Waldrop 1 Thomas Waldrop Instr. T.

Mitchell English 1020 12 December 3, 2012

In her article For Women in America, Equality is Still and Illusion, Jessica Valenti writes on the discrepancies between the idea of gender equality and what is currently the case in America. She writes that while there are worse atrocities being committed against women such as rape in Darfur, genital mutilation in Egypt, [and] sex trafficking in Eastern Europe, it is not an excuse to ignore the battles left to be fought here in America (Valenti). She gives many statistics of abuse against women here in the United States, claiming that helping women in America would benefit women across the globe, as well as other oppressed groups in the United States. She ends the essay with a call to action of sorts, saying that we have a responsibility to open our eyes to the misogyny right in front of us. And then to stop it. Valenti's rhetorical appeals began before she had written a single word, as by virtue of the fact that she is a woman, she immediately gains credibility when writing on an issue such as women's rights. Her authority only increases when one considers that she is a committed feminist, writing books such as The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women and founding the website Feministing.com, a women's rights site. She also appeals to the emotional side of her readers, writing that we cry with Oprah and laugh with Tina Fey, that we are fooling ourselves into believing that a mirage of equality...is the real thing (Valenti). She is

Waldrop 2 trying to explain that it is a sort of ignorance-is-bliss situation: look at all these successful women in the white house and on television how could equality not exist? She also cites facts that appeal to the logical side, while maintaining an emotional appeal, mentioning George Sodini, who specifically targeted women in his shooting killing three women and injuring nine others (Valenti). This is intended to bring out moral outrage within the reader. Additionally, she links to a report by the Justice Department, which states that there were 182,000 sexual assaults committed against women in 2008 (Valenti). One of the strongest of Valentis uses of emotional appeal is when she states that the leading cause of death for women who are pregnant is being murdered by their partner. It is almost unthinkable: with so much emphasis in America on the sanctity of life, in the arguments of abortion and stem cell research, that the fact that the leading cause of death for pregnant women is the person who caused that pregnancy is not an outrage proves her argument (Valenti). Instead, it is a fact I did not know until I read this article. A final example of this is the statistic she gives about women serving in the military: [They] are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire (Valenti). Not only do these women have to deal with the stress of the war, but they have the added stress of not being able to trust their fellow soldiers, the people who they are supposed to be able to trust with their lives. When families see their daughters, their mothers and their sisters go off to war, generally the hope in their hearts is that they come back alive; now it is a stated fact that they have to worry if theyll come back in one emotional piece, not suffering from the trauma of rape, along with the general trauma of war. Her ability to use factual and emotional appeals to persuade her audience further communicates her writing ability.

Waldrop 3 As is obvious from the title of the piece, the main argument Valenti makes is that women have yet to truly achieve equality with men in the United States. She supports this argument extremely well, citing facts about the battles still left to be fought: issues from reproductive justice and racism to pay equity and motherhood. She also brings back up recent instances of women being attacked, whether physically, such as when singer Rihanna was assaulted by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown, or mentally and emotionally, such as when Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were barraged for their gender during the 2008 presidential election (Valenti). These attacks, while different in their methods, are all similar in their nature. They are all based purely on the gender of the victim, ignoring any other aspect of the person. While I agree, Rihannas music and Sarah Palins political ideologies deserve to be criticized; they should not be victimized just because they are women. Though for all of the details she provides, she rarely, if ever, mentions how the same statistics she cites about women relate to men. She gives the statistics of 1 million womenbeing raped, female troops being assaulted, [and] the continued legal discrimination against gay and transgender people, but never says how many men are raped or otherwise assaulted (Valenti). This ignorance of male victims of rape and other sexual violence is unacceptable. She mentions that most scholars believe the actual number of rape victims is much higher than the reported number, without acknowledging at all the fact that most male rape victims would likely deny being raped. This could easily be expanded into a larger argument, on either side. She also gives her thoughts on why enlightened sexism... the appearance of equality, is so prevalent in the United States and other developed countries (Valenti). She claims that it is a feel-good illusion because if we acknowledge that there is more than just a

Waldrop 4 minor difference in the treatment of women and men, it would somehow take away from the suffering of women in other countries. What could we possibly have to complain about when there are women being beaten, sold into sex slavery, and raped overseas? She also believes that many people don't see women as oppressed at all, asking What are you complaining about? Women are doing terrific! This as well could be written on, as the reasons for ignoring this oppression have the potential to vary wildly depending on who is asked. One thing Valenti ignores is the recent sexism towards men that has seemingly sprung up out of the feminist movement. There even examples of this sexism in her article. When discussing college students usual initial denying women's oppression, such as with the previously mentioned question, she included that it is usually a male student that asks the question. While there is a chance that this was not intended to be derisive of men, it is that same unintentional sexism that she is writing about. If her anger towards society for accidentally marginalizing women is justified, then she has to be just as careful not to create that same accidental marginalization towards men. In summary, Jessica Valenti is a well-qualified, knowledgeable author about feminism and womens rights. She discusses the challenges faced by women both in the United States and abroad, as well as the motivations for why these injustices occur, in her Washington Post article For Women in America, Equality is Still an Illusion.

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Works Cited Valenti, Jessica. For Women in America, Equality is Still an Illusion. The Washington Post. 21 Feb. 2010. Web. Aug. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/19/AR2010021902049.html>