You have to feel a little sorry these days for professors married to their former students. This is the exact sentence (pg 103) that Kipnis begins her story with in Sexual Paranoia. Using such insensitive and demanding comments while discussing sensitive subjects is probably not the best way to begin an essay if you want your readers to take your side. So why am I doing this? To prove a point. Your first line, although important, is not the defining feature of an essay and it does not prevent the author from making valid points, even if the first statement is demanding and rude, even if the essay points in a direction you don’t agree with. The first sentence of an essay can provide important information such as the setting or it can provide …show more content…
Her insensitivity continues into her paper and becomes discrediting of others when Kipnis tries to devalue the validity of the suffering felt by those who have been sexually assaulted. Not only does she demand her reader to feel how she feels about certain issues, she also tells us how we should make our laws, as if her way is the only right way and anything different is beneath her. Kipnis argues “My eye was struck by the word survivor, which was repeated several times… Are you seriously telling me, I wanted to ask the Title IX Committee, that the same term now encompasses both someone allegedly groped by a professor and my great-aunt who lived through the Nazi death camps?” (pgs 109-110). I understand Kipnis’s desire for word classification and fundamentally agree with her belief that words are very powerful weapons that, when wielded incorrectly, can cause a world of harm. Sometimes we have to draw a line to stop banning things because if we were to take every sensitivity into account then nothing in the world would be allowed, which is where I believe Kipnis is coming from. I think that we should be sensitive to everyone and understand what impact things have on people and certain words and actions can hurt them, even if we choose not …show more content…
Just because she managed to get her essay published does not mean that she doesn’t have flaws like the rest of us. She tries her best to understand the new rules, going to a seminar on sexual harassment and engaging in the class. She tries asking “How do you know they’re unwanted until you try?” (pg 105). The teacher was uncomfortable with the question, so he waved it off as a joke instead of responding. “I did want him to answer,” she says, “because it’s something I’d been wondering” (105-106). Sometimes our efforts are misconstrued as ingenuine and as a result the person making an effort gets labeled as someone who can’t take anything seriously, no matter how important the topic. This does not make their efforts to improve themselves and the world any less genuine. We all do our best to help those we care about and we all make mistakes. Each of us holds our views and acts accordingly, Kipnis and myself included. What we do may not always be right, but it is us trying to do what is best based on what we understand about the world. What we can do is try and improve ourselves like Kipnis did. We need to look at both sides of an argument because they can both have valid points, reasonings for why they think the way they do, that can expand our understandings. Often, this does not happen because people are too stubborn to change. Why I believe everyone is so set in their ideas is because they (Kipnis and I included) are
“Once people actually write to others, they do things to them, they act on them. Perhaps you have not thought of your own writing as doing something, as acting on readers” (Schmidt and Kopple). She states another time when she says, “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, not one them sits down routinely feeling widely enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts” (Lamott). This is yet another example of Lamott going back to the subject that first drafts are supposed to be bad. There is one example of bad rhetoric and it is when she says, “Not one of them writes elegant drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.” At first she says that everyone writes bad first drafts and then she brings up how one person doesn’t need to, she went against what she just said and that might cause confusion for the reader. Lamott would tell this purpose to this audience because she wants them to improve in their writing. Anne Lamott wants to achieve the success of helping everyone excel in his or her writing. She wants to inform writers that all first drafts should be bad. She does not want them to feel down on themselves, and to continue writing. This purpose is important because this
Mother Jones discuss issues about politics to climate to education to food. As the author 's thesis states how better care for Houston would have lead to an happy ending or to a better ending. To provide care, support, and money to mentally ill people. She mentioned how the Government should take care of them. If the Government starts to take some action toward this we can save people like Houston or at least prevent any crime like Houston’s. If the Government starts to take some actions, their will be less “Houston” and more “Terri”. McClelland really made her article strong by using rhetorical strategies ethos, pathos and logos well. She showed her credibility through ethos, emotions through pathos and logic through logos. All these made us the readers, read her story. I believe she used pathos more effectively than any other rhetorical strategies because many of us are persuaded from her story because of her well use of pathos, how she executed her emotion through specific word choices, and
The Earth is one big ball that is full of mistakes and flaws. Many people take initiative and send out a message through their writings. The article In Praise of the F word, by Mary Sherry, reflects on the school system. Sherry utilizes her passionate tone, pathos, and personal experience to sway the reader to follow along in her beliefs. In Affirmative Action: The Price of Preference, by Shelby Steele, Steele preys on readers by using ethos, pathos, and a sturdy tone to appeal to her readers. Though both writers present valid arguments and interest, as a reader, I believe that Steele’s argument was stronger within her essay.
