ABSTRACT
Gender is widely regarded as a relational construction rather than a reference to individual or collective attributes premised on some fixed biological essence. Very simply put, “gender” does not mean “women”. Despite the sheer abundance of female written support to Powell, a precise quantification is impossible to arrive at. This chapter evidences the gender distribution of postbag Powellism through five bundles of letters randomly selected, making up 1,360 altogether. Of course, gender is an indicator of electoral behaviour among others. Age is another one, and the combination of both has been called the “gender-generation gap”, according to which older generations display the “traditional” gender gap, with women more inclined to support right-wing parties than men, whereas younger generations tend to display the “modern” gender gap, with women more likely to vote for left-wing parties than men. Gendered ordinariness was often harnessed to stave off accusations of “racialism”, for hatred of foreigners was allegedly at odds with moderate norms of homeliness.
