Penelope Eckert And Sally Mcconnell-Ginet

Today, labels are placed upon people as fast as a blink of an eye. One of the most common labels being placed upon people is their perceived gender. Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet, the authors of “Learning to Be Gendered”, argue that gender is not based on biology; instead, it is a binary meant to categorize people for how they should live their lives. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet have effectively written about the societal pressures and expectations placed on children to fulfill their “specific” gender role. Through the rhetorical strategies of tone, ethos, logos, and pathos, the authors thoroughly explain the effects gendering has on children.

Eckert and McConnell-Ginet used a formal and educated tone to help them effectively convey

Logos strengthens Eckert and McConnell-Ginet’s effectiveness by providing logical reasoning and examples to sway the reader. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet use logos mostly through examples of “gendering” ordinary life. There are numerous examples that include: “[t]he first thing people want to know about a baby is its sex,” colors when staying at the hospital- a blue or pink blanket or cap, “overalls with vehicles printed on them” can be found in the “boys” section of Baby’s R US, and even the fact that boys and girls are not only spoken to differently- “[p]arents use more diminutives (kitty, doggie) when speaking to girls than to boys (Gleason et al. 1994), they use more inner state words (happy, sad) when speaking to girls,” but that adults also tend to “actually…treat boys and girls differently…teachers respond to girls when they talk, babble, or gesture, while they respond to boys when they whine, scream, or demand physical attention,” (Eckert and Ginet, 740). Eckert and McConnell-Ginet were able to effectively apply logic because they appealed to their audience’s intelligence along with offering credible evidence to support their argument. The authors effectively used inductive reasoning, adding logical pieces to the evidence to reach conclusions, through

Even though pathos is the least prominent form of persuasion found in this article, Eckert and McConnel-Ginet’s use of it is powerful and not over-done. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet use the sentimental feeling of “growing up” to speak towards the reader’s heart. Society does not give children “the option of growing into just people, but into boys or girls” (Eckert and Ginet, 742). Pathos is incorporated into this statement by making the reader feel sympathy towards children that are forced to grow into a gender rather than being able to choose. The last sentence of “Learning to Be Gendered”, Eckert and McConnell-Ginet use pathos in order to explain how parents are even expected not to force their children to have a certain gender as they have “been observers in experimental situation[s] doing just that” (Eckert and Ginet, 743). Eckert and McConnell-Ginet create an effective argument by utilizing pathos that hope for children to grow up without pressures regarding their gender identity has vanished because even the most accepting parents cannot truly refrain from “gendering” their