hot Mom variant who now offers Tea Party-friendly lectures on the U.S. Constitution with her young daughter.
  • British Tory MP Louise Mensch.
  • Helena Guergis is an attractive blonde, former Conservative Cabinet minister in Canada, who eventually resigned after getting caught partying with hookers and cocaine.
    • Her husband got caught. And she never resigned; she was kicked out of cabinet and out of the Conservative caucus, ran in the next election as an independant, and lost.
  • Actress Heather Locklear is a registered Republican.
  • Actress/singer Jessica Simpson is also a Republican.
  • Arianna Huffington used to be one of these. Her politics started becoming more liberal around the time she divorced Michael Huffington.
    • The transition was very fast as these things go; in 1998, she was running an online campaign calling on Bill Clinton to resign over "Monicagate". Two years later, she'd swung sharply over to the left.
  • John McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, is definitely this trope, and came relatively close to being a Blonde Republican First Lady, had her husband won in 2000 or 2008.
    • Senator McCain's daughter Meghan is also this trope. A moderate Republican blogger for the Daily Beast and now a contributor to MSNBC, she's been known to rile both liberals AND conservatives, liberals because she's too conservative for them on fiscal issues, defense issues, and on gun issues, and conservatives because she supports gay marriage, contraception, and (some) access to abortion (and also because she opposes Rush Limbaugh).
  • Tomi Lahren, contributor to "The Blaze" media network.
  • Kayleigh McEnany, who rose to prominence in 2016 due to her status as one of Donald Trump's surrogates.
  1. ↑ Snarkiness aside, it's actually a fun read, and the author can be rather tongue-in-cheek at times.
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