Scandal creates the illusion that it challenges hegemonic gender roles by giving the power and ability to solve Washington D.C’s most complicated scandals to a woman, Olivia Pope. Although Olivia always seems to be the one person with the ability to fix the unfixable, in order to do so, she must sacrifice her femininity and embody a masculine persona. Hegemonic ideology surrounding gender performance suggests that in the face of adversity, women tend to get emotional, fall apart and ultimately lose control. When faced with the messiest of scandals, Olivia Pope fails to demonstrate any of these qualities and contradictorily exudes confidence and control while remaining collected and poised. In addition, Scandal reinforces the assumption that women can never be successful at sustaining a masculine persona or position of power unless they surrender their femininity and assume the role of a man.
Olivia’s ability to disregard feminine emotion and hysteria is best exemplified in season 2, when Fitz gets shot at his birthday celebration. After seeing the man she is deeply in love with in very critical condition, it would be natural for Olivia to join Millie in hysteria and complete loss of control. Although she is clearly distraught and still in shock, Olivia remains strong and takes it upon herself to address the media and head all publicity regarding the Presidents condition. Olivia’s masculine composure and strength in trying times prove to be one of the main reasons she holds the power that she does. Throughout the show, it becomes evident that Olivia’s only struggle is that she simply cannot have it all. In order to keep her career and accumulated power, Olivia must sacrifice her personal happiness, specifically love. In season 2, Olivia has an opportunity to settle down with a man that loves her and wants to marry her. In a conversation between Olivia and Edison, it becomes clear that in order to remain in control and powerful in her relationship, Olivia must again shed her femininity and assume masculine qualities. The scene opens at Olivia’s apartment where she and Edison clearly spent the night together. Edison is rambling on about the women he has been dating in hopes to extract some information about the men Olivia has been seeing. Instead of participating in the conversation, Olivia remains tight lipped and continuously changes the subject disregarding Edison’s desires and feelings. Ironically, it appears Olivia and Edison have swapped roles. Edison is portrayed as the feminine spouse wanting to talk and communicate while Olivia is removed, uninterested and void of emotion, traits more closely related to the stereotypical man. Olivia’s constant portrayal of masculine qualities supports the hegemonic ideology that a direct relationship exists between power and masculinity.