REVISION The Analysis of “Dude You’re a Fag: Adolescent Homophobia” In the article “Dude You’re a Fag: Adolescent Homophobia” the author uses pathos and logos to convey the audience the main point of her article. Rhetorical modes such as exemplification and description are used. C.J. Pascoe is trying to argue that the word “fag” or “faggot is not mainly used as a homophobic slur within high school boys, but more commonly used to describe unmasculinity. Pascoe is inferring that the word “fag” is used a lot to describe feminine qualities within highschool boys. The way she developed the main point was very simple to understand. The author use examples, scenarios, and the answers of male high school students to contribute to the main point. Including examples, scenarios, and real answers from high school students strengthened her position. When Pascoe says, “ But becoming a fag is as much to do with failing at the masculine tasks of competence, heterosexual prowess, and strength or in any way revealing weakness or femininity as it does with a sexual identity”( Pascoe 210) , she is showing her viewpoint of the subject. She then later gives the example of the “Eminem Exception”. Eminem is a famous white rapper who uses the word “faggot” in his music. He claims that he uses …show more content…
the word to describe unmasculinity not the sexual orientation, which is the way high school boys think of using the word. (Pascoe 214) Pascoe also shows a scenario that shows how two boys acted when they had to dance as part of the class assignment: Instead of following Mr.McNally’s movements like the rest of the class, one pair of white sophomores, Liam and Jacob, barely touched. Jacob stood in the back of Liam , and , instead of holding Liam’s wrist with their full arms touching as the other students did, picked up Liam’s wrists with two fingers as if picking up something repulsive and flung Liam’s hand to its destination (Pascoe 218-219) This just shows how boy typically act to avoid being labeled a “ fag” and according to what Pascoe has researched , there are many things that can cause a person to be labeled as a fag and dancing is one of those things. Along with dancing, the type of clothes a guy wears and how vital hygiene is to a guy,will determine whether they are a fag or not. Then she provides an explanation with the answer of a student named Nil. He said, “ Most guys wear loose-fitted clothing, just kind of baggy. They [fags] wear more tight clothes. More fashionable, I guess.”(Pascoe 217) Next she gives the example of the guys working at the auto shop and not changing or showering to go to class. They showed that not worrying about hygiene was manly and unfaglike which is what Pascoe was trying to point out about what is considered a fag. Pascoe also argues that the words “gay” and “fag are used differently. That a guy can have same sex relations and still do masculine things and be manly. In other words they can be gay but not a fag. Once a gay guy starts acting feminine and unmasculine then they become a fag. She uses the answer of David to prove her point. David says “Being gay is just a lifestyle. It’s someone you choose to sleep with. You can still throw around a football and be gay.”(Pascoe 214) One thing that weakened the position of the author was that she studied the boys at River High and River High only. If she would have gone to other high schools , she might have had different opinions and results. Let’s say she went to a private Christian school where the word “fag” was rarely used and the students had a religious viewpoint. The whole argument would’ve changed. Not all high schools are going to be like River High In the beginning of her article the author use Pathos to introduce the reader to what the main point of it was. For such a delicate subject Pascoe effectively managed to ease the reader into her argument. She started off by commenting and describing the annual Creative and Performing Arts Happening event at River High. Then a situation occurs that went to the direction of her argument: Running through the rear quad, Brian, a senior yelled to a group of boys visiting from the elementary schools, “There’s a faggot over there!
There’s a faggot over there! Come look!” Following Brian, the ten-year-olds dashed down the hallway. At the end the end of the hallway Brian’s friend Dan pursed his lips and began sashaying toward the little boys. As he minced , he swung his hips exaggeratedly and wildy waved his arms. To the boys Brian yelled, “Look at the faggot! Watch out! He’ll get you!” In response, the ten-year-olds raced back down the hallway screaming in terror. Brian and Dan repeated this drama throughout the following half hour, each time with a new group of young boys.(Pascoe
208) The author also uses Ethos to back up the argument. Along with Ethos, rhetorical modes such as exemplification are used to back it up as well. Professor Pascoe being sociologist where the center of her work involves the field around the argument he is making (Pascoe 208) gives her credibility of what she has studied, observed, and concluded. Asking male students at river high school from different grades and races on the subject of the word “fag” also helped with credibility. It showed the different viewpoints of the subject from people in high school which where the word is mostly used. For example one of the students that was questioned was a white senior and he basically said all guys were homophobic. (Pascoe 211) Then Pascoe went on to saying that there was an exception to that according to the next answer she gets from another white senior named Jake. Jake at first said he didn’t like gay people but that didn’t include lesbians. (Pascoe 211) from these answers she shows the reader that there was more to the use of the word “fag”: [A]dolescent boys in general dislike gay men more than they dislike lesbians(Baker and Fishbein 1998). The fetishizing of sex acts between women indicates that using only the term homophobia t describe boys’ repeaed use of the word fag might be a bit simplistic and misleading. C.J. Pascoe effectively gets the main points of her argument across with strategies. This includes Pathos and Ethos which was efficient and made the reading easy for the audience to understand. She mainly used examples, explanations and the scenarios at River High as evidence to successfully prove the slur “fag” was used not against homosexuality but more to describe acting unmanly or weak.
