Rachel’s Reflections

I know you talked about how all of our evidence should be from the same genre, like if you showed an old advertisement to stick to that domain and show a new advertisement. My topic is the evolution of the perception of sexual assault and consent, and I am struggling on deciding what domain of evidence to use- between Hollywood, music, and social movements. However, I gathered some sources from each of these three domains and hopefully your feedback will help guide me in the right direction.

In terms of Hollywood, I found a pretty general Wikipedia article discussing a timeline of different cases of directors sexually assaulting actors with some facing little repercussions, and some causing massive outcry such as the Harvey Weinstein abuse starting the Me Too movement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_in_the_American_film_industry). This source is really just to give me a general idea of specific cases to research through scholarly articles, such as the Patricia Douglas case in the mid 1900s where she reported sexual assault and was basically blacklisted for speaking up, or Roman Polanski getting only a 90 sentencing in the 70s after raping a minor. These cases, which I can go more in depth to, show a clear disregard for consent and don’t value victim’s voices. Another case that I found a source on from The Guardian talks about the sexual assault faced by Judy Garland on the set of The Wizard of Oz, which was virtually ignored (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/08/judy-garland-allegedly-sexually-harassed-by-munchkins-on-wizard-of-oz-set). This is vastly different from the reaction to Harvey Weinstein, which has spread news of sexual assault and has encouraged victims to speak up instead of silencing them: www-thetexasorator-com-blog-2018-2-3-the-weinstein-effect-from-hollywood-to-austin.pdf (utexas.edu); guertin.pdf (theyoungresearcher.com). Similar present-day cases of sexual assault and the emphasis of consent are videos of Donald Trump openly admitting to sexual assault and the conviction of Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby specifically had been carrying out abuse for years but was not convicted until recently. I can also look at specific movies like 16 Candles from the 80s that portray rape as okay and consent as unnecessary.

In terms of music, I found some information about older songs like “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and how it is being criticized through today’s lens after everyone had been fine with it for several decades, showing a change in ideology (https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/baby-its-cold-outside-controversy-holiday-song-history-768183/). There were also some scholarly articles I found on the exclusion of consent in rap songs and how the promotion of sexual assault can be harmful to women (https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1328&context=childrenatrisk). One of my favorite articles I read is a PDF so I can’t attach it but it basically highlighted specific pop songs that highlight rape and why this is a very flawed message, such as the song Blurred Lines. This is in contrast to today, with songs like “No” by Meghan Trainor and “Not Your Barbie Girl”, which emphasize consent following the Me Too movement.

Lastly, social movements and legislation are pretty obvious, but there aren’t really any I can find from the earlier time period. I take a women and gender studies course this semester, so I can use the textbook to find a lot of things about historical feminist movements, and there are a lot of scholarly articles included in there too. In 1976, there were additions made to the Title IX laws that sexual assault was included as sex discrimination, meaning there were harsher punishments for perpetrators. Having this pass showed a clear shift in ideology as sexual assault was finally being recognized as the crime that it is. Today, there is the Me Too movement as I have mentioned and the 2017 Women’s March following the controversial election of former President Donald Trump.

I kind of wanted to include something about how parents are starting to teach their younger kids about consent and how it is important to teach age-appropriate consent from a young age, but I may include that in the “what;s to come” section of the essay or possibly my Ted Talk. Dr. Bodaski also showed me the book “The Joy of Consent: A Philosophy of Good Sex” which I haven’t read but may include some helpful ideas of how consent is being viewed in a positive light today after being criticized in the past for “ruining the mood” or “making things awkward”.

This is all clearly a work in progress…

This TED Talk by Laura L. Dunn discusses how she things an Equal Rights Amendment should be added to the Constitution to protect victims of gendered violence like sexual assault. This directly relates to a topic that I am interested in pursuing, which is the evolution of the idea of consent over time, which directly mirrors and ties into how sexual assault has been perceived and responded to over time. I plan to work with these two topics simultaneously, as the way we view consent directly connects to what we view as sexual assault/ how we respond to it.

Dunn discusses the growing social awareness of sexual assault in the United States, and how conversations by victims that were once dismissed have developed into the Me Too Movement, the Women’s March, student rallies on campuses, service members seeking reform in the military, and workers all around the country calling out sexual harassment in the workplace. She acknowledges how this is a tipping point between social movement and legal change, and goes on to talk about various laws that have been put in place in the past couple decades, including Title IX laws on college campuses. However, she references that this is not enough as there are no federal protections against gender violence in the Constitution and that victims are not given true justice in court cases about their case, instead being excluded from the conversation and viewed as evidence (outside of Title IX). She suggests the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would guarantee gender equality by law and require states to intervene and address gender violence as sex discrimination. Although this did not pass in the 70s, missing by three states, one of those states has ratified it since then, showing how we are continuing to evolve and are getting closer to legal and institutional change.

