Suffrage Photo Analysis

In choosing a visual to analyze that related to my group’s feminist movement topic, I chose a visual that states “Women bring all voters into the world-let women vote.” It appeared during the Women’s Suffrage period, when women were finally being allowed to vote and it is very important to the feminist movement topic that we are researching. The visual was created by people who supported women getting their voting rights. Even though this visual only consists of ten words and a picture of a mother and a child, there are many aspects of rhetoric that can interpret the visual in numerous ways.   When it comes to the design of the advertisement, there are many aspects of rhetoric that come into play. I feel that there was a sense of balance in the advertisement. This is the concept of asymmetry that was discussed in White’s article, Elements of Graphic Design. According to White, asymmetry is “the creation of order and balance between unlike or unequal elements” (235). In this visual, the picture of the mother and the baby is above the words, and the picture takes up a little less than half of the page. Underneath the picture are the worlds “WOMEN bring all VOTERS into the world- Let Women Vote.” I believe that the size of the picture at the top and the size of the words on the bottom give the visual balance and order, and I believe that it shows us that the words are more important than the picture. I believe the set-up of the visual is very important and it gives a clear message to the viewer. The fact that there is a picture of a woman holding a baby tells us that the woman gave birth to the child, who could be a boy or a girl, which is important because of the message under the picture. I believe that the picture gives the reader emotion that can be added to the written message at the bottom of the image. But, I feel that the written message is the most important part of this visual. The words women and voters are in all capitols, which brings the reader’s eyes to see that women are voters. The whole idea of the message is to tell people that women can vote, and they will vote because WOMEN are VOTERS. The last part of the message tells the reader to “let women vote.”   Foss described visual rhetoric in the article, Theory of Visual Rhetoric, as “the term used to describe the study of visual imagery within the discipline of rhetoric” (141). Visual rhetoric is the meaning we see in an image, or the way people interpret an image. This image can be interpreted in many ways, but the main message is that women need to be granted voting rights. In Foss’ article, we learned that visual rhetoric must include symbolic action, human intervention, and an audience (144-5). When it comes to the aspect of an audience being present, this image had an audience in mind. The audience would be the people who supported women’s voting rights, as well as people who they wanted to convince that women should be able to vote. Human intervention comes into play when the audience is interpreting their meaning of the image into what they think the image means. This image obviously made it clear that the creator was for the voting rights of women, but left it up to the audience to interpret the image and the words in the way that they want while maintaining the main part of the message as women should be able to vote. I believe the picture of the mother and baby is very significant because it reminds the reader that women do give birth to all children, who will grow up to be voters. One could interpret this in a way that says, if women give birth to everyone, including the men who do the voting, why can’t they vote too?   This image was a great image to analyze with visual rhetoric because there was so much meaning behind the actual image. The way it was set up, the words used, the size of the words, and the picture were all aspects of the image that could have been interpreted differently, while maintaining the main message of the image. This one image that consisted of ten simple words and one picture could have made a huge impact on the feminist movement. Maybe if the creator hadn’t come up with it and showed it to the audience that he or she did, women may have never achieved the right to vote. Foss, Sonja K. "Theory of Visual Rhetoric." Chapter 9. Print White, "Elements of Graphic Design" 2. 6. Web 14 Mar. 2012 Author: Greta B.

