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The belief that one sex, male or female, is treated better than the other is a controversial topic. In most cases it is believed that boys have the upper hand in this war against the sexes. “The War Against Boys”, an article by Christina Sommers takes a closer look into the origin of this belief. In the article, Sommers argues against those who believe that boys are dealt with at better hand than girls and explains why in several ways. Christian Sommers effectively uses ethos, pathos, and logos to build the credibility of the article, win the audience over, and to build her argument. Sommers, effectively, uses ethos in the article “The War Against Boys” in several ways to build the articles credibility. The article gains some credibility because
the author has previously written a popular ethics text book and is a well-known cultural critic. Another way the author builds credibility using ethos is by appearing unbiased. Summers does this by incorporating different opinions in her article. She quotes Carol Gilligan as one of the major opposing viewpoints in the article. Gilligan is quoted saying “as the river of a girl’s life flows into the sea of Western culture, she is in danger of drowning or disappearing” (Sommers 298). The author later discredits Gilligan’s opinion by quoting her later confessing that her research was inaccurate. Sommers uses Gilligan to present a different view point and then shoots down that view point with Gilligan’s confession. This not only adds credibility to the authors opinion it also causes the reader to become skeptical of any other research opposing it. Sommers also uses pathos adequately in her article to convince the audience, by moving them emotionally, that her beliefs are accurate. The author includes a study that shows the number of suicides committed by female’s verses that of males. The study shows that in 1997 seven hundred one females committed suicide verses a staggering three thousand seven hundred and eighty-two males. This study causes the reader to sympathies with males by showing that more males than females find life difficult enough to end it. The author appeals to the emotions of the reader again when she says “the widening gender gap in academic achievement is real . . . programs designed to aid them have a very low priority” (303). This quote appeals to emotion because it states that boys are behind academically and little is being done to help them. The author uses pathos to sway the reader’s emotions. Lastly, Sommers compelling use of logos throughout the article helps to develop her argument. Sommers discredits research that indicates “male privilege” by saying “almost none of it has been published in peer-reviewed professional journals” (296). She backs up this belief with research from 1997 that states “full time enrollments were 45 percent male and 55 percent female” (Sommers 296). Including this research in the article builds Sommers argument because it shows that males, not females, are on the weak end of the educational gender gap. Girls come out on top again when looking at the MetLife study mentioned in the article. The study concludes that “more boys (31 percent) than girls (19 percent) feel that teachers do not listen to what they have to say”. Sommers includes this study to show, again, that girls prevail over boys when it comes to educational advantages. Christian Sommers use of ethos, pathos, and logos in her article “The War Against Boys” is effective at building the credibility of the article, winning the audience over, and to building her argument. A rising topic is believing one sex gets treated differently than the other. Sommers explains her argument as to who suspects that boys are dealt with at better hand than girls The author uses ethos in the article to build integrity. She also uses pathos in the article to move the readers with an emotional appeal. As a result, she develops her article with her use of logos.
The War Against Boys is the story of our cultural attack on the modern male. Twenty-first century men are looked down-upon, laughed at, and many times emasculated in our day-to-day lives. In her book, Christina Hoff Sommers does an excellent job reminding us that men are responsible for a lot of good in the world: “This book tells the story of how it has become fashionable to attribute pathology to millions of healthy male children. It is a story of how we are turning against boys and forgetting a simple truth: that the energy, competitiveness, and corporal daring of normal, decent males is responsible for much of what is right in the word.” Our culture has promoted a skewed view; most people believe that women are treated unfairly, that
As I grew out of the the Veggie Tales phase, the idea of standing up for what I believed in became more relevant. Throughout primary school, I unquestioningly did what most girls did, and followed the status quo. However, upon entering middle school, I started to notice a stark juxtaposition between the behaviors of the boys and the girls in my class. Now, after years of observing overt stereotypes and prejudice, I have learned not only to question the patriarchy, but to stand up to it, as I believe that sexism is a crucial problem we face in today’s world.
I chose this word because the tone of the first chapter seems rather dark. We hear stories of the hopes with which the Puritans arrived in the new world; however, these hopes quickly turned dark because the Purtains found that the first buildings they needed to create were a prison, which alludes to the sins they committed; and a cemetery, which contradicts the new life they hoped to create for themselves.
Gerry Garibaldi, a high school teacher and Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology both explain how the consequences of the feminism movement are harming boys in school and later in life. Kimmel and Garibaldi present their views on the gender education problems in their articles “How The Schools Shortchange Boys” and “A War Against Boys”. Both make passionate arguments and prove that boys are at a disadvantage in modern feminized classrooms. Kimmel’s arguments about the problems boys face in the American educational system are more convincing than Garibaldi’s, because his style of argumentation is more objective, supported by more statistics, and provides unbiased restatement of opposing views.
