Rhetorical Analysis #2

Mark Wild

Rhetorical Analysis #2

Title: “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence

Author: Jean KilBourne

Topic: How marketing techniques in advertising portrays  common themes and roles in gender, ultimately shaping men and women into set roles. Woman are sexualized, abused and even submissive to the hands of a powerful man,  who is commonly portrayed as powerful,  wealthy  and detached entirely from emotion and instead replaced by ego and physique.

Exigence: The fear is that long term exposure to such advertising could leak into how we perceive gender in our society, reinforcing a specific role we should abide by, and in turn hindering our true expression of character and inhibiting us from breaching the norms for fear of being misunderstood.

Intended audience: Young people, but just about anyone who is influenced by mass media.

Purpose: To eventually redefine how we advertise, make it less sexist and bias toward gender.

Writer’s strategy 1: pathos

Writers strategy 2: claims/ evidence

Writers strategy 3: cause and effect/ redefining gender roles

Response: Jean Kilbourne shows the stark contrast between gender roles in advertising, providing an abundance of examples, she shines light on the depiction of roles men and women play in everyday advertising. Everything from alcoholic beverages,  watches, to designer underwear, Kilbourne has forced to reader to look onto and examine the subliminal messages interwoven in  advertising. Behind the veil there lies a disconnect to reality, where women are more sexualized, immortalized and men conquer with power and wealth.  The fear is that long term exposure could leak into how we perceive gender in our society, reinforcing a specific role we should abide by, and in turn hindering our true expression of character and inhibiting us from breaching the norms for fear of being misunderstood.