I really like that this speech is straight to the point and Dunn is clearly educated on and passionate about this topic. There is a lot of reference to present day movements and changes that are occurring regarding gender violence and sexual assault, and these will be useful examples in my own presentation. Unfortunately, Dunn did not use a slideshow to assist her talk so I will not be able to use this as a reference. However, there are plenty of other TED Talks I can look to instead.

For my brainstorm, I am a little bit confused because I am not sure if we are supposed to do the same topic that we write our Evolving Ideas paper on or if it needs to be something different. If it’s the same, I’d likely do what I stated above- the evolution of how consent and sexual assault are viewed in society, looking at the famous picture of the sailor kissing that random woman without consent from post WWII to the way rape and sexual assault were casually talked about in the late 1900s, to today with the Women’s March and the Me Too movement, highlighted by this TED Talk. If it’s different from our essay, I’ll likely do one of the brainstormed topics from last week’s RCL blog: beauty standards, the meaning of the word gay, or the changing of family dynamics.

I actually have four potential ideas for this essay.

1. First is family dynamics. There has obviously been a shift in the way families are views and the norms that exist in families. I think there would be a heavy focus on the background of the nuclear family, particularly in the fifties and post World War II. This idea of a nuclear family was portrayed in all sorts of media back then, especially through advertisements and TV shows. A key text that sparked changed and showed the imperfections that existed within this perfect bubble is The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. As time as developed, we have seen the depiction of a lot of different family dynamics, especially in the media with shows like Full House coming out in the 80s with three father-figures and no mother figures, and today with shows like Modern Family that show this massive blended family. This idea is complicated because mixed and blended families have definitely existed all throughout history, and there are definitely still familial expectations that persist today, but the social norms are different. Back then, the white nuclear family was what people wanted, despite alternatives existing, and today despite nuclear families existing, it’s not necessary what everyone wants and there is a much wider acceptance of families with single parents, divorced parents, extended families, adoption, etc. My audience can learn about how the definition of families and how the views of society have impacted family dynamics over the past 100 years. Continuing conversation may look at if there is still a particular family that is seen as normal or if there really is no “normal” anymore and we are culturally accepting of all families.
2. Second is the idea of consent and how we have gone from completely ignoring consent to prioritizing it in all interactions. Background knowledge of sexism and the silence of women in general is important to why female consent has been ignored for decades– why would women be listened to? A historical artifact that comes to mind is that picture of a sailor kissing a random woman after coming home from World War II. This picture was symbolic and celebrated yet highlights a clear issue of consent. As time has progressed, there have been morally grey media released such as assault brushed off in movies like Grease and Sixteen Candles, as well as questionable songs like Blurred Lines clearly bringing consent into question. However, with the #MeToo movement and more and more women coming forward, the importance of consent is emphasized. There are some challenges, such as the fact that there are still so many victims, and many who are silenced or do not receive justice, even in today’s social climate. People may say that because there was a different social expectation back then that certain actions are excusable but really, they are not and never should have been. Another misconception is that consent is only for women, when in reality, consent affects men as well and is important for everyone to give. My audience has to learn the importance of consent and how progress and feminism have led to increasing conversations of consent. Future conversations should call into question how consent should be enforced and where those blurry lines are between informed, enthusiastic, and reversible consent is and otherwise (which is actually not consent).
3. Next is the word gay and how this word has gone from meaning happiness, to having a negative connotation, to meaning homosexuality. Background knowledge may be important to see how this word has always had different definitions, just there was such a silence of homosexuality back then that it was never used openly to mean homosexuality. There are pieces of media highlighting its various using such as “don we now our gay apparel” in Fa La La, the 1942 movie “The Gay Sisters”, to its negative use in the late 1900s and early 2000s (don’t have an example at the moment but I know it existed), to being used to mean homosexuality as we have become increasingly accepting of LGBTQ+ identities in society. This idea is complicated because it can still technically mean happy, and it still meant homosexuality in the past, like I said, but was not used that way. It is complicated because the word differs not simply in the literal definition of the word, but how the word was used socially, and the connotations associated. My audience has to learn about the progression of language over time and how this is just one example of the complexities of language. Further conversations can discuss other words and how much society affects the meaning that language has to different generations.
4. Lastly is the beauty standard because the beauty standard has changed a lot over time, particularly for women. Background knowledge may be relevant to see how brands and media specifically enforce a certain beauty standard in order to sell products and that this has been going on for many years, even before the era of influencers and consumerism (though this has arguably been an era forever). There are many key players in this evolution, such as through icons, toys, movies, and music. Marilyn Monroe and her movies portrayed a busty woman with blonde hair as the beauty standard while skinny was in in the 90s with models like Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford, with people like Jennifer Lopez being looked down upon for having a big butt which is praised today. Today, there are icons like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, as well as songs like Anaconda highlighting the desire for a small waist and curves. This idea is complicated because there is some overlap of beauty standards– songs like Baby Got Back enforcing today’s beauty standards came out in the 90s while there are consistently skinny women who are idolized no matter the decade. Audiences can learn that their bodies are not a trend, that ideas of what’s beautiful is up to society and has nothing to do with an individual’s actual beauty. Further conversation can discuss the harmfulness of these beauty standards on young girls specifically and how they have consistently led to things like eating disorders and other harmful behaviors. It can also be discussed how these beauty standards are increasingly heavy on girls’ shoulders in the age of social media and photoshop.

