Rhetorical Masquerade

It may seem odd, in a news piece about feminism, bra burning, Miss America, and other hot topics (sorry, no pun intended) to do a textual analysis, rather than focus on the obviously fascinating combination of historical and contemporary context of the piece. I’ve found, however, that the rhetorical twists and turns of this piece are simply to interesting to ignore.

Specifically, the last paragraph of the text provides a mind-blowing moment. It is there that Kantrowitz surprises the audience with what Seltzer would call an “argument by example”(Seltzer 288). Her rhetoric is powerful yet gentle, with the occasional unexpected twist.

However, before appreciating the curious ending, we need to understand the set-up.The piece is, overall, deliberative rhetoric. The author is asking the audience to make a decision about the possible progress and success of the feminist movement since the late 1960s. However, there are clear epideictic elements: the piece opens with a short narrative about what really happened at the fabled bra-burning protest, and from that point on reads a bit like an article one might find in the Reminisce magazine lying around an elderly relative's house – a somewhat nostalgic remembrance of an important historical event. The article continues under the facade of epideictic rhetoric for some time, as the author established ethos and pathos.

The emotional appeal, or pathos, is set up in the first paragraph. The scene is described in a way that will probably cause the reader to remember how he or she felt about the event, if it is remembered, or to give the younger audience a clear picture of what went on. Yet, Kantrowitz tempers the descriptions – perhaps for the sake of reality, or perhaps to moderate the feelings of her more passionate readers. She assures them that, actually, no bras were burned. In reality, this wasn’t a particularly large or violent demonstration. In this way she begins setting up her ethos, or reliability as an author as well. She presents a clear, factual, and fairly dispassionate report of the events surrounding the protest and the Miss America 1970 pageant, while acknowledging their formidable historical significance. She does not hint rhetorically whether or not she has a personal stake in feminism. The only clue of the change to come is a short quote from Miss America 1970, Judith Ford, who says that she does not remember the pivotal moment in which the "Women's Lib" sheet was released at her crowning. The astute reader should wonder why, of all the famous people involved in this event to quote, Kantrowitz chooses Ford - especially as she doesn't say anything particularly inflammatory.

The logos of this article, as developed by Kantrowiz, does not become immediately clear. According to Killingsworth’s “Appeals in Modern Rhetoric,” logos involves “…referneces to the world shared by the author and audience” (Killingsworth 26). For quite awhile, while this article masquerades as an epideictic remembrance, she does not appear to ask the audience to do anything besides listen. Then, in the second to last paragraph, Kantrowitz brings the reader into the present, pointing out the issues that permeate our current news and are still a struggle for the current feminist movement: abortion rights, GLBT rights, and rigid beauty standards. In this move, she raises the question of what progress, exactly, has been made.

Then comes the bomb.

In her final paragraph, Kantrowitz gives her audience the surprising answer as to why she quoted Judith Ford earlier. Ford was not exactly the anti-feminist ideal woman that the protesters thought. Kantrowitz shares that Ford, a child of the Title IX era (sorry, momentary contextual slip), was the first woman to win a varsity letter (on a men's team, no less) at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. In fact, as a divorced single mother, she sincerely appreciated the feminist movement.
Kantrowitz's most amazing rhetorical move is her ability to spin a narrative that persuades the audience to reconsider a long held view in a gentle yet effective way. Her deliberative article – that cleverly masquerades as an epideictic piece – she places in the minds of her rhetorically-minded readers two things:

1. There’s more than one way to burn a bra, as it were.

2. Persuasion doesn’t necessarily involve overt arguments and aggressive discourse.

The sisterhood is powerful, indeed – especially when a sister can write like Kantrowitz does.

Works Cited:

http://www.newsweek.com/2007/11/10/it-s-ms-america-to-you.html
"It's Ms. America to You," by Barbara Kantrowitz, published in Newsweek Magazine, November 10, 2007

"Appeals in Modern Rhetoric: An Ordinary Language Approach." M. Jimmie Killingsworth. Southern IL U.P: 2005

"Rhetorical Analysis: Understanding How Texts Persuade Readers." Ed. Charles Bazerman and Paul Prior: What Writing Does and How It Does It. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003.