Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Lil' Wayne sexist?

http://feministing.com/2010/09/27/lil’-wayne’s-sexist-and-misleading-song-“gonorrhea”/

In Lil' Wayne's new song "Gonorrhea", he has a sexist hook and uses the word "bitch" many times in the song. The blog is saying that Lil' Wayne and most rappers use the word "bitch" in their songs and it is sexist. The word "bitch" is "a word that has become a synonym for women". In many rap songs, the word "bitch" is thrown around to insult opponents by comparing him to a "bitch" or a "woman". His hook is also sexist because it implies that women have gonorrhea and give it to men. Obviously, this is wrong because anyone with gonorrhea can give gonorrhea to anyone. There is another lyric that disrespects Zeta Phi Beta, a historically black sorority. I understand that these lyrics are disrespectful and sexist but I don't think it should be held against all rappers or all men, only the person committing the act.

The Status Quo is not ok

In order to shed light on the very controversial issue of abortions; the blog brings in an expert on the subject to submit a guest post. Before the guest post even begins, the audience is made aware of this individual's (Karen Leiter) knowledge of the subject because she is described as the Human Rights Researcher for the Center for Reproductve Rights. This is an obvious use of Ethos because Ms. Leiter clearly has knowledge of the subject and can be trusted to make truthful statements. Ms. Leiter begins her post by pointing out that she is going to attack an amendment called the Hyde Amendment instead of abortion as a whole. She then uses stories of woman who are having financial issues due to this amendment to draw on the emotions of the target audience. Finally, Ms. Hyde notes other steps that could be taken by the Republican Party to extend this amendment and describes the danger this can have on women's rights. In order to rally the target audience (young women) to this debate, Ms. Leiter clearly uses Ethos and Pathos.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Featured Blog: Feministing

Dear Class,

In keeping with our course theme of activism, I have chosen this blog (aptly called Feministing) for our first discussion. In an article on the website Take Part, Giulia Rozzi ranked this cite as number one for feminist blogs, saying that this cite gives women a platform to speak about issues on which the media and society normally silence them.

Remember: you are not to focus your comments on what this cite says; rather, you need to analyze HOW this cite presents information (see handout on Carmen).

Please follow this link to the blog: www.feministing.com.

Remember, part of your doing well on this assignment is leaving meaningful posts.

Good luck,
Nick White

Welcome!

Dear Class,

If you've made it this far, then--Congratulations! You have successfully joined the class blog. Please stay tuned for featured blog posting.

Best,
Nick White