Initial Thoughts About the Audience for my Argument

The reason there is no such thing as a "general public" is because certain messages and themes target certain people. For instance, does a tampon commercial target men? No. Does a Men's Rogaine commercial target women? No. While these are very broad examples, there are many other instances in which rhetorical messages are meant for specific individuals or groups of people. It's impossible to make a photo, article, essay, etc. relatable to the whole world, there's just too many differing opinions and ideologies.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EXIT_2012_Audience_(1).jpg

Since domestic violence/abuse is a very sensitive topic, it is important to make rhetorical choices with the audience and their reactions in mind. 

Who might be interested in or impacted by this issue?

People that might be interested in or impacted by this issue include those that aren't aware of the horrors that domestic abuse brings upon people. While men can be victims of violence as well, the issue occurs most often to women. Abuse happens no matter race, location, or educational level. People that influence the issue can be organizations, battered women shelters, and more. The typical belief on the issue is that it is wrong, but many aren't sure how to help.

How familiar will my audience be with my issue/topic?

My argument will be targeted more towards those that aren't aware of the horrors of domestic violence and what it really does to its victims. Thus, the audience will probably have some general knowledge that domestic abuse is prevalent in society, but won't be aware of the specifics and facts that reveal the number of people affected and what it does to them.

Aside from my ideal audience, who else might encounter my argument?

Others that may encounter my argument include victims and those that are close to them. Victims that may be trying to find a way out of the abuse may look into my argument to see the resources available to them, and so might those that want to help them.

Who might be hostile to my argument and why?

Those that might be hostile to my argument are those that do the abusing or those that are from other cultures where violence towards women is acceptable.

What basic information will my audience need to have to understand my argument?

Some basic information that my audience will need to have includes how domestic violence is present all over the world, and that it actually isn't easy for a woman to walk away from. There is an abuse cycle that occurs, and while the audience may not need to know the steps of the cycle, they should know that it exists and that it must be broken if the abuse is to ever stop.

My Proposed Public Argument

Well, it was fun to not think about writing while it lasted (approximately two days). :) However, it is time to get back to reality because it is time to get working on Paper #3- The Public Argument. I struggled a little bit with ideas for this project because it seems so broad, but I think I have narrowed it down to two options- domestic violence and athletes that continue to play with injuries. I decided to compose this table below to organize my thoughts on the two different topics.

https://www.flickr.com/

http://www.lawsuitlegalhelp.com/sports_related_injuries.html

Domestic Violence

Athletes That Play With Injuries/Repercussions/etc.

The Message Domestic violence occurs far too frequently and is ruining the lives of women, and even men, worldwide. Something must be done to stop it, otherwise this violence can lead to emotional, physical, and mental pain beyond repair. The Audience Those that are affected by domestic violence or those that are maybe not as familiar with the concept and what can be done to stop it. This could also target those that initiate violence to show them their wrongdoings, though that may not be as likely. The Purpose To show people the horrors of domestic violence and to offer different methods to combat the problem including ways to help victims, ways to report situations before they get too out of hand, and more. If the violence can be stopped, many women (and men) would lead better lives and be able to function as people in society (women wouldn't be so secretive, secluded, depressed etc. Can also apply to men).

The Message In today’s world of sports, there is a lot of pressure on athletes to perform all the time. Sometimes, athletes will attempt to play through injuries or hide injuries so that they do not have to sit out for weeks at a time. This actually creates a much larger problem and could make their injuries worse. The Audience The audience of this argument would be athletes that actually do play through injuries and think they will be fine, coaches/managers, and other that do not realize that “sucking it up” isn’t always the answer to pain. The Purpose The purpose of this argument would be to show athletes and the other sections of the audience that if athletes don’t take their injuries seriously when they first happen, they could not only make their injuries worse, but also end their careers. Thus, something needs to be done to stop them from ruining their chances at the sport they love. This includes league/association rules that prevent them from playing on injuries, family support, strict treatment plans to ensure quick and healthy recoveries, and much more.

