Bari Weiss, NY Times staff editor and writer for the Opinion section, examines the recent scandal between Ansari and his so-called “victim”. The victim gave details about the incident to Katie Way, a reporter, who published another exposing article about her night with Ansari. Weiss uses everyday language and controversial thoughts to argue that it was in fact not the victims’ “Worst night of [her] life”, having many opportunities to escape the night if she felt uncomfortable. This article used a plethora of quotes from the victims’ statement, making it a very reputable source. Weiss is a thirty-three-year-old woman who agrees she has had her own fair share of bad experiences with men, making her an appropriate candidate to discuss the topic …show more content…
of this article. As well, much credit is given to this author is that The New York Times is such a well-known, reliable source. Weiss even incorporates pathos and logos into her article throughout. However, Weiss uses some sarcasm and at points too casual of language that perhaps may not be appropriate while addressing a serious and triggering topic for many. Weiss incorporates a myriad of examples to support her argument on how this woman could have exited the situation before things “got out of hand”. Ultimately, the author was successful in persuading her audience that this is a misinterpreted story, the current sexual culture is broken and needs adjustments, and women need to be more verbal so there are absolutely no grey lines. Her target audience includes anyone intrigued by this topic, young men and women who relate to this experience, and those who follow celebrity news closely.
The author’s opening statement to persuade her audience is a great quote to grab the reader’s attention, also allowing her to set her main argument right away. She mentions that the whole situation was a big misinterpretation, and by being exaggerated with celebrity sources, many other women may feel that they have been sexually abused or assaulted. Weiss states, “I’m apparently the victim of sexual assault. And if you’re a sexually active woman in the 21st century, chances are, that you are, too.” Here, she is trying to prove that the victim was guilty of not helping herself. With such a provocative statement, the audience may feel like Weiss is downplaying the issue at hand. However, she is connecting to the reader’s to instantly grab their attention to keep reading her article. After the woman and Mr. Ansari’s date, they headed back to his apartment. Shortly after, a few glasses of wine deep, the two hooked up. The victim claims Ansari “persistently tried to have penetrative sex with her” and to have been “deeply uncomfortable throughout”. The victim also claims to have “tried to voice her hesitations, but Mr. Ansari ignored her signals”. At times, Weiss discretely points fingers that it was the victim’s fault for not being verbally straightforward with Ansari. Weiss believes that this is just one example of feminists …show more content…
blowing up a story because Ansari is a celebrity. However, she also agrees that men are at times aggressive and can see how the victim may have felt misused. The strongest argument Weiss has made was the fact that this was a misinterpreted story. Her argument was that the “victim” could have saved herself from the night, that according to herself went extremely downhill. With the points she has made, she is basically inferring the fact that many women are too scared to voice their opinion, and if this is the case, they can’t complain about an event like this. She gives many examples of how the girl could have ended the night early. All of her points were very logical, which is why this part of her argument is hard to refute. Aside from Weiss concurring with the general reaction of social media and affirming that Ansari is a celebrity who “has no actual power over the woman”, much of this article is directly Weiss’s own opinions.
Causing her main arguments to be a little less effective, while also generating a very biased article. But, Weiss did remain straight to the point and on topic throughout. It is hard to speak for others, but when the young women and men are reading this article they may feel as though Weiss was successful in persuading her audience to feel the same as she does. Perhaps, with exception of extreme feminists, who are not willing to change their views on many situations dealing with these types of interactions. Weiss tries to connect further with the audience and help her persuasion by stating that she is a “proud feminist” and being a woman herself who also believes in women rights ‘you should too’. While everyone is right to have their own opinion, some readers may not be swayed by the points Weiss makes. Particularly stories like this, involving triggering topics. No matter how strong the writer poses their argument, individuals perceive things differently. Especially those who are pro-feminist rights and involved with feminist movements. The title of the article, “Aziz Ansari is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader.” is also very dismissive of the accusation. Creating a title like this may also have some individuals become more sensitive than others. Things that appear
obvious to some, may lose complete meaning to others. With this article and the way Weiss speaks of the situation, the way the reader reacts is all based on strictly their views and past experience. Those who are more sensitive will react triggered to this article and those who are less sensitive will act as such. Women and men who may have had a bad sexual experience in the past will, in turn, react very sensitively as well. On the other hand, those who have never been sexually mistreated or are not very intrigued by the topic will act more insensitive. Another sentence where Weiss is downplaying the situation is when she states, “…-they exchanged small talk and drank wine. “It was white,” she said. “I didn’t get to choose and I prefer red, but it was white wine.” Yes, we are apparently meant to read the nonconsensual wine choice as foreboding.” Here she is using sarcasm and is talking about the beginning of their night when they first arrived