Dr Pepper Ad Analysis

The picture I chose to analyze is an advertisement for a new type of Dr. Pepper that has just been released. This new type of Dr. Pepper only has 10 calories, but those 10 calories are only for men. The ad states that it's not meant for women. I think this ties into my group's topic of women's rights/feminism very well. The ad may have seemed like it was being sexist or against feminism but I don't believe that was the ultimate point of this picture, which I'll discuss more later. The advertisement is very simple and almost plain looking. There's a can of Dr. Pepper, a glass filled with ice and Dr. Pepper, and the words 'IT'S NOT FOR WOMEN'. My eyes immediately went to the words and then went to the can and glass. I do think that was the intention of the advertisement. There is also a commercial to go with this ad. In the commercial, there's two men who are supposed to be in a movie and they're doing what is to be considered manly things such as four-wheeling and being very muddy/dirty. They state in the commercial that no women would like this movie and that also means that no women would enjoy the new Dr. Pepper. As I conducted further research about this advertisement, I found that the company was trying to target men as an audience because not many men are drawn to 'diet' sodas (Kain). So they figured that by using an advertisement like this, the pop would appear as manly and the men would want to drink it even though it's only 10 calories (Kain). I don't necessarily believe that this is sexist, but I do believe that it can be offensive. The first thing I would like to discuss is Foss' idea of human intervention. The can and glass of pop are simply a can and a glass of pop until you add the words to the image. This becomes visual rhetoric when it all comes together. This transformation from non-rhetoric to visual rhetoric is called human intervention (Foss). Human intervention is strategically using colors, words, images, etc., to make something non-rhetorical become rhetorical (Foss). The next thing I would like to discuss is Foss' idea of the function of an image. Foss defines the function of an image as an action that the image is trying to communicate (Foss). I believe the function of this image could be interpreted in two different ways. One function would be to catch peoples' attention and persuade people, especially men, to buy this new type of Dr. Pepper. Once again, I don't think that they were trying to be sexist or offensive but I believe many women were offended by this advertisement. There was a lot of talking on Facebook about this advertisement by many women who were offended; and there is the second function. Dr. Pepper got their name out there (Kain). How often does Dr. Pepper come up in everyday conversation? I would be willing to guess it's not brought up very often. I would also say that many women would want to know what all the hype is about with this new pop so they proceeded to go out and buy it to try it. So all in all, I believe this image could be interpreted in many different ways but I believe these would be the main two objectives. Works Cited: Foss, Sonja K. "Chapter 9." Theory of Visual Rhetoric. 141-52. Web. Kain, Erik. "Dr. Pepper's Bizarre New 'Not for Women' Ad Campaign." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/10/18/dr-peppers-bizarre-new-not-for-women-ad-campaign/> Author: Holly P.

Miss America Pageant Protest Photo Analysis

The visual image I have chosen appeared at the 1969 Miss American Pageant Protest in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a black and white photo of two women each holding a poster outside of what looks to be a conference building. One woman is looking straight at the camera, and the other woman is scowling at a man who is looking at her poster. The first poster reads, “Break the Dull Steak Habit,” with a picture of a naked woman’s backside charted out and labeled with meat cuts; and the other says, “Welcome to the Miss America Cattle Auction.” These women were protesting because they believed women should not have to measure up to the expectations the pageant was setting for females. Their argument was that the pageant paraded women around like cattle in an attempt to show off only their body. Feminist thought the pageant was demeaning to what really matters—personality and character. This visual is important to my group’s topic because we are researching the women’s movement. Visual rhetoric must be symbolic, involve human interaction, and communicate with an audience (Foss, Theory of Visual Rhetoric). The image I have chosen symbolizes the female as cattle. They are attempting to convey the idea that she is getting ready to be butchered and made into food. The human interaction that had taken place was the two women creating their posters. The image speaks to an audience as well. This audience includes fellow protestors, the entire population viewing the Miss America Pageant, and even now people who come across the image.    Upon viewing the photo your eyes immediately go to the words “Welcome to the Miss America Cattle Auction.” After that they go over to the naked woman’s backside (White, Elements of Graphic Design). The visual is not intended to be read left to right, top to bottom, etc., but after observing the posters, you then notice who is holding them, who the women are surrounded by, and finally who is viewing the posters—a man. The man who is viewing the posters I backgrounded at first because he is standing on the edge of the picture, and he almost blends in with the pavement as he is wearing a light colored shirt (Opt/Gring, Naming as Social Intervention). However I believe he is one of the most important parts of this photo because he is a portion of the audience the women are attempting to target.  I think men are the main targets to these posters because one of the posters is of a slender woman’s naked backside, which catches the male eye quickly. I think another main group the posters are supposed to attract are other females who may be swayed into the feminist notion being portrayed. I believe this for two reasons: 1) because the female whose back is charted and labeled is wearing a hat which shadows her face allowing one to imagine it as oneself. And 2) because the women holding the posters facial expressions are very intense, almost demanding that one would have to agree with the message they are portraying. The message/belief the women are displaying is that no woman should be treated this way—paraded around like cattle at an auction. That it is a repulsive thing to do, and that it simply gives men something to gawk at. Visual Rhetoric is important because it lets the visual speak for itself. An image is worth one thousand words, and although the image I chose includes text, I believe it says a lot more for the Women’s Movement than the text includes. "1960s Civil Rights Movements." 1960s Civil Rights Movements. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://hushcivilrights.tumblr.com/page/3>. Foss, Sonja K. "Theory of Visual Rhetoric." Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <https://moodle.csbsju.edu/file.php/2327/Readings/Foss_Theory_of_Visual_Rhetoric.pdf>. Freeman, Jo. "No More Miss America! (1968-1969)." The 1969 Miss America Protest- Atlantic City. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/MissAm1969.html>. Opt, Susan K., and Mark A. Gring. "The Rhetoric of Social Intervention." Naming As Social Intervention. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <https://moodle.csbsju.edu/file.php/2327/Readings/Opt-Gring_Naming.pdf>.  White. "Elements of Graphic Design." Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <https://moodle.csbsju.edu/file.php/2327/Readings/Elements_of_Graphic_Design.pdf>. Author: Molly F.