Analysis of a Sample Public Argument

https://pixabay.com/en/envelope-mail-open-envelop-mailing-34531/

Tone
The tone of this letter was persuasive and formal. Since the student is writing to the Governor, it is fairly important to understand that the Governor is in a position of authority. Due to this, the letter had to be written in a way that carries a professional tone, hence the formality. The student does this by conveying her arguments respectively. Furthermore, the tone was made persuasive by the student's use of facts and ideas; she wants the Governor to take her ideas into consideration, so she lays out facts and information to showcase the different options available to save the state money.  Thus, in order to get her point across to the Governor, she used a persuasive and formal tone.


Conventions of a Formal Letter
The conventions of a formal letter that were used in this example include a greeting, multiple body paragraphs, and a signature. These conventions are appropriate for her genre because she needs to introduce herself and explain her multiple viewpoints/ideas in the letter, while also closing her argument and providing her contact information. The greeting allows the student to specifically address her audience, while the body paragraphs explain her purpose and her proposals that she thinks the Governor should consider for Budget cuts/changes. The closing allows her to thank the Governor for taking the time to read her letter, and it also allows her to provide her contact information in case the Governor wants to discuss any part of her letter with her, as she would be more than happy to do so.

Ethos
The student showcases her ethos when she introduces herself as a college student and when she signs the letter saying she is from the Department of Biology at the University of Arizona's College of Science. This shows the Governor that she not only cares about the issue, but that she familiar with the idea of Medicine and healthcare since Biology is a huge part of study in the field of Medicine. It encourages the Governor to truly listen to what the student has to say, since she is familiar with the topic she is writing about.

Over-all Claim
The over-all claim that the student is trying to make is that there are alternatives to the proposed Medicaid budget cut. The student shares that while she understands the Governor has a need to save the state money and do her job, taking insurance away from the people that need it most will lead to greater problems in the state. Thus, she proposes alternative options that would allow the Medicaid coverages to not be cut, and still save the state money.

Call-to-Action
The student's call-to-action for the Governor is to reconsider the budget cuts by considering the student's proposed solutions such as increasing oversight on high medical costs, healthcare taxes, and more.

Suggestions
I think that the letter was pretty well done; however, a few changes could still be made. She could work on some of her transitions because in some cases she cuts off her ideas quickly, and she could also work on establishing her status as a student in the College of Science in her introductory statement. (I.e. a little more work on establishing credibility). While politicians may be thrilled that college students are interested in the issues in America, the Governor may not be convinced that making budget cuts based off of what a Freshman in college says is a good idea. It would help to know that the student is familiar with medical field and industry and the issues surrounding it earlier on in the letter. Lastly, I think she could probably separate her paragraphs on taxes and safety nets so that she could elaborate a little more on each idea, because as I said earlier, she sometimes cuts off her ideas early.

Reflection on Paper 2

https://pixabay.com/en/thought-bubble-think-comic-blank-305053/

Now that I have finally completed paper two, it's time to reflect upon the good and the bad.

One thing I wish that I could have done differently is get more feedback from others on my paper. It felt like in some cases people would make suggestions, but what they suggested were things I had already done in the next sentence. It made it difficult to determine if what I was saying was not clear, or if people just didn't read it through all the way. However, this was not the case for every comment made, but it happened enough for me to get a little frustrated with my paper.

Furthermore, I learned a lot about the importance of rhetoric and rhetorical analysis. Rhetoric is everywhere, and even though we might not realize it sometimes, we use it daily. It is important to understand how information, images, novels, etc. influence our opinions and thoughts on a day to day basis. A rhetorical analysis helps us to understand how we are influenced, as well as what the author's purpose was for doing so. I can apply these lessons to my other classes by questioning myself why we are learning what we are in class, or why my professors teach things in a certain way. For instance, does this teaching style make it more beneficial? Is this lecture interactive and if so, is it useful in understanding the topics or ideas?