The teenage years are especially important in the establishment of social and cultural core principles that provide the base for further growth in the future. Sociologist C.J. Pascoe links her personal experience with scholarly research in her ethnography titled, Dude, You’re A Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Pascoe’s year and a half study at a Northern California School known as River High School sheds light on how bullying, power, and sexual innuendos are all components in the makeup of social life in Americas public schools. Her analysis of these components through observational data research is centered around the subject of the challenges associated with masculinity as well as sexual inequality, and the refinement of gender
The Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of several civil rights activists who were arrested in Birmingham Alabama, after protesting against racial injustices in Alabama. Dr. King wrote this letter in response to a statement titled A Call for Unity, which was published on Good Friday by eight of his fellow clergymen from Alabama. Dr. King uses his letter to eloquently refute the article. In the letter dr. king uses many vivid logos, ethos, and pathos to get his point across. Dr. King writes things in his letter that if any other person even dared to write the people would consider them crazy.
Although language manipulation can be broken into countless categories and sub-categories, diction is arguably the common denominator. When one conducts an analysis of another’s words, it is both logical and necessary for one to address the author’s word choice. Vàzquez’s essay is full of strategically placed adjectives and transitions to pull the reader to her message. She refers to society’s gender roles as being a “straitjacket” that “suffocates” (p. 493, 3rd paragraph). Both of the words “straitjacket” and “suffocates” not only embody the frustration felt by homosexuals, but also suggest that society is bound by its own unreasonable expectations. The author’s metaphorical suffocating straightjacket serves as a signal to the reader that society’s treatment of gender roles is in dire need of reform.
The author uses pathos and logos several times in this writing. Pathos is in use when the author says, “Attempts to add sexual orientation to the federal statute began shortly after the brutal murder of young Matthew Sheppard in Wyoming, apparently because of his homosexuality.” He uses logos when he says, “ the yearly number of hate-crimes charges brought by the Justice Department dropped from seventy-six in 1996 to twenty-two ten years later.
‘Dude, You’re a Fag’: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse - C. J. Pascoe 2005
“Run for your heterosexual lives!” Homosexuality, a topic that gains misperception, and alienates people in a world of easily made stereotypes. In the TED talk entitled “The Myth of The Gay Agenda” presented by LZ Granderson. , the speaker’s presentation is mostly expressed most successfully with pathos while also using ethos and logos concerning the topic of proving to dispel the myth that there is a gay agenda. The title alone “The Myth of the Gay Agenda” invites the audience to think, to feel, to question; quite possibly some may even take a position before the lecture begins. Some may even argue that the driving force in this lecture are the points made through logos, however, even though these points carry much weight, it is the the pathos that grabs the listener and then keeps them engaged throughout the talk, that wins over the audience. Logos would most certainly fall on deaf ears if not for the
The article I have chosen for my rhetorical analysis is #Gamergate Trolls Aren’t Ethics Crusaders; They’re a hate group because it seemed interesting. The reason I was drawn to this article was because of the title, I was interested to know what it meant. This article, written by Jennifer Allaway, is about gamergate, an online gaming community, and the hate they show towards others. Jennifer does research on sexism in videogames and how it correlates to the gamers that play these games. She was collecting data from different organizations by using a questionnaire that gathered information on diversity in the videogame community. When some gamergate members
Pollan’s article provides a solid base to the conversation, defining what to do in order to eat healthy. Holding this concept of eating healthy, Joe Pinsker in “Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods” enters into the conversation and questions the connection of difference in families’ income and how healthy children eat (129-132). He argues that how much families earn largely affect how healthy children eat — income is one of the most important factors preventing people from eating healthy (129-132). In his article, Pinsker utilizes a study done by Caitlin Daniel to illustrate that level of income does affect children’s diet (130). In Daniel’s research, among 75 Boston-area parents, those rich families value children’s healthy diet more than food wasted when children refused to accept those healthier but