Rosie the Riveter Analysis #2

This nationwide recognizable image of Rosie the Riveter with her bicep flexed, feminine beautiful looks, overalls and bandana looking like she is proud and patriotic is currently viewed as the iconic embodiment of women’s rights, but the purpose poster was created was much different. This poster of Rosie was originally created to recruit women to help in factories during World War Two (WWII). This advertisement was created by J. Howard Miller as an addition to a series of posters for the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. In the poster the Westinghouse logo is clearly seen just under the woman’s arm, and the badge on her shirt collar is the badge employees wore. (Sharp) The ‘We Can Do It’ image can be viewed rhetorically because it was created and displayed for one reason, but today we see it as something different. Different people have a different view of the poster. Douglas Ehninger defined rhetoric as the ways in which humans “may influence each other’s thinking and behavior through the strategic use of symbols” (Foss 141). The image of Rosie influenced women to join the workforce during WWII, they presented a familiar woman but she was wearing clothes that showed she was working in a factory which was unfamiliar to women at this time. Today the poster is used for women’s rights. Visual imagery from a rhetorical perspective also has grown with the emerging recognition that visual images provide access to a range of human experience. (Foss 144). The image helped change the concept of what we thought about women.  The article ‘concepts we live by’ stated our concepts structure is what we perceive, how we get around the world and how we relate to other people (lackoff/Johnson). Women were known as people who stayed at home and took care of the house and children. This concept wanted to be changed by the factory that put up this poster making it seem okay for women to leave the house. “Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities” (Lackoff/Johnson) along with this poster and the power in women they changed the conceptual defining of women. We defined semiotics in class as the way words, images, and objects are used to display meaning. In semiotic analysis a separation is made between content and form, and attention is focused on the system of signs that makes up a text. (Berger) Text and images work together, and their separate abilities are used to persuade meaning is strengthened with the use of both at once. It is a strategic combination of ad slogans and visual propaganda from WWII that promoted the fact that working women during the war were white, beautiful, and patriotic. The true rhetoric in this image is not its purpose, but what this image has evolved into overtime. Having a woman represent a factory employee is noteworthy, But our rhetoric of the poster as a feminist emblem is interpreted as Rosie shouting encouragement to other women. This image is important to the broader topic my group is studying because we are looking into the women’s rights movement. Berger. "Semiotic Analysis." Print. Foss, Sonja K. "Theory of Visual Rhetoric." Chapter 9. Print Lackoff, and Johnson. "Concepts We Live By." Web. McGrath, Casey. Rosie the Riveter, a Reluctant Symbol of Patriarchy. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. Sharp, Gwen. Feminist Icon. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. Author: Sarah C.