Lastly, I feel that this paper was more successful than the last (well, hopefully). In general, I was more comfortable with the form of this paper (essay instead of QRG), and with what I was supposed to be writing about/analyzing. During the last paper, I was always tempted to argue my points and use the sources as evidence for a controversy analysis instead of analyze the rhetoric behind the sources. However, when I wrote this paper, I knew that I was supposed to purely focus on rhetoric.

Overall, while paper two may have given me one too many headaches, I truly enjoyed learning about HONY and the different people that Brandon Stanton photographed. :-)

I commented on Gabi's, Cati's, and Delanee's posts.

Draft for HONY Analysis

Here is a link to my first draft of my HONY analysis. I know it still needs some work on analysis, and I am currently working on it. However, feel free to comment or make any suggestions. Help is always welcome/appreciated. :)

I received feedback from Davis, Michael Burger, Laura, and my roommate. My roommate, Michael, and Laura suggested talking a little bit more about the rhetoric/goals/purposes that Stanton has or wants to showcase. Davis suggested that I shorten my introduction and focus more on families/relationships rather than general background information. In order to incorporate their suggestions, I will pay a bit more attention to my analysis, and also try to shorten my introduction to make it more about relationships and families. I think the most important thing I could do to my paper is try to make my analysis stronger. I have a lot of good points, but I know I need to tie it all together. I could structure my argument better by making sure I don't sound repetitive. I'm not really missing any points, but I might try to include some analysis on Stanton's ethos. Additionally, I want to improve my first paragraph on families and my second paragraph on relationships in order to ensure that I emphasize how Stanton's photos relate to everyone, and not just his primary audience. Furthermore, I of course make the analysis stronger in those sections as well. Lastly, I believe that the best thing I can do to improve my prose is work on being concise so that I don't drift too far from my arguments. In general, my paper is by no means bad, but I know it still needs quite a bit of work to get it where I want it to be. :)

I posted suggestions on Benjamin's and Arrick's papers.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thumbs_up_font_awesome.svg

Thesis Statement and Outline

https://pixabay.com/en/notepad-pencil-pen-paper-lined-771599/

Thesis: When photographing families and those in relationships, Stanton carefully chooses rhetorical strategies in order to both appeal to his audience’s emotions and allow them to relate to his subjects.

My outline can be found here.

P.S. please note that my outline and thesis are a work in progress and if you have suggestions please feel free to comment. I plan on adding more tomorrow but just thought I could at least start today. :)

I commented on/made suggestions on these blogs:
Davis'
Kian's
Lekha's

Pre-Writing Activities for HONY

https://pixabay.com/en/thoughts-think-psyche-psychology-551263/

For this Project, I have decided to use my Observations and Inferences and SOAPSTone charts. When we did the Cluster Map for the QRG, I found that I had a really hard time keeping things organized; it just felt like there were bubbles and phrases all over the place, and instead of helping me, it just gave me a headache. So, I have decided to stick to charts and pre-writing techniques that do not drive me insane. I remember using SOAPSTone in high school, and forgot how useful it can be when it comes to analyzing rhetoric. It covers all the things that should be discussed in a rhetorical analysis; speaker, subject, audience, occasion, purpose and tone. Furthermore, I like the observations and inferences chart because I can directly organize my thoughts, and see it correlate to inferences on the other side of the chart. Overall, these charts are a better fit for me and allow me to express as many ideas as I want without a small bubble's size constraint. :)

Here is a link to my document. Please note that I know my charts aren't all that great and I plan on editing them to better fit my topic as soon as I get the chance. Regardless though, they are still helpful and will allow me to remember that I still need to be analyzing the rhetoric behind the photos.

I commented on Cati's and Katie's posts. :)

Personal Response

For our next project, I have decided to write about HONY because of the personal reactions I experienced with many of the photos. More specifically, I was able to relate to the photographs of families and people in relationships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_theory
Not a HONY picture, but fit the topic of discussion well.

