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Emerging from the Cocoon

By Rachel Horton

Ludwig Wittgenstein once wisely observed that “the limits of my language are the

limits of my world.” For women it is a tale as old as time; restrictions on a woman’s use

of language through societal expectations or forced impositions shaped the world in

which women writers have dwelt for centuries. Rhetoric, classically defined by Aristotle,

is simply the act of discovering the available means of persuasion in any given situation

(I.2, 1355b). Interestingly enough, Walter Ong points out that traditional rhetoric

developed as an expression of “ceremonial combat” and suggests that education in

rhetoric has “focused on defending a position or attacking the position of another person”

(612). The Toulmin Model with its six-part process, for example, serves as a classic form

of rhetoric and is geared toward an adversarial approach. Yet feminist rhetors see things

differently. Susan Osborn further explains that “women typically measure success not by

how well they win, but how well they relate and maintain connection to others” (259).

Naturally, the elements that constitute the traditional rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos and

logos, are present in the category of women’s rhetoric, but women have found unique

ways to explore the available means of persuasion in methods that permit a continuity of

discussion and connection. For example, a writer’s awareness of the unique aspects of

womanhood results in discovery and a new consciousness. A collaborative flavor is

usually present in women’s rhetoric as the writer seeks to pull from or identify with a

certain group experience. Women writers are also very aware of their audience and often

target their writing style to a particular readership. Identification and an insertion of the

presence of the author is also a unique aspect of women’s rhetoric in that women

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immediately identify who they are and how they wish to be perceived. Finally, the use of

the personal example, whether from the author’s own life, or the life of another, is a

prevalent tool in women’s rhetoric. Discovering the available means of persuasion for

women has come to mean something more than simple formulaic thought processes.

Instead, women’s rhetoric places the emphasis on discovery, invention and connection

rather than simply finding new ways to reuse the same redundant methods.

Thoreau wisely noted that “only that day dawns to which we are awake.” In

feminine rhetorical tradition, women are almost hyper aware of the characteristics

common to being a woman. The usual route for writers is to take the unique aspects of

womanhood for granted; aspects such as motherhood, relationships between mothers and

daughters, the uniqueness of the body, and above all, the societal responsibilities of men

and women. Mary Astell bemoaned this truth when she said, “Obscurity, one of the

greatest faults in Writing, does commonly proceed from a want of Meditation, for when

we pretend to teach others what we do not understand ourselves, no wonder that we do it

at a sorry rate” (82). Writing that does not lead to discovery and an attitude of

consciousness does not benefit anyone. The very process of becoming a feminist “leads

to a transformation of consciousness” and alters “the perception and interpretation of

everyday life” (Green, 59). Even for feminine writers who do not espouse feminism, the

same concept applies. When Elisabeth Eliot suggests that there is “invisible meaning in

the visible signs” of the female body, she reminds her readers as a writer that the body is

an important aspect of femininity (52). Feminine writers are incredibly aware, conscious

of these unique characteristics and they boldly confront and examine these discoveries

regardless of their politics or worldview.

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Women writers assume the support of a group, either by writing collaboratively

with one or more authors, pulling from the experiences and stories of others, or airing

their ideas in such away as to invite the rest of a group into the narrative. It is a trait

uniquely belonging to the category of women’s rhetoric. Men also employ collaborative

efforts, but are often more comfortable with a unified authoritative voice.

The presence of an audience is never completely ignored by a rhetor in any stage.

The point of discourse, both written and oral, is discovering those “available means” of

persuasion. Without knowing the audience, there is no way of measuring the

effectiveness of those discoveries. In a sense, an awareness of audience or discourse

community must be utilized in any rhetorical situation. As Andrea Lunsford and Lisa Ede

established, “it is the writer who . . . [is] guided by a sense of purpose and by the

particularities of a specific rhetorical situation establishes the range of potential roles an

audience may play” (162). Yet in the history of women’s rhetoric, women writers and

speakers alike guide their discourse to a very particular target audience. In the Book of

the City of Ladies, Christine de Pizan directs her discourse specifically to men. By using

the virtues commonly seen, symbolically, in the company of men as her addressed

audience, she invokes a wholly separate, but more practical audience and creates a case

for the education and better treatment of women. Merle Woo, in her “Letter to Ma,”

addresses her mother as her chief audience, but her invoked audience is those who

identify with her relationship with her mother. In short, audience has an important and

vital role in women’s rhetoric. Between the author and the audience, the tone, language,

and attitude of the piece are determined.

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The use of personal experience or journal has a profound role in the tapestry of

women’s rhetoric. The personal touch is not only used to connect with an audience, but

implies a claim of acceptance and authority. Jacqueline Royster wove a powerful

argument for using multiple instances of personal experience as qualification to speak

authoritatively on a subject. In essence, by permitting “analysis to operate

kaleidoscopically” interpretation may be “richly informed” through the convergence of

“dialectical perspectives” (Royster, 29) Due to the history of women’s rhetoric, authors

and speakers alike have a highly developed sensitivity to the qualifications required for

claiming authority over the topic of issues which directly impact women. Subject

position, the ability to place oneself in a situation, is easily identified with the personal,

and Royster makes use of this equivalence effectively when she notes that “subject

position is everything.” In fact, she goes on to explain that when the “subject matter is me

and the voice is not mine, my sense of order and rightness is disrupted” (Royster, 30).

The claim of women’s rhetoric to its own authority to speak encourages the use of

personal experience.

Women’s rhetoric, over time, has developed much in the same way a butterfly

grows to maturity; it began in secret, in hiding, in a cocoon of society’s creation. What

has emerged, however, is a strong genre of rhetoric with its own unique characteristics

and approach. The full strength and potential of this genre is yet unknown. There are still

so few texts and analysis on the subject. Socrates, in words that have been repeated for

centuries, once observed that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Even so, rhetoric

unexamined and unobserved is simply unknown. It may become widespread and used on

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a continual basis, but without further research or observation, its potential will never be

known.

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Works Cited

Aristotle. On Rhetoric. 12 January 2007. Iowa State University. Ed. Lee Honeycutt. 23Feb. 2009 < http://www2.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/rhet1-2.html>.

Astell, Mary. “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest.” Available Means: An Anthology of Women's Rhetoric(s). Ed. Joy Ritchie, Kate Ronald. Univ of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. 81-4.

Ede, Lisa and Lunsford, Andrea. “Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked: The Role of Audience in Composition Theory and Pedagogy.” College Composition and Communication, 35: 2 (1984): pp. 155-71.

Elliot, Elisabeth. Let Me Be a Woman. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977.

Flynn, Elizabeth. “Composing as a Woman.” College Composition and Communication. 39.4 (1988): pp. 423-35.

Green, Pearl. “The Feminist Consciousness.” The Sociological Quarterly. 20.3 (1979): pp. 359-74.

de Lauretis, Teresa. “Eccentric Subjects: Feminist Theory and Historical Consciousness.” Feminist Studies, 16.1 (1990): pp. 115-50.

Royster, Jacqueline Jones. “ When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.” College Composition and Communication. 47. 1 (1996): pp. 29-40.

Ong, Walter J. “Review: [untitled].” College English, 33:5 (1972): pp. 612-16.

Osborn, Susan. "Revision/Re-Vision: A Feminist Writing Class.” Rhetoric Review, 9.2 (1991): pp. 258-73