In a quote by John Mill, “Does fining a criminal show want of respect for property, or imprisoning him, for personal freedom? Just as unreasonable is it to think that to take the life of a man who has taken that of another is to show want of regard for human life. We show, on the contrary, most emphatically our regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he who violates that right in another forfeits it for himself, and that while no other crime that he can commit deprives him of his right to live, this shall.” Everyone’s life is precious, but at what price? Is it okay to let a murderer to do as they please? Reader, please take a moment and reflect on this issue. The issue will always be a conflict of beliefs and moral standards. The topic
The movie trailer “Rio 2”, shows a great deal of pathos, ethos, and logos. These rhetorical appeals are hidden throughout the movie trailer; however, they can be recognized if paying attention to the details and montage of the video. I am attracted to this type of movies due to the positive life messages and the innocent, but funny personifications from the characters; therefore, the following rhetorical analysis will give a brief explanation of the scenes, point out the characteristics of persuasive appeals and how people can be easily persuaded by using this technique, and my own interpretation of the message presented in the trailer.
"most students are already rhetorically savvy but unaware of their critical processes..." Author Jane Fife puts the three rhetorical analysis pieces to work, ethos pathos and logos, in an attempt to teach rhetorical analysis in a classroom. Fife uses a collaboration of all three types of rhetorical analysis. While the author does make good use of the first two pieces of rhetorical analysis, Pathos, and Logos, Fife strays away from the use of Ethos in her article. Fife applies the rhetorical appeals of Pathos and Logos to teach rhetoric to her class and the reader. However, her use of examples in a classroom backed up with little evidence to prove her authority surrounding the subject causes her readers to doubt her claim that Facebook and
Jonathan Kozol revealed the early period’s situation of education in American schools in his article Savage Inequalities. It seems like during that period, the inequality existed everywhere and no one had the ability to change it; however, Kozol tried his best to turn around this situation and keep track of all he saw. In the article, he used rhetorical strategies effectively to describe what he saw in that situation, such as pathos, logos and ethos.
Along with ethos and small touch of logos, the author Roxane Gay uses a strength appeal of pathos to persuade her audience onto her argument. “White people will never know the dangers of being black in America, systemic, unequal opportunity, racial profiling, and the constant threat of police violence. Men will never know the dangers of being a woman in America, harassment, sexual violence, legislated bodies. Heterosexuals will never know what it means to experience homophobia.” (Gay). In this paragraph, the author is identify the inequality between racial barriers, genders and sexual orientation which an emotionally involved topic to bring up. How people are treated differently how the way they look, where they come from. Woman would
Anti-smoking and anti-tobacco commercials are acknowledged more in today’s society. Their main goal is to notify the audience about the negative effects of smoking. These commercials can have a huge impact on the tobacco companies. In order to defend their products, the companies hire lobbyists that aim to retain their manufactured goods. In the film, “Thank You for Smoking”, written and directed by Jason Reitman, Aaron Eckhart performed as a lobbyist (Nick Naylor) for the tobacco industry. Throughout the film, Nick Naylor, the main character, supports smoking cigarettes. He uses rhetorical appeals to defend the undefended and
Gay, Faggot, Dyke, and Butch are a few examples of gay slurs that society has used in negative light. “’Man, that’s gay’ gets dropped on the daily/we become so numb to what we’re saying/call each other faggots…/gay is synonymous with the lesser” (Macklemore Ln 35-36, 39). These lyrics identify how we as a society make the idea of being gay a bad thing. When he says that gay is synonymous with the lesser, he is saying that society thinks that because you are gay, you are lesser than everyone else. It’s the same idea that woman and black people have gone through in history. Black people were believed not to have a choice because they were below white men and the same idea went for woman as well until people fought for their rights. He wants us to realize that this war for gay rights has already happened in different forms: “It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from religion/gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment” (Macklemore Ln 40-41). He also adds imagery to this statement by showing images from the past of a black and white woman running at the beach and laughing together and the American flag flowing. The image of the flag is shown because it is supposed to represent freedom but for a homosexual person, it restricts them from being who they