I know people say that high school relationships don't last, but I met my significant other in 7th grade and we have been together since 8th grade. He is a baseball player, and is playing on a baseball scholarship out of state, so we've been in a long distance relationship since mid August. It's really hard being away from him, not because I can't be independent, but because being away from someone that really means a lot to you honestly just sucks. To get back on track though, seeing the pictures of different couples and the excitement in their faces, the intimate poses they are in, and reading their stories hits close to home since I'm also in a relationship. Sometimes I can even sympathize with them, and it reminds me that I may not be the only person experiencing certain feelings.

https://pixabay.com/en/family-children-sunset-silhouette-730320/
Also not a HONY picture, but I thought the shadows looked really cool. :)

Furthermore, I found Stanton's photos of families to also have an effect on me. My parents are divorced, so I live with my mom and grandparents. They have raised me my whole life and have always been by my side. While I'm not really all that far from home, it is again still hard to be away from the people that are closest to me. My curiosity also peaked when I realized many pictures Stanton takes are of women and their daughters/other children-- no father. It made me kind of interested to delve into that rhetoric and see whether it is just a coincidence or there is deeper meaning. For instance, there is a photo of a girl with her mother and they are wearing matching clothes, it suggests a strong bond between the two, and the lack of a male figure in the picture either suggests he is just not there for the photo, or maybe not there for them at all.

Regardless of what type of relationship Stanton is displaying in his photos, there is a purpose behind it, and where there is purpose, there is rhetoric just waiting to be analyzed. :-)

I commented on both Gabi's and Davis' posts.

Outline of Student's Guide Essay

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/5979868093

Here is a link to my outline of the Student Guide's student essay!

The organization of the essay, while not the best I have ever seen, was fairly decent. Overall, I feel that the student did pretty well as far as analyzing the rhetoric goes. One paragraph that I thought was particularly strong was the first body paragraph. The student used two examples to support their claim, and in both cases, they were chosen and analyzed well. The author of this essay brought up some really good points as to how the two scenarios appealed to the emotions of the readers. I found the fashion show/runway symbolism to be quite interesting. Typically when people think "runway" or "fashion", there are positive associations; however, this is not the case for sex trafficking. The tone here is somber and this continues throughout the rest of the commentary the student provides. By using abstract connections and making solid inferences based off the evidence they choose, the student demonstrates their ability to analyze the rhetorical situation.

The paragraph that I think was the least impressive was probably the second body paragraph. I say this because while the author of the essay tries to bring in new evidence, they still refer back to their first paragraph, and even use some of the exact language and the examples from the paragraph before. Thus, they repeat themselves all too frequently. Typically, when there is a paragraph change, there should also be a shift in discussion or a shift in examples in order to bring in new insight to the analysis. So, in order to make this paragraph better, I would suggest either new evidence usage or new commentary, because as I just said, a shift in topic would allow for more insight and analysis to occur, which would definitely make for a stronger paper overall.

Switching back to organization though, I found the topic sentences to be directly correlated to the thesis statement. It allows for a sense of unity in the student paper, which also allows the piece to stay focused on its central goal of analyzing how the rhetoric appeals to the emotions of the audience. (I outlined each and every topic sentence so that I could come to this conclusion). The only problem was that the information was very repetitive in each paragraph, so it seemed like the student was sharing more than they needed to. But truly, the topic sentences were one of the highlights of this paper, as the student clearly took their time developing the connections between the thesis and all the paragraphs.

Lastly, the student chose great examples for evidence that they used to support their claims as well as analyze the rhetoric. They examples chosen were well thought out, and the analysis clearly related back to the thesis of the essay. All in all, the essay was a very good analysis, but it could still benefit from some editing for repetitiveness.

Observations and Inferences for HONY

Observations

Inferences

Photos that go as far back as January 2009-January 2011 are sparse and do not have captions/stories beneath them. Around January 2011, the captions begin to show up beneath the photos Stanton takes. These captions are not nearly as long as the more recent photos, and they do not really tell the story of people, but give context. The number of “Notes” his photos had received remained in the hundreds and even less for a very long time. Around 2011, they began to go into the thousands. As the “Notes” increase, so do the number of photos he posts. Primarily takes portraits that focus on the individual and not any surrounding features. Lack of landscapes. Consistent longer captions appear in 2014, and as time goes on captions become longer. Some are stories, some are quotes. Stories definitely tug on the heartstrings no matter their tones. Some photos have solemn faces, some with no expression, and some that display joy. Some photos are not portraits. Includes hands, feet, pictures of a picture, etc. There are photos of individuals outside of New York, including his most recent project- Iran. Refugees People that have experienced horrors. Comments that Iran is not as bad as some make it out to be. Makes a note of where the photos were taken; helps to show the difference between photos from New York and photos from other countries.