Rosie the Riveter Analysis #1

The poster I chose to analyze is that of Rosie the Riveter. It was a poster that was popularly found starting in 1942 when J. Howard Miller, an artist hired to make posters supporting the war effort, created it. The poster features one woman shown flexing her arm muscles with the caption “We Can Do It!” The woman in this poster is known as Rosie the Riveter and she represents the women who worked tirelessly in factories during WWII to support the war effort. At the time this poster was made, it had no intention of supporting women’s rights. It was a poster created to keep production up by boosting the morale of the women. Later on when the artist of this poster, Miller, became well known for being a feminist, it was assumed that this poster was of Rosie. The name “Rosie the Riveter” came from a popular song portraying a woman named Rosie as a tireless factory worker.  The main focus of this picture is the woman flexing her arm. She is wearing a blue shirt with a red bandanna, which sets her apart from her yellow background. The viewer’s eyes are first drawn to the woman’s face, then to her powerful arm, then following the arm up to the caption, and finally back to the woman’s face. The woman is not smiling but rather has a look of strength and power, as if she is challenging the viewer. This image became important to many feminist groups because it portrays a strong, independent woman, and it encourages women to do things on their own with the caption. Foss stated, “visual images provide access to a range of human experience not always available through the study of discourse.” (Foss, 143) This means that while words are helpful to groups fighting for something, the use of pictures offers something more. There was plenty of discourse about women being powerful and needing more power, but this image captured all of the feelings and could be shared easily.  The image of the strong woman is important, but it is reinforced by the quote. The two elements of this design work strongly together and would be weak if shown individually. The woman in the image is standing on the left side and her arm takes up the right side. This makes the image asymmetrical, which White says, “suggests motion and activity. It is the creation of order and balance between unlike or unequal elements.” (White, 235) There is a balance between the body of the woman and her arm because they are not largely different in size. The arm of the woman is shown closer to the viewer than her body creating the illusion that it is bigger than it is. This helps build the meaning of women being strong because it emphasizes the strength and muscles of this woman.  While this image was not originally intended to be one that represented feminism, it works well for the topic of feminism. The woman in the picture is not stereotypically feminine and she is the main focus of the picture. She is portrayed as very strong and the quote is inspirational to women. This picture is important to feminism because it has stuck through many time periods as a uniting force for women. Women see this picture and remember all of the rights that they have gotten in the past years and how important it is to keep fighting. Foss, Sonja K. "Theory of Visual Rhetoric." Chapter 9. Print White, "Elements of Graphic Design" 2. 6. Web 14 Mar. 2012 Author: Erin H.

Analysis of Hilary Clinton's : Women's Rights are Human Rights

Analysis of Hillary Clinton’s Speech: ‘Women’s Rights are Human Rights’

“If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all.” On September 5, 1995, 180 countries came together in Beijing China to hear first lady Hillary Clinton's speech about women's rights. This speech was the United Nations Fourth World Conference of Women. The target audience for this speech is governments and other organizations that can help meet the goal of making women's rights human rights.  She addressed problems that every single country faced concerning the liberties of women, and why it was important that they receive these freedoms. The speech was courageous and considered path breaking too many in its demand for action. “The great challenge of this conference is to give voice to women everywhere whose experiences go unnoticed, whose words go unheard.”  Hillary Clinton has become famous for the statement: “Women’s rights are human rights.” She is known as one of the greatest women of our time, combining intelligence, compassion and bravery.  First I am  going to  explain how she strategically used ethos, pathos and logos then I will analyze the speech through Burke’s Dramatism pentad.

