User:Bsxcc/Feminist rhetoric

Hi Dr. Vetter. Keep in mind this is a very rough draft... Most of this reflects my contribution but there are a couple of phrases that are from the original lead. See you next week, Patti Bsxcc (talk) 01:20, 23 March 2022 (UTC)

Hey Bsxcc - this looks great. I am going to put in some wikilinks and help with the references a bit, but I think the content additions look really good. DarthVetter (talk) 15:46, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Lead
Feminist rhetoric emphasizes the narratives of all demographics, including women and other marginalized groups, into the consideration or practice of rhetoric. Feminist rhetoric does not focus exclusively on the rhetoric of women or feminists, but instead prioritizes the feminist principles of inclusivity, community, and equality over the classic, patriarchal model of persuasion that ultimately separates people from their own experience. Seen as the act of producing or the study of feminist discourses, feminist rhetoric emphasizes and supports the lived experiences and histories of all living beings and in all manner of experiences, and it redefines traditional delivery sites to include the non-traditional locations such as demonstrations, letter writing, and digital processes. Feminist rhetoric is distinguished from rhetorical feminism, which is a “tactic” that counters traditional forms of rhetoric, favoring dialogue over monologue and seeking to redefine the way audiences define rhetorical appeals. Rhetorical feminism also values listening and silence as dynamic rhetorical practices.

As a group that had been silenced for 2500 years, feminist rhetors began to gain strength with the Second Wave feminism of the 1960s-1970s, particularly through the writing of bell hooks who used common language and personal experiences as the basis for critically examining academic, cultural, and social issues. Rhetorical feminism as an academic discipline began to significantly evolve by the mid-1980s, when women in academia challenged the standards of western rhetorical tradition with feminist ideology. Patricia Bizzell, Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Lisa Ede, Cheryl Glenn, Shirley Wilson Logan, Andrea Lunsford, and Krista Ratcliffe were all early theorists of feminist rhetoric who made significant advances in the field.

In the mid-1990s, the traditional Aristotelian notion that rhetoric is fundamentally persuasive was questioned when feminist rhetors argued that persuasion reflects a patriarchal bias that simultaneously alienates people from their own experiences, cultures, and communicative practices and exerts power over them. By redefining the “dehumanizing” definition of classic persuasive rhetoric, whereby one group’s experiences are dominated by another, more persuasive group, feminist rhetoric seeks to equalize and honor the experiences of all living beings.

Because rhetoric is a cultural artifact reflecting the social values of the society that creates it, the absence of women and other marginalized groups reveals the patriarchal silencing of women’s experiences; furthermore, the devaluation of women’s traditional depiction and experiences (emotional/passive) contrasts the elevation of men’s depiction and experiences (rational/active). Scholars of feminist rhetoric add the stories of women into the history of rhetoric who have been previously overlooked or relegated to second-class status, combine issues in feminism and rhetorical theory, and produce rhetorical criticism from feminist perspectives with the ultimate goal of elevating historically marginalized voices. undefinedFeminist rhetorical scholars challenge and redefine the dominant patriarchal narrative, particularly Platonic and Aristotelian classifications and definitions.