HONY probably was not as big of a hit at the time; it was more than likely in its stepping stone phase. He seemed to be experimenting with types of subjects he photographed. Presumably, he wants to give the audience the context of his photos. Stanton attempts to explain his work and why he feels (as well as why others should feel) that his work at a “photo census” of New York is valuable. More and more people are being exposed to his photography and website. Stanton attempts to keep up with his audience and tries to give them more of what they want- the stories and photos of the humans of New York. This once hobby seems to be turning into a bigger deal with deeper meaning behind it. Capturing a person and their face is personal. The title of his project is “Humans of New York”- he wants to showcase the individuals and who they are. Makes me think of when people say not to slap someone in their face as that is their “identity”. Similar thought process here- photographing a portrait captures their identity. Context is not longer enough for Stanton. He wants to tell the stories of these people, not just show the world their face. A photo can be superficial without context or prior knowledge. His captions, especially the longer ones, help to tell the stories of these people. He creates work with a deeper meaning. Stanton switches tones frequently between his photos. In this sense, he is not trying to depress or make anyone happy, but rather showcase the realities of life. Sometimes life is harsh (i.e. in case of refugees), sometimes life is wonderful (finding callings and meanings in life), and sometimes, people forget to recognize the small and beautiful parts of life (young children and their innocence). Shows that Stanton is respectful of his subjects’ wishes. He preserves anonymity but still allows their stories to be told through the captions. Stanton has obviously found a passion in taking photos of people and telling their stories. When taking photos of refugees, he seems to be trying to give them their identity back that may or may not have been stripped from them in their homelands. Furthermore, he shows that America is not the only place in the world (shocking!- not). He travels and goes all over the world to show life from many different points of view. It enhances the meaning of his work, even if he isn’t just taking pictures of the humans of New York. Furthermore, he encourages individuals to go out into the world and find out information for themselves and not just assume what they hear is completely 100% true (especially in case of Iran).

If I were to choose HONY as my topic for my rhetorical analysis paper, I would want to focus on the photos that deal with the people in relationships and/or families and their experiences. Some of the stories are so riveting; it makes it hard to not scroll through all the pictures and learn more about people worldwide. It is quite obvious that he chooses his subjects carefully, and I want to examine them and their experiences. I think it would be interesting to compare and contrast the pathos of the pictures/stories; for example, how many stories are positive? How many are negative? Furthermore, does it mark a trend about relationships and families in today's society? If most of them are positive anecdotes, it could be the silver lining that shows that the concepts of love and relationships may not be as lost as society implies they are. There is so much to talk about in the subject area, and I feel that the rhetoric behind these photos would definitely be worth delving into.

Humans of New York SOAPSTone

It's funny- my roommate was just telling me about Humans of New York and their Instagram account a few days ago, and now I analyzing HONY as an assignment for English! In all seriousness though, after spending some time looking through the Instagram and the website, I discovered that I had grown fond of Brandon Stanton's awe-inspiring photographs and the heart-touching stories that follow along with them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabienne/11046266555

Brandon Stanton (speaker) is a photographer that takes photos of various individuals that he encounters around the world (subjects). Brandon began this project after a previous career did not work in his favor; his once hobby has now turned into a career (or rather, national phenomenon) of sorts (occasion). Basically, Stanton gets to travel the world and tell the stories of the people that he photographs. Typically, but not always, Stanton takes portraits of his subjects, and along with the photo he provides a caption that helps to illuminate the individual's essence and/or story. Sometimes their stories are joyous, and sometimes, such as in the case with his Iran subjects, the stories are terrifying. In presenting both sides of life, Stanton hopes to reach out to his audience of individuals that follow his blog and HONY social media accounts to show them that no matter what, there is a beauty in life (purpose). By addressing both the beautiful as well as the haunting and not-so enjoyable parts of existing, Stanton manages to create an alternating sort of tone in his work. While yes, there may be hardships in life, there are also the little aspects that sometimes get overlooked or are forgotten. All  he wants to do is capture those special little moments, and in doing so, he is able to weave an inspiring tone throughout his work and photographs.