The point is just to let the unrestricted thoughts flow, for me most of the time it ends up being a rant that makes me look like a less than nice guy. To prove my point in the third essay for the class titled “Writing for all” the first draft was a total rant. The they say a portion of the essay had lines like “ A student would go to class, learn “... drop the E and add -ing” to make something a verb. Only to later down the line learn, doto some detail, it doesn’t always count as a verb.” making me sound pessimistic. Not something I generally would allow people to read. After a combing through the rant filled pages of that first draft I managed to salvage I created this as the better opening “A scholar may use writing as a way for us to preserve what we learned, for future generations to build off of. A book author will use writing to pull people into the book’s world of mythos and legend.” The First draft had essayed gold mired in the rant somewhere and just took rereading and picking out those lumps of gold. Which then have the opportunity to be part of the main essay after smelting or filtering it
Whereas hooks’s personal experience srenghtens her ethos, a certain rigidity used in addressing the audience simultaneously weakens her credibilty. For example, hooks’s tendency to label academics and groups unlike herself pushes the reader to see her as self-righteous. She separates people into classes of those she percieves as right and those she sees as wrong. Thus, she creates a smaller audience of readers and weakens her message. This tendency causes her argument to sound one-sided and prevents a formation of common ground. hooks’s efforts to help others preserve the background that "enable[s] one’s self development in the present, that sustain[s] and support[s], that enrich[s]" however, prevents her voice and opinions from being ignored (91).
As many of these issues are addressed daily, we have to take into consideration that a lot of these claims can be considered ethical in reasoning. In this instance, Jill Filipovic uses rational arguments to provide examples and studies to build a case that women are not just “playing the women card” but that there are real issues that they face simply because of their gender. Even though there are weaknesses within the evidence and claims being made, Filipovic does not violate any values or falsely misleads her audience. There are no signs of Filipovic attempting to prevent or silence the voices of the other side of the argument. Nor does Filipovic use her article to relay emotional stories of women being discriminated against causing her audience to be overwhelmed, causing them to loose sign in the true issue at hand. It seems that her purpose is to inform the readers in hopes that it will bring about change or awareness. Finally, Filipovic does not, in any way, attack any individuals or groups of people. She does dress the topic of discrimination between men and women but the topic is never addressed
Another valid argument that Kearns had is that the student used naïve realism in her reading, and therefore showed ethical issues that are part of the human condition (Kearns 766). As a result, Kearns feels that this enhances the reading of the characters: "I assume that readers will accept the invitation to respond, not only ethically but also emotionally" (Kearns 769-770).
Carol Tavris was born in 1944, and got her PH.D. in Social Psychology. That is why she has so much credibility in this field of study. This essay wouldn’t mean anything if it wasn’t coming from someone who has the background and the credibility she does. A strong example of emotion is when she talks about Rodney King and the savage beating he received. It again shows how people in groups act different. There were 11 officers watching 4 of their colleagues beat this poor man. What were they thinking? Did they agree? These are some of the questions you have to ask yourself. One explanation, of course, is that they approved.(18). They may have identified with the abusers, vicariously participating in a beating they rationalized as justified.(18). This is sad but true, but what about the Kitty Genovese story. She was stabbed and killed in front of her apartment, while 38 neighbors heard and watched, not one called for help. This is called diffusion of responsibility or social loafing which pretty much means the more people in a group the lazier everyone gets thinking that someone else will do the right thing. This is just another example of emotion in Carol Tavris’s writing.
Women respond very well to tone and word choice, which Tannen uses to her advantage. She uses personal experience to relate with her more female audience. For example, in the criticism section she uses a scenario that occurred between a male and female editors. Tannen “appreciated her tentativeness” that she gave Tannen when wanting to cut out part of her story(301). In contrast to that her male editor gave her a much different response, saying “call me when you have something new to say”(301). By stating a scenario with two very different outcomes, she falls more bias to women. This is effective to her more female audience because it paints women in a positive light and paints the men in a very negative light. The obvious bias towards women can arguably hurt her more than it could help her. Tannen automatically outs her male audience at a very awkward side, and makes it impossible for them to feel sympathy towards her. This hurts Tannen’s opportunity for having a broad audience, but for what she wrote it for she is very effective. If we are simply talking about how effective it was for women then Tannen hit home with them. Tannen’s choice of using what men say is also very smart, and helps with her effectiveness. She heard a man say, that after working for two women he realized neither of them have a sense of humor(304). By using examples like these
Secret Survivors by Sue Blume is a paper uncovering the incest and it’s aftereffects in women. Throughout this paper, Blume makes some points that are very hypocritical and bias. She is a private therapist, social worker, and diplomat in social work, but she has never been a victim, and her opinions make for a worse argument.