Essay Draft

The idea of a school shooting, breaking into a place of education to murder innocent children, is something so evil, yet not unheard of. As the 2000s have progressed, school shootings have ravaged the nation. Two of the most tragic massacres to date are the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December, 2012 and the Robb Elementary School shooting in May, 2022. Former President Obama addressed the Sandy Hook incident by issuing a speech to the nation, and Ted Cruz posted a tweet, concisely acknowledging the Uvalde shooting. While both of these artifacts have the exigence of tragic elementary school violence where more than 20 lives were taken, there is a stark difference in the empathy and care put into these responses. These differences exemplify the fact that over time, Americans and leaders alike have lost their consideration for these types of disasters and it is unacceptable. Through the analysis of ethos, pathos, and commonplaces used differently in both artifacts, the growing negligence of the nation in response to solvable tragedies has become apparent and needs to be addressed.

President Obama’s speech is formulated and delivered to match the rhetorical situation. It is approximately three minutes long and responds to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December of 2012, aiming to empathize with and reconnect communities who were drastically affected. Obama speaks to both the American population as a whole, addressing their sadness and fears, but also the families of the victims. He connects with them personally to indicate how sorry he is for their loss, then returns to a general audience of the entire population. Obama had several constraints to adjust to, including the fact that he could not talk to families directly or be at the site of the shooting. This could have created some disconnect, yet he was able to deliver a passionate and meaningful speech despite this. Time also presents itself as a constraint, as Obama was expected to deliver his speech on the day, meaning he had very few time to prepare his speech. Despite this, Obama was able to create a memorable deliverance for families and Americans.

Analyzing from an ideological criticism, Obama uses ethos, pathos, and commonplaces to effectively connect with his audience. As the President of the United States, Obama had the responsibility to respond to this event in a timely and appropriate manner, yet he emphasized his role as a parent over his authority to reflect his genuine feelings. He utilized ethos by reacting as a parent of two young girls to better relate to the parents and families who lost loved ones in this disaster. Obama’s speech epitomizes pathos as he uses powerful connotations with the words “overwhelming grief” and “hearts are broken”. In expressing these emotions empathetically and deeply, the American audience feels Obama’s words and relates to his feelings toward this tragedy. President Obama also references several commonplaces, acknowledging community, love, innocence, education, and various life milestones that the fallen children will never get to experience. Utilizing these commonplaces allows for the American people as a whole to understand the implications of this loss in regard to the families, victims, and communities torn apart as a result. Obama truly cared, and this speech, as well as the changes made as a result are representative of that. 

A tweet by Ted Cruz serves as an opposing artifact to Obama’s speech. This tweet, posted only hours after the shooting at Robb Elementary School, attempts to comfort the Uvalde community, but starkly fails. The victims and their families, as well as the people of Texas who are scared about the events, serve as the audience once again, but Cruz also heavily acknowledges law enforcement officers, prematurely thanking them for their swift response. Cruz had several constraints, including that his tweet was posted mere hours after the event and nobody had much information about what truly happened with law enforcement that day. A tweet, unlike a speech, has a limited word count and can lack emotion as it is in writing. The combination of these constraints allowed for Cruz’ tweet to come off as senseless, especially once people found out how law enforcement stood idly outside the school as children inside were actively being murdered.