Gender role conflicts constantly place a role in our everyday life. For many years we have been living in a society where depending on our sexuality, we are judged and expected to behave and act certain way to fulfill the society’s gender stereotypes. The day we are born we are labeled as either a girl or boy and society identifies kids by what color they wear, pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Frequently, we heard the nurses in the Maternity facility saying things like, “Oh is a strong boy or is beautiful fragile princess.” Yet, not only in hospitals we heard this types of comments but we also see it on the media…
Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how despite popular belief, gender and sex are not directly related and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor‘s main argument is that gender is not determined by genitalia, but instead by the individual's own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel’s main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity in order to prevent themselves from appearing weak. Both authors present compelling arguments for both gender equality and for how social norms influence individuals’ gender choice. However, the two authors approach the same topic in different ways. Kimmel takes a more laid-back approach to the topic by using simple words and a conversational tone that relates to the casual gender sociologist. Devor writes a more sophisticated essay using complex terms and a more formal tone that relates to the serious sociologist that research gender studies.
Ethos is an appeal to incredibility or character. Hillary Clinton used ethos after she used logos in order to gain the audience’s trust with her 25 years of experience on issues relates to women, children, family. In order to prove it, she said “I have met new mother in Indonesia,... I have met women in South Africa who helped lead the struggle to end apartheid and are now helping to build a new democracy.” By mentioning the women who she has helped, she intentionally proved that she have a lot of experience to make the audience as well as women who are living China to believe that she can help them. Importantly, she has the ability to guide them in this fight. She was also building up their courage when she said: “As an American I want to speak up for those women in my own country.” This quote indicated that American also involved in this war. Therefore, American will help them. In my opinion, Hillary Clinton has successfully used this element in an effective and influence way to convince the audience. Moreover, she helped them to overcome their
Gender inequality has been a major issue for many centuries now. Societies insist in assigning males and females to different roles in life. The traditional stereotypes and norms for how a male and female should present themselves to the world have not changed much over time. But individuals are more than just their gender and should have the right to act and be treated the way they want. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
In Hanna Rosin’s article, ‘‘the end of men”, the author begins by stating that women are taking over today’s society, while the position of men have become a thought of the past. The author recognizes the negativity of having girls as firstborns. In the article, the author states, “Many wives who failed to produce male heirs were abused and treated as domestic servants; while some families prayed to spirits to kill off girl children” (Rosin). In this article, the author gives light to how the preference of having males has decimated from the minds of people and how it has been erased from society. And, goes as far as insinuating that women have overtaken the place of men in today’s society and are seen as equal. However, I disagree because I believe that men just want to keep women down and it is demonstrated through discrimination at the workplace, depriving education, and violence towards women.
In David Sheff’s book “Beautiful Boy” he utilizes descriptive diction, allusions to other works, and vivid imagery to recreate the experiences he’s gone through during his son’s addiction, times in recovery, and relapses.
There is so much controversy in the society that we live in, it has resulted in an absolute mess. Certain topics as in gender or men and women’s bodies, is so controversial to the point that it has caused a misrepresentation of both men and women. Both Jean Kilbourne and Allan G. Johnson form their own opinions in their articles “Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt” and “Why Do We Make So Much of Gender” that comment on society as a whole, while expanding on the concept of why gender is so important for a fully functioning society. Although, both Kilbourne and Johnson have differentiating opinions to gender, they both come to the conclusion that gender is a key factor to explain our society and the social change in it. We live in a society where
In the Washington post the essay “Why Schools Are Failing Our Boys” relates to the study of the “boy problem” Fink’s concern is that boys have a harder time in school causing them to drop out or not to go on to college. I agree with Fink’s concern because of the mistreatment of genders and the pressure put on students as a whole. Based on class readings it has been illustrated that throughout history boys felt as though school made them feel less masculine. From what I have personally seen in school, boys are constantly being told to “man up”. I feel as though boys are expected to act a certain way and all students are expected to conform to a certain type of learning. Fink’s truthful experience through her son is an accurate model on how
For thousands of years, gender stereotyping has been a common characteristic of the different human civilizations. In fact, before the appearance of the Women Rights Movement in the middle of the 19th century, physical and biological divergences between men and women were considered as the main points affecting and controlling the role and the life style of each of them. In her essay entitled “The War against Boys”, Christina Hoff Sommers, the former philosophy professor, by analyzing the boys’ bad performance at school proved that gender stereotyping, in some circumstances, can be very harmful because it leads to a sequence of dangerous results. Even if America is one of the few countries establishing strict laws heading to a gender equity,
When we are born our sex determines how we will be treated and what we will achieve in our lifetime. Men and women in society are very different, women are seen as the minority and submissive to men in some cultures while men are viewed as the dominant force and the superior sex (Henslin, 2015, p.292). The way we view peoples sex can determine how they will be treated, how much they will prosper in life and even how society
The gender issues in today’s society are issues to discuss because they are tainting the lives of people from an early age. This is important because girls and boys are showing increasing levels of insecurities that are arising due to fundamental gender issues in society. The masculine stereotype is one the most prevailing causes of gender issues in society, especially the issue of sexism. Our society must address this issue because the cycle of sexism only feeds into peoples’ insecurities. Men should not feel obligated to objectify women to feel masculine and women should not feel like they must be sensual and beautiful to have value. The stereotypes that are being placed on men and young boys effect the attitudes of the women around them and creates a cycle of hypersexualization and sexism, leaving the relationships between genders tainted and women feeling less confident in themselves. By changing the way people think men and women are supposed to be, we can change the way our society values one another and in turn, become a more equal and respectful society.