... To make sure that rape and sexual assault survivors get the proper treatment they deserve, we need to first make for sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Preventative measures need to be taken. Educate the public on what rape is and why it cannot be tolerated. When rape or sexual assault does happen, the professionals dealing with it should have specific training so the victim feels comfortable and willing to report what has happened and seek medical attention. Most importantly, we need to stop letting rapists get off with lenient sentences, if they’re even convicted at all. What does this say about how we view women as a society? Our abuse is treated like a joke. Our abusers are sympathized with and we are demonized. Women are taught to be ashamed of the abuse – to hide it. Women are mocked and judged for being victims. This can no longer be tolerated.
Davis stated that racism draws strength from the ability to encourage sexual coercion. Black women, who were rape victims, receive little sympathy from law enforcement and judges. Not only because of racism that has grown over time against black men, but black women as well. Since black men were categorized as rapist, black women were suggested to be loose and promiscuous. Since black women were suggested to be whores and sexual immoral, their cries of rape went unheard because they lack legitimacy in a society that believed men were provoked to acted in a natural way. Davis believes that the creation of the black rapist was used as a scapegoat in order to veil the true problem of black women being sexually assaulted by white men. A historical feature of racism is that white men, especially those with money and authority, possess an indisputable right to access a Black woman’s body. Davis also stated that the institution of lynching complimented by the rape of Black women became and essential ingredient of postwar strategy of racism. Lynching and the labeling of black men being rapist and raping black women for being promiscuous, both black men and women were able to be kept in check. By following the mainstream population, people fell into the trap of blaming the victim. Unfortunately a consequence was that blacks has to endure the punishment of lynching and black women were blamed for being victims of sexual
It is not a topic that is brought up often, especially at schools or at gatherings, yet it is crucial that everyone be educated, or at least informed on a topic that affects women every day. “Given that sexual violence continues to occur at high rates in the United States, it is vital that we understand attitudes and cultural norms that serve to minimize or foster tolerance of sexual violence” (Aosved, 481). Growing rates of sexual violence goes to prove that it is not taken seriously by many, especially when myths excuse the actions of the perpetrator and instead guilt victims into thinking they are responsible for the horrible act. Burt (1980), in her article titled, “Cultural myths and support for rape” attempts to make sense of the importance of stereotypes and myths, defined as prejudicial, stereotypes, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists- in creating a climate hostile to rape victims (Burt, 217). Examples of rape myths are such sayings as “only bad girls get raped”; “women ask for it”; “women cry rape” (Burt, 217). This only goes to prove that rape myths against women always blame and make it seem like it is the women’s fault she was raped and that she deserved it for “acting” a certain way. McMahon (2007), in her article titled, “Understanding community-specific rape myths” explains how Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994) later described rape myths as “attitudes and beliefs that are generally
Overall discrimination is an awful thing. It is like a STD, it can be passed from parent to child, or someone can become infected if you don’t watch out. Discrimination is also like the plague. It sweeps over a large amount of people, infecting most, and most don’t survive. Though today much of the discrimination is gone, just like the plague, but it is still there. Unfortunately for some people, they have to deal with people discrimination from others. Whether it be discrimination of one’s race, age, disability, or gender. Discrimination has numerous damaging effects to someone’s life. In Of Mice and Men the unlucky victims of discrimination also suffer from the same effects. They allow for people to have control of them and walk all over them. Discrimination is like a fire... It hurts.
The typical reactions towards women who have experienced any type of sexual discrimination is victim shaming, which often causes women not to report their attacks, similar to the incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace, and thus, the companies may falsely believe that there is not a sexual harassment issue at their workplace. The physical and psychological effects of these incidents, such as the effects of rape, often leave employees unproductive in the workplace, however, others may generally attribute this to women being incompetent on the job, because of their belief of negative stereotypes of women’s abilities, thus, putting women’s jobs in even more jeopardy. This may make women even more susceptible to being sexually harassed, especially if they are living with post traumatic stress disorder from previous traumas, as they are more committed to securing their jobs, and are even more powerless during this fragile