back at Mr. Ansari’s Tribeca apartment after dinner out. In this instance, I think Weiss is being too insensitive while slightly making fun of what happened. It seems like she is writing in a casual talking style here. Even as if she is not even thinking before what she is typing into her article. This example is definitely key to show Weiss downplaying the situation while using sophomoric writing styles that take away from her argument. Furthermore, the article’s concept was to continue the discussion about this incident. Events like this happen all the time, however, they usually don’t surface the media unless there are extreme circumstances or a celebrity is involved. Weiss’s target audience was a large group of people. Including men and women who still read the New York Times, celebrity affiliates and those interested in celebrity scandals, as well as young women in general, along with those who feel they may have been targeted or had a similar experience to the victim. The majority of the target audience would agree with the points Weiss has made. Although she makes a lot of statements about how the girl could have ended this night before anything happened, she addresses the counter-side of the story by discussing the broken sexual culture we have in society. This allows for her to be more successful in persuading her audience. By agreeing with this main point and discussing it, readers who were initially stubborn with her viewpoints may now agree to both arguments Weiss has mentioned. Weiss incorporates a mix of logos, pathos, and ethos to maintain her credibility and keep her audience connected. Earlier, I have said that her casual writing style and language has at times pulled away from her persuasion. But, her vulgar downplays and provocative statements quoted above also allow her to connect with some of the audience and keep their attention. This shows a mix of ethos and pathos. Ethos is shown throughout because she is trying to convince the audience of her argument. Generally, though, this article is mainly pathos based because of the sensitive nature and appeal to emotion that this topic brings. Weiss also is able to incorporate logos into her article because her arguments were all very logical and made sense to the audience. It was easy to see both sides of the story, but Weiss convinces that in this case, it was a misinterpreted event. Overall, using many different techniques and styles of writing Weiss produced a successful piece. The author was successful in persuading her audience that the current sexual culture in society is broken and needs adjustments, this was a misinterpreted story and women need to be more verbal with exactly what they want so there are absolutely no grey lines. Although, with sophomoric styles of writing at times, she merely lost her persuasion with some of the audience. All-inclusive, Weiss was successful in persuading those who are less sensitive to the topic.
hooks, bell. "Seduction and Betrayal." Writing as Re-Vision: A Student's Anthology. Ed. Beth Alvarado and Barbara Cully. Needham Heights: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1998. 108-111.
Sex Roles [serial on the Internet]. (2009, Mar), [cited March 16, 2014]; 60(5/6): 410-421. Available from: SocINDEX with Full Text. Sommers, Tamler. " The Two Faces Of Revenge: Moral Responsibility And The Culture Of Honor."
Women should not be forced to put up with any unwanted sexual advances from men. This is a major problem throughout the world yet it seems to fly under the radar. We need to make sure all women know it is okay to speak up about this and not feel ashamed for something that is not their fault. However, articles that reject these ideas such as "Women Can Dump Jerks Without Help of Lawyers", by Judy Jarvis make it difficult for women to feel comfortable enough to voice their problems. In her writing, Judy Garvis expresses her distaste of the concept of women who "play the victim". However, I actually do feel that women should no longer stay quiet on this topic and once and for all destroy this idea that women must suck it up and live in an environment
All feminists agree that rape is wrong but their ideas on exactly what could be referred to, as “rape” is actually quite different. Mackinnon and Dworkin are infamous for the phrase “all sex is rape.” Dworkin, America’s most famous radical feminist theorist, went through many years of abuse and rape (Whisnant, 2009). She actually wrote a book called “ Aftermath” in which she describes a horrific story of being drugged and rape by the waiter and bartender in Paris. In another book she wrote called “Intercourse,” she said that she assumed being conscious during rape was better. She felt as if even if no one believed her, at least she could actually remember what happened. In the episode, one of Zoe’s assailants told her that since she blacked out and doesn’t even remember what happened that everyone should be able to “move on”. Dworkin’s approach also helps understand that just because someone doesn’t fight the person off or is unable to consent to intercourse doesn’t mean that they wanted to do it. There have been instances where people haven been raped by their own husband or wife, rape is rape. Our culture tends to make the victims feel so guilty to the point where they are often reluctant to take action against their alleged perpetrators. Dworkin dealt with a lot of controversy on her rape stories because
hooks, b. Seduction and Betrayal. In B. Alvarado & B. Cully (Eds.), Writing As Re-vision: A Student's Anthology (pp. 108-111). Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing.
The novel Our Guys, written by Bernard Lefkowitz, is a very dynamic story about the heinous actions of a dozen middle-class athletes, from a small New York suburb, against a defenseless mentally handicapped girl. Lefkowitz describes a brutal gang rape involving a baseball bat and broomhandle, which took place in this unsuspecting town, by these upstanding young group of boys, as the town would describe them. Lefkowitz looks at the incident which took place and then examines the “jock clique” sub-culture that allowed such atrocities to happen, and spawned the scandal to cover it up.