Again analyzing through the lens of an ideological criticism, this tweet contains a clear lack of connection with families and people who lost loved ones as well as a lack of empathy. Ted Cruz, as the Texas Senator, was expected to release a statement on the tragedy that occurred in his state, yet he lazily opted to release a tweet instead of a speech or any other form of more sincere media. Cruz is a father of two children himself, but does not allude to this fact at all leaving a severe disconnect between him and families. The tweet is very short and is based on fact, with no real reference to emotions. While it describes this tragedy as “horrendous”, it simply reduces the response to thoughts and prayers. There is barely any pathos, and audiences are not prompted to feel anything besides resentment toward Cruz himself from these tweets. Cruz does not reflect any real emotion or care for the shooting, and despite being a leader, gives no real indication of a desired change. Cruz does use commonplaces, including security, justice, and religion, but exempts any inclusion of family and love. His response reflects the underwhelming response of leaders to the Uvalde shooting and the lack of care for the real issue at hand – gun violence.

Despite almost identical exigencies, there are many clear differences in the responses between Barack Obama and Ted Cruz. Obama shows a clear value of empathy and life, and these responses expose how Obama cared about the families themselves, addressing them directly, while Cruz only addressed the general public and law enforcement officers. Cruz did not show enough care to directly address the families of children who were brutally murdered. The location of the incidents, as well as the difference in political parties, Obama being a Democrat and Cruz being a Republican, plays a large role in the difference in responses. Republican leaders, such as in Texas, support the National Rifle Association in their campaigns and are often sponsored by them, so speaking about gun violence compromises their position. They instead have to avoid blaming guns and resort to thanking law enforcement, something that better aligns with the views of their constituents. Democrats, such as Obama and most of Connecticut’s population, openly acknowledge the need for better gun control and the dangers of not having it, looking at this tragedy as just one example. Differences in timing contribute to the difference in responses as well, as Obama knew all the details of the shooting before delivering his speech, but Cruz was expected to respond before anyone knew all the details. This led to a clear miscommunication and a completely untrue statement about law enforcement’s quick response, when in fact their delay cost many young lives. The ten year gap between these shootings may also serve as important, as Sandy Hook was the first mass shooting at an elementary school so it shook the nation, whereas by the time Uvalde happened last year, people are desensitized to these tragedies. They are seen as trivial, which is absolutely disgusting, but contributes to the American response as well as the response of leaders. Though there are many differences, both leaders exude religion as a commonplace, both referencing prayer and God. However, while this is what Ted Cruz begins his tweet with, acknowledging thoughts and prayers as the most important thing, Obama ends his speech with this commonplace, instead prioritizing families and empathy first. The differences in these responses can really affect communities and how the public responds emotionally to a tragedy like this. 

Empathy should be the only response to tragedies like these and the fact that this has not reigned true recently is ridiculous. Civic life is about connecting with families and having a genuine value for life, especially as the leader of a community. As Republican leaders continue to deny guns as a problem, their ignorance can be generalized to all Republican Americans because they are the ones who vote in leaders who care more about guns than children’s lives. For those who are not part of the Republican party, voting and fulfilling one’s civic duty is essential to voting out careless people and voting in leaders who will make real change in regards to gun control. The state of civic life is severely threatened by gun violence, and corrective action needs to be taken to stop simply asking for thoughts and prayers when 6 year olds have baseball sized holes in their bodies and to instead start caring enough about these issues to stop them from happening. 

Speech Outline

introduction 

• Hook: December 14, 2012. As millions of teachers and students returned home to their families, 26 bodies laid dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 6 year olds, slaughtered, in a place where they should have been safe.
• Obama gave a speech following this tragedy addressing both the nation and the families who lost loved ones directly; says that “as a country we”
• Constraints may be that he had to respond in a timely manner (day of?), and he wasn’t able to be on site so he had to deliver the speech remotely to a conference room instead of families face to face 
• using an ideological criticism- ethos and pathos
• thesis: Barack Obama’s genuine and heartfelt response to the Sandy Hook shooting was able to comfort families and communities in a time of great tragedy and unrest (this is being worked on)
  • ethos- as both the president his responsibility to respond and make change but also as a father his understanding of losing a child
  • pathos- his word choices and delivery
  • commonplaces- emphasizing love, community, and innocence connected audiences 
• MP 1: Obama’s use of ethos allowed him to reach a large audience while gaining the trust of smaller audiences who could relate to him
  • president (presidents seal in the back, mentions how he is the president and has the power and the willingness to make change)
  • a father to two young girls (specifically mentions how that is the lens he is looking at this tragedy through, emphasizes his close relationship with them and empathizes with how it must feel to lose them)
    • Commonplaces of love and family
  • audiences (families of victims and families in general in the US see him as a family man in addition to a President who cares which makes his message much more meaningful
    • Uses commonplaces to appeal to the whole audience
    • Commonplace of life milestones- everyone in america has been a child and most people have reached the milestones of things like graduation or marriage; using these as examples allow a large audience to relate and personalized the message
    • religion as a commonplace can even touch on people who are more conservative in their values and may tend to support more right wing views to listen to this speech and these problems and want change too; Obama connects differences
• MP 2: Obama’s use of pathos gives him the ability to reach audiences on a personal level and cause them to understand the true weight of the loss.
  • uses repeated phrases like “hearts are broken” and “overwhelming grief”
  • mentions how there are no words to ease their pain and nothing that can fill the space of a lost child 
    • Commonplaces of family and community
  • his understanding of the severity of the situation shows how this tragedy has affected him on a personal level and causes the audience to feel comfort knowing that he is a leader who will fight for them 
    • Commonplace of safety
• Conclusion
  • Barack Obama’s genuine and heartfelt response to the Sandy Hook shooting was able to comfort families and communities in a time of great tragedy and unrest (reword)
  • Obamas speech is short but it contains all the necessary pieces to be impactful and connect the audience and their thinking through the use of ethos, pathos, and commonplaces 
  • why i in fact delivered on my thesis? still not sure what this means 

