Common Decency By Susan Jacoby Summary

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A Summary and Critical Response
Susan Jacoby’s essay titled Common Decency is her critical response to Camille Paglia’s Sexual Personae and anti-feminists that follow the same views as Paglia. Jacoby’s beginnings started as a newspaper reporter, leading to multiple published essays, biographies and non-fiction literature. Common Decency was published in the New York Times in April 1991(Nadell, Langan, and Comodromos 571), where Jacoby states “date rapes do not happen because a man honestly mistakes a woman’s “no” for “yes”…They occur because a minority of men…can’t stand to take “no” for an answer” (Jacoby 572) as her thesis statement.
Susan Jacoby begins with the recalling of a personal experience correlating to the controversial topic of …show more content…

Jacoby questions Paglia’s view on sexual cues, where she suggests that gang rape is not applicable to the mixed signals excuse. She mentions that in a gang rape, the defendants usually claim confusion over mixed signals, suggesting that the victim willingly accompanied them to a party and believed that if the victim displayed interest in one, how are they to know she isn’t interest in having sex with all (573). Jacoby explains that the date rape controversy adheres to the general notion that women can stop the leading acts of sexual intercourse at any time and that men will reciprocate since men will face necessary consequences if they are unwilling to respect a woman’s …show more content…

Jacoby’s essay consists of persuasive language and logical statements throughout. When Jacoby states that “Real men want an eager sexual partner-not a woman who is quaking with fear or even one who is ambivalent” (574) her statement, although it is very logical, it is basically an opinion without factual or supporting evidence. Without research supporting her views on multiple logical statements her integrity is missing. Although she did include a personal incident, her logos elements are still lacking in this essay. Her ethos and pathos approach is present but falls flat for the logos factor. Jacoby’s response essay can be improved with the addition of cited research that supports her views on the date

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