In an article written by John Alan Fox, Fox makes the broad claim that sexual assault is in an era of, “...Hype and hysteria--far out of proportion with the actual risk…” and “The often - repeated yet exaggerated claim that one in five college females are sexually assaulted during their undergraduate years…” (Fox, para 1&2 ). The claims of sexual assault have become more constant in the past years, yes the claims are repeated, but in no way are most claims of sexual assault “exaggerated”. It truthfully takes the victim a while to even talk to a friend about their assault let alone report it, “When students nationwide were asked why they did not report incidents of sexual misconduct...because they were ‘embarrassed, ashamed or that it would be too emotionally difficult’...” (Campus Sexual Assault Survey Details Prevalence at UT Austin and 26 Other US Universities, para 16). The claim of the “one in five college females” is an often repeated claim that many see in sexual assault campaigns and is most common among college women, but, “Sexual violence happens to people of all ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, religions, abilities, professions, incomes and ethnicities” (Info and Stats on Sexual Assault, pg 9). In fact, “The rates of sexual assault and misconduct are highest among undergraduate women and transgender, gender queer
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
On the article “On a Date Rape” by Camille Paglia, creates a controversy discussion about how women have reached freedom throughout the years and blames young feminist for being “over privileged”. Her belief is that women in general misuse the social freedom she so virtuously fought for. She also mentioned that her generation was aware of the risk that they were taking, while today’s generation does not. However, she blames any young lady who finds herself into a perilous situation for the tragedy that follows; moreover, Paglia’s article is unreliable due to the abuse of several fallacies such as hasty generalization, false analogy, false cause, poising well, false dilemma, slippery slope, as well as straw men.
He is able to capture the realness of the time and setting through his words, and write for a purpose. As a result, it can be said that he uses this work of historical fiction less as a theatrical stage and more as a platform to introduce the audience to the inhumaneness of Afghanistan. He not only incorporates the Taliban’s grueling “beard lookout men,” who patrol the roads in their fancy Toyota trucks in hopes of finding “a smooth-shaven face to bloody,” but he also displays the horrific and bloodcurdling abuse of women that exists at the hands’ of men and the feelings of great despair and pain that these women face as a result. Living in a state of unbearable fear of the next beating, the next detonating bomb, and the next brutal attempt of the Taliban, the lives of these characters feel almost too real to not be true. Resultantly, the reader is left to wonder whether or not this added literary dimension of realness is actually an introspective study of individuals that Hosseini has long
The article begins with an introductory statement: “Qandeel Baloch was failed by Pakistan society at every step. The same nation that topped Google searches for pornography strangles women like her to death” (1). Aqueel engages the audience in the text by incorporating a direct attack at hypocrites, foreshadowed by the title of the article. Aqueel speaks
In the Huffington Post opinion piece titled “Larry Nassar Was A Master Manipulator, But He Didn’t Act Alone,” author Lauren Hopkins describes the horrors of sexual abuser Larry Nassar, a former doctor for the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics team, and draws attention to his use of manipulation to create personal relationships and in turn build credibility in the community. Hopkins opens with her personal experience with Nassar, in which she explains how she felt “honored” that he confided in her with inside information (par 1). “I never wondered why he “chose” me to be his gossip buddy, but I loved all of the inside intel he gave me” (par. 3). Although she wasn’t a victim of his sexual abuse, she analyzes his charming behavior to show that he was manipulating
Carol Hay argues that victims of harassment have obligations to confront perpetrators. She accentuates that this is necessary to not only preserve and protect the autonomy and moral agency of the victim herself but also those of others. She posits that when one negates to confront perpetrators they cause harm to women as a whole. In this essay I will argue that Hay’s argument
...re was a new newsletter detailing a nighttime attack on campus every 2 months. They’d have a police sketch, campus escort numbers, everything. Nobody’s going to pick up a paper and read “Jenny Eldman was Raped by Bobby Porter Last Night Even Though He Said He Just Wanted to Hang Out and Study For the English Mid-Term” It’s because these crimes are so very personal they go unmentioned, despite their obvious frequency. Just as “the personal is political,” rape is not a private issue, but a public one. Acquaintance rape cannot be considered solely a "personal" issue involving a particular man and a particular woman. It is a problem that concerns all men and all women because it deals with the basic issue of the ways in which men and women relate to each other. There is a need for rape prevention programs in colleges and universities not only to help women protect themselves but to help men understand the issue of rape. Denial is an easy solution for both the victims and perpetrators of this “hidden” crime. Hopefully as the facts about aqauintance rape come to the surface, people will get the information they need to re-shape their ideas. Isn’t that what college is for?
One of the main things that I learned and impacted me from many of our discussions was when you would keep reiterating the fact that those who commit these sex crime do so partially in order to show their dominance but what I never thought about was the fact they showed their dominance with the act of sex. Probably the entire semester this was something that I just could not wrap my head around. I definitely do believe that sexual assault has very little to do with attraction, desire, or sexual power. I think that the need for a man to maintain power and control are the compelling factors under which many sexual assaults do occur. Those who commit sexual assault do so out of the need to dominate, exploit, and degrade their victims. This was made very clear in the Telling and One Hour in Paris, with how both women were violated. In both stories, the men that sexually assaulted both women made it clear to their victims that they were in control of the entire situation and the women felt powerless, both women were told that if they told or screamed that they would be killed. The women were also even humiliated, for example in One Hour in Paris; she was forced to perform oral sex on Ronald even though he knew she was gaging the entire he made her do it multiple times just to prove to her that he can do what he wants to her and there was nothing she could have done about it at the time. Doing this makes her feel humiliated and helpless because she was unable fight against her attacker. Professor, I do agree with you when you said, there is something about the sex aspect of it, which persuades more may people to show