September Pundit 1
Jennifer Senior
"What We're Not Talking About When We Talk About Joe Biden"
Published April 2, 2019
Article
Jennifer Senior's article "What We're Not Talking About When We Talk About Joe Biden" discusses the broader epidemic of male superiority beyond the Me Too movement. She begins with introducing the controversy around Joe Biden's inappropriate/unwanted touching of multiple women and soon segues into her broader purpose of informing the reader of her connections with the Me Too movement. While a few of Senior's friends are sexual assault victims, the majority of them, Senior included, have had a less traumatic but more widespread experience with male superiority. Not being taken seriously in the workplace and being treated dismissively by male colleagues is something many working women can relate to.
Senior uses ethos from experience gained as a working woman to get through to other women who go through these experiences with sexism every day. These experiences manifest themselves in things like a male coworker being given credit for a female coworker's ideas, a woman's ambition being deemed "pushy," and so on. Senior contends that these smaller forms of sexism aren't being talked about in the wake of the Me Too movement, which focuses on sexual assault, and that they should be incorporated into the emerging discussion of sexism in today's world.
"What We're Not Talking About When We Talk About Joe Biden"
Published April 2, 2019
Article
Jennifer Senior's article "What We're Not Talking About When We Talk About Joe Biden" discusses the broader epidemic of male superiority beyond the Me Too movement. She begins with introducing the controversy around Joe Biden's inappropriate/unwanted touching of multiple women and soon segues into her broader purpose of informing the reader of her connections with the Me Too movement. While a few of Senior's friends are sexual assault victims, the majority of them, Senior included, have had a less traumatic but more widespread experience with male superiority. Not being taken seriously in the workplace and being treated dismissively by male colleagues is something many working women can relate to.
Senior uses ethos from experience gained as a working woman to get through to other women who go through these experiences with sexism every day. These experiences manifest themselves in things like a male coworker being given credit for a female coworker's ideas, a woman's ambition being deemed "pushy," and so on. Senior contends that these smaller forms of sexism aren't being talked about in the wake of the Me Too movement, which focuses on sexual assault, and that they should be incorporated into the emerging discussion of sexism in today's world.
Comments were closed for the article.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your drawing of attention to the lesser recognized aspects of the Me Too movement. The movement isn't just about sexual assault- it's about living in a male dominated world where women, especially in the workplace, are often treated as less-than. Of course, sexual assault and rape are far worse acts than things like mansplaining and treating a female coworker dismissively, but these less major acts need more representation in the nation-wide conversation about sexism today.
After reading the article, I see how Senior is able to establish both ethos and pathos by highlighting her personal experiences with sexism in the workplace. By her experiencing such things, she gains credibility when discussing the issue. The readers also come to sympathize with her situation, since sexism is something no one should have to face. However, by the last paragraph, Senior starts to lose evidence to support an extremely bold claim. She states that "[m]aybe [her] younger peers have been fortunate enough to see most of these behaviors melt away. But [she] suspect[s] they haven’t." She does not follow this claim with any fact, anecdote, or anything for that matter. Since there is no supporting evidence, the claim is ineffective.
ReplyDelete