 The three key ingredients of a great speech are ethos, pathos and logos. “For Aristotle, the ethos of a speaker is persuasive when the speech demonstrates practical wisdom, moral virtue, and goodwill toward the audience.”(Aristotle’s Rhetoric)  Clinton makes it clear that she understands and is an important person covering the topic.  “Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children, and families. Over the past two and a half years, I've had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges facing women in my own country and around the world.”  She shows competence with her knowledge and expertise to the audience. “Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think they are credible” (Aristotle's Rhetoric).  Besides the words she is saying, she shows respectable charisma, and she appears to have a high level of confidence during the speech that also helps with her credibility.  Clinton is also a credible speaker because she is a well-known person.  Right around the time of the speech she was recognized as the Arkansas women of the year, received the international living legacy award, and she was the first lady. Also, because Clinton is a woman she proved that women are just as important as men.  For this reason, it was more appropriate for Clinton to present the speech than a man.

 This speech uses pathos to evoke emotions from its listeners. “In Greek, pathe means “emotions” and for Aristotle, pathos is an appeal to those states of mind that have an emotional component.” (Elements of persuasion)” Pathos is essential to have in a speech on a topic that strikes passion in the audience. Not only does Clinton make reference to all the women in our own lives, but she talks about appalling things that women have had to put up with: rape, abortion, burning and honor killings. Clinton uses anaphora to to highlight the different horrifying experiences women are put through.  She starts all eight of the statements with:  “It is a violation of human rights when…” These statements are very graphic and visual and she does a great job of painting a picture for the audience.  All these examples that she uses brings up her use of relevance. She lists how different scenarios were affecting the human rights of thousands of women all over the planet.  She strikes a feeling of sympathy in her audience and has examples that could be relatable to all different types of backgrounds.

Logos are explained as the “text of the speech” by Aristotle.  An important part of persuasion is the enthymeme, which is a “piece of reasoning.”(Aristotle’s Rhetoric).  Aristotle explains an enthymeme as a kind of claim, which initiates a transaction between the speaker and the audience.  The audience fills in unspoken assumptions that will verify the speaker’s claim and make it acceptable.  The enthymeme typically occurs as a conclusion coupled with a reason.  Clinton describes in her speech that “ If the term 'women's rights' were to be interchangeable with the term 'human rights' the world community would be a better place because human rights effect the women who raise the world's children, care for the elderly, run companies, work in hospitals, right for better education and better health care.” Hillary Clinton is trying to make the relation between ‘women rights’ and ‘human rights’ an enthymeme.  She wants those words to be interchangeable and acceptable for the world. Clinton explains that there is a problem in women not having equal rights, and her solution is to create a world in which women are treated with dignity, exempt of discrimination.

I am going to analyze Clinton’s speech through Burke’s Dramatism pentad. “The foundation of dramatism is the concept of motive: the reasons why people do the things they do.” Each event contains: act, scene, agent, agency and purpose. “ Burke believed that all of life was drama, and we may discover the motives of actors (people) by looking for their particular type of motivation in action and discourse.” I am going to analyze the Act (the speech), Scene (Where the speech took place, Beijing), Agent (Hillary Clinton), Agency (Techniques used in the speech) and the overall purpose of the act, and why it was performed.

The agent (Clinton) used many different strategies describing the purpose of the act.  In the beginning, she shows a form of agency by listing contributions to the world that women make.  The list included things from being leaders, working at home, having jobs, and being mothers. The list of responsibilities that women uphold, used in the very beginning, immediately shows what women are capable of doing. This allows the audience to know where the agent (Clinton) stands.  Reports stated Clinton spoke more “forcefully on human rights than any American dignitary has on Chinese soil,  she criticized China for seeking to limit free and open discussion of women's issues here.” (New York Times) "It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights," Clinton told the Fourth World Conference.  (Analysis of Hillary Clinton’s Human rights speech)

Though the initial purpose of the speech (act), was for Clinton (agent) to show her disapproval for the treatment of women around the world, she stated later that a different purpose for the act was to stand up against the Chinese government for their lack of "Human rights, and women's rights." Clinton used the Act of the "U.N. 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session" during her run for the 2008 presidential election as she claimed "I went to Beijing in 1995 and stood up to the Chinese government." (Healy) This is a pretty strong claim and it wasn't the initial goal of her speaking at the conference; however she used the act to her advantage and added to it. The speech is recognized for opening up more eyes about the problems women face around the world.  Human rights and women's rights are still violated every day, yet one of the purposes of the speech was to inform exactly what had been going on around the country, and she met that goal. Clinton's speech laid foundation to give a voice to the women who were forced to remain silent. (Analysis of Hillary Clinton’s Human rights speech)

