Social constructs designs feminine roles conveys the theme of famous philosopher Simone de Beauvoir as he confers the idea that “women are not born, they are made”. Beauvoir presents the notion those women acts differently from men because society prepares them to do so. It also transmits the proposition that women would act different from society’s expectations if they were not raised under social taboos. Eckert and Ginet provide facts and logic to relate their discussion of gendered stigmas with the quote. Authors present a criticism as they reveal that children never grow freely and in natural way because people try to control them. Through effective choice of rhetoric tools authors persuades the audience about the prevalence of social stigmas and their implications on genders.
Eckert and Ginet in “Learning to be Gendered” makes effective rhetoric choice to support their argument of gendered society. Through ethos authors establish strong relevance of their argument with the facts. The central claims states that society’s treatment of boy and girl transforms them to a different person from what they are born as. Certain beliefs that prevail in a society become part of human personality and they employ them to treat genders. The authors state that children remain victims of the innate social behaviors. Author provides evidence by building relevance of their creation with the great philosopher Beauvoir’s work. Relating their discussion with findings of different philosophers adds credibility to Eckert and Ginet works. They quote Butler’s work (1993) “assigning it to a lifetime as a male or female” (Eckert and Ginet p. 735). The quote provides evidentiary support and makes the discussion more meaningful. Ethos is also apparent as authors include different experimental findings thus proving source’s credibility.
Incorporating logos in the discussion adds logic that provides reasoning for the argument. Logo is a practical literary device used to relate the topic with real life scenarios. Gendered roles remains one of the visible issues faced by the boys and girls. The reason becomes apparent in the source as it states parents’ start finding the sex of their children reflecting their beliefs. They search for the reason so they could treat boy and girl indifferently. The example of legitimate female and legitimate male exhibits the idea of gender classification. The authors uses logos as they mention, “at birth many hospital nurses provide pink caps for girls and blue caps for boys” (Eckert and Ginet 737). Color-coding reflects the stereotypical attitudes of the people as assign blue color to boys and pink color to girls. To add reasoning authors adds further support by including the experimental findings of John and Condry (1976) indicating that beliefs influence gender treatment. Adults interpreted the crying of a boy as anger and of a girl as fear conveying the same message of gender classifications. Associating different perceptions with genders exhibits gendered stereotypes. The reasoning is also apparent as the authors’ mentions that judgments influence the interaction of people with boys and girls. Other logic included in the discussion is of different talking styles. Parents’ intent to use more innate words in their communication with girls compared to boys. Similarly, they will use diminutives when they interact with girls. The experimental results of Fagot et al (1985) provide in-depth logic for the main argument. The authors points that, “teachers responded to girls when they talked, babbled or gestured, while they responded to boys when they whined, screamed or demanded physical attention” (Ecket and Ginet p. 740). Adding sufficient logic in the discussion makes the argument strong and compelling thus allowing authors to justify their claims.
Pathos persuades the audience by evoking emotions appealing to logic. Pathos allows Eckert and Ginet to build consistent interaction with the audience through revealing different ideas. They manage to put audiences in a thoughtful condition when they use knowledge to find meaning. Pathos are apparent in, “why boys don’t play with dolls?” (Eckert and Ginet p. 742). The quote evokes emotions among audiences as they try to think about the question raised by authors. Audiences identify the unfair role of the society and they build emotions of sympathy believing that parents treat their boys harshly. The quote intrigues the readers to think why boys don’t play with dolls thus allowing them to identify the gendered differences prevailing in society. The audiences realize that children fall into gendered roles when they come to the world because society instructs them in same manner. Pathos are also visible as authors mention, “gender is so deeply engrained in our social practice, in our understanding of ourselves” (Eckert and Ginet p. 739). The quote persuades audience to think thus creating feelings of concern. The audience puts them in the similar situation and explores how gender influenced them through their lives since their existence. The discussion of LGBT adds more meaning for the audience and takes them to a sate where they agree with the revelations. Increasing emotional appeal increases the strength of the argument leading to great probability of its acceptance among audience.
Eckert and Ginet make practical choice of rhetoric devices allowing them to convince the readers about their viewpoint. The stagey of relating personal idea with Beauvoir’s words sets an amazing beginning for the argument. Ethos, logos and pathos are visible rhetoric devices apparent through the discussion. Ethos adds adequate evidence and proves the credibility of the argument by representing supporting claims. Logos are visible contributing to the overall reasoning. Logic strengthens the viewpoints of the authors by creating relevance of their propositions with experimental findings. Through inciting emotional appeal the authors manage to convince the reader thus leading to acceptance of main argument. In the conclusion it states the belief that gendered society controls the lives of both males and females.
Work cited
Eckert, P., & Ginet, S. M. (1992). To Be Gendered.