Essay Intro (draft, need to work on strengthening my thesis):

The idea of a school shooting, breaking into a place of education to murder innocent children, is something so evil, yet not unheard of. As the 2000s have progressed, school shootings have ravaged the nation. Two of the most tragic massacres to date are the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting from December, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut and the Robb Elementary School shooting from May, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Former President Obama addressed the Sandy Hook incident by issuing a speech to the nation, and Ted Cruz posted a tweet, concisely acknowledging the Uvalde shooting. While both of these artifacts have the exigence of tragic elementary school violence where more than 20 lives were taken, there is a stark difference in the empathy and care put into these responses. These differences exemplify the fact that over time, Americans and leaders alike have lost their consideration for these types of disasters and it is unacceptable. Through the analysis of ethos, pathos, and commonplaces used differently in both artifacts, the growing negligence of the nation in response to solvable tragedies has become apparent and needs to be addressed.

Speech Outline: 

Introduction:

• Hook: December 14, 2012. As millions of teachers and students returned home to their families, 26 bodies laid dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 6 year olds, slaughtered, in a place where they should have been safe.
• Obama gave a speech following this tragedy addressing both the nation and the families who lost loved ones directly; says that “as a country we”
• Constraints may be that he had to respond in a timely manner (day of?), and he wasn’t able to be on site so he had to deliver the speech remotely to a conference room instead of families face to face 
• using an ideological criticism- ethos and pathos
• thesis: Barack Obama’s genuine and heartfelt response to the Sandy Hook shooting was able to comfort families and communities in a time of great tragedy and unrest (this is being worked on)
  • ethos- as both the president his responsibility to respond and make change but also as a father his understanding of losing a child
  • pathos- his word choices and delivery
  • commonplaces- emphasizing love, community, and innocence connected audiences

MP 1: Obama’s use of ethos allowed him to reach a large audience while gaining the trust of smaller audiences who could relate to him

• • president (presidents seal in the back, mentions how he is the president and has the power and the willingness to make change)
  • a father to two young girls (specifically mentions how that is the lens he is looking at this tragedy through, emphasizes his close relationship with them and empathizes with how it must feel to lose them)
  • audiences (families of victims and families in general in the US see him as a family man in addition to a President who cares which makes his message much more meaningful

MP 2: Obama’s use of pathos gives him the ability to reach audiences on a personal level and cause them to understand the true weight of the loss.

• • uses repeated phrases like “hearts are broken” and “overwhelming grief”
  • mentions how there are no words to ease their pain and nothing that can fill the space of a lost child 
  • his understanding of the severity of the situation shows how this tragedy has affected him on a personal level and causes the audience to feel comfort knowing that he is a leader who will fight for them 

MP 3: Obama’s use of commonplaces personalizes the loss of these families to all Americans and creates a sense of community

• • commonplaces: family, community, love, innocence, education, safety, life milestones, religion
  • everyone in america has been a child and most people have reached the milestones of things like graduation or marriage; using these as examples allow a large audience to relate and personalized the message
  • religion as a commonplace can even touch on people who are more conservative in their values and may tend to support more right wing views to listen to this speech and these problems and want change too; Obama connects differences

Conclusion

• • Barack Obama’s genuine and heartfelt response to the Sandy Hook shooting was able to comfort families and communities in a time of great tragedy and unrest (reword)
  • Obamas speech is short but it contains all the necessary pieces to be impactful and connect the audience and their thinking through the use of ethos, pathos, and commonplaces 
  • why I in fact delivered on my thesis? not sure what this means