In conclusion, Hillary used ethos, pathos and logos very strategically to make her speech well known.  She was clear on the purpose of the speech and did an excellent job of spreading the word about discrimination on women.   I believe a speech like Hillary Clinton's in 1995 was memorable, but I think this speech shouldn't even have had to be given. It is a disgrace that these cruel events still exist in 2012. When are we going to stop talking about it and see action? Yes, she was perfectly right in every word she spoke. But, this speech was given 17 years ago and nothing much has changed.  When will women’s rights become human rights?

Works Cited

"Analysis of Hillary Clinton Human Rights Speech For The United Nations - Beijing 1995." InfoBarrel. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://www.infobarrel.com/Analysis_of_Hillary_Clinton_Human_Rights_Speech_For_The_United_Nations_-_Beijing_1995>.

"Aristotle's Rhetoric." American Rhetoric. Web. 25 Mar. 2012.

 "Aristotle's Rhetoric." Grammars of Persuasion. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <https://moodle.csbsju.edu/file.php/2327/Readings/Covino_Artistotles_Rhetoric.pdf>.

“Burke, Kenneth. 1945. A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley: U of California P, 1969”

"Burke's Pentad: Dramatism." Rhetorica: Press-Politics Journal. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. <http://rhetorica.net/burke.htm>.

 "Elements of Persuasion." Kenneth Burke's Dramatism. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <https://moodle.csbsju.edu/file.php/2327/Readings/Covino_Dramatism.pdf>.

 Healy, Patrick. "Clinton vs. Obama." The Caucus. New York Times, 20 Nov. 2007. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/clinton-vs-obama-take-2-in-iowa/>.

The New York Times. The New York Times. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/06/world/hillary-clinton-in-china-details-abuse-of-women.html?pagewanted=all>.

Author: Sarah Carlson

Problems for Women in the Workplace today

Wage gap:

-Women are paid 76.5 cents to every dollar men earn

-Women in the lower half of the workforce are earning the same money they did thirty years ago

-Working mothers get paid less than women who are not mothers

Leave policies:

-1993- Family and Medical Leave Act was passed so that U.S. employees could take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to take care of babies or family members. This however only applies to 60% of workers. 

-When time comes for a baby to be taken care of, usually the woman takes the leave

-Most workers cannot afford the unpaid leave even if they qualify for it

-The United States is in the minority not having guaranteed paid maternity and paternity leave or sick leave.

Work schedules:

-Work schedules have shifted to working 7-8am until 7-8pm

-Parents who work have to deal with finding daycare and also dealing with sick children who can’t go to daycare or days when daycare is closed

-The majority of people who take time off for children are women

-Flexible hours would make it so that women could keep their jobs

-Giving flexible hours would benefit companies because it is cheaper than finding a new employee.

Unwelcoming environments for women:

-Sports and military analogies are more unfamiliar to women

-Men tend to refer to things in sexual terms but women are less comfortable with this

The informal network

-Males in history have dominated the workplace and continue to be predominant today

-Women employees tend to get left out of traditions men have been having such as going out for drinks, going out to eat, or golfing

Mentoring relationships

-In companies, an older employee will generally mentor and assist a younger, newer employee.

-There are few women in senior positions meaning there are not enough women to mentor other new women. 

-Men can be reluctant to mentor women.

-This makes men get more assistance in the workplace than women

Glass ceilings and walls:

-Glass ceiling “an invisible barrier that limits the advancement of women and minorities.” (Wood, 242)

-Women’s progress is impeded by discrimination that inhibits their opportunities

-Stereotypes of women such as “women aren’t good at math” or “women are just mothers” prevent women from being given higher positions in jobs

-Women are also generally placed in jobs that give them traditional feminine roles such as being a secretary.

Wood, J. T. (2005). Gendered lives: Communication, gender and culture. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

Author: Erin H.