#LikeAGirl SOAPSTone

Here is a photo of Ronda Rousey, if you haven't heard of her, watch this video. Then you'll definitely understand why she is being used as my photo representation for this blog post. :)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zennie62/11580465183

During class, we had the opportunity to take a look at the Super Bowl XLIX commercial that helped to revive the #LikeAGirl campaign. The campaign itself (in my opinion) is very intriguing and opened up my eyes a little bit. In truth, I always was be a little offended if someone would say I did something like a girl; I was always wondering well, what is that supposed to mean? After taking a close look at the ad (especially the longer version) I found that it truly was rather influencing; there is nothing wrong with doing things like a girl because well, I am one.

The #LikeAGirl commercials were created by Always, a Proctor and Gamble enterprise, that is distinctly known for producing feminine hygiene products. The occasion for the ad is to call for a change in society's views as to what it truly means to, well, act #LikeAGirl. The commercial centers around female subjects (what a surprise!) and first starts out by asking girls what they think it means to do certain activities like a female would. The reactions are quite stereotypical from both genders. Both women and men make actions like running and fighting overly difficult, they hyperbolically act out the activities weakly, as if to say that they cannot do the task asked of them because the gender they are pretending to be prevents them from doing so. Soon though, young girls are asked what it means to act like themselves (girls). They say it means to be the best at what you do, and when they are asked to perform the same actions that the adults were, they put a new twist on it. Go figure, these girls act like themselves and perform the activities with determination and power flaring from their eyes. In this way, the targeted audience is both men and women. For women, the purpose is to encourage them to strive to be their best; in fact, it is almost like a battle cry- never let anything hold you back. For men, the purpose is to show them that women are in fact not a weaker gender, they hold extreme potential, and it is time to stop treating them like they cannot be viewed as equals in today's society. There are two tones in this commercial; the first one comes at the beginning, and it is a mocking tone due to the insults. However, when the young girls come in and the powerful music in the background begins to swell, the tone changes to one of empowerment. Girls show that they are not a force to be reckoned with, they can do anything a boy can; their bodies and gender should not and do not hold them back.

Revision of Blog 20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin-up_girl

When I first did a rewrite, I chose a larger section to cover, but I have decided to narrow down my focus to one paragraph, as I felt it would be more beneficial to learn to work with this one. Brumberg captured a lot of meaning in such a small amount of words that it was truly fascinating. 


There is a clear motif throughout Greenfield's photos that showcases the ability of men to objectify women and their bodies. For instance, take the photo that Greenfield captured in which a girl has her legs wrapped around a man's waist and her head bent back into the crotch of another man during spring break in Florida. Their blissful faces are on display, and we can feel the smug attitudes radiating off of them at the sight of the girl bending and conforming to their bodies in a way that clearly emphasizes their pleasure. Moreover, this type of scenario can be seen when Greenfield captures a pornographic film star with her male coworker; the focus of the photo is clearly on her half-naked body (as well as how she is being "handled") and dissatisfied facial expression. Greenfield forces the audience to look directly at the discontent woman herself and the way in which the male objectifies her through his touch.

What I Learned

When outlining Brumberg's essay, I learned how to properly focus on the types of evidence I would want to bring into an analysis. Furthermore, I learned that it is easy to pick apart an essay, but not necessarily to put it all back together in your own words (go figure!). After comparing my paragraph and Brumber's original, I noticed that I was focusing on a lot more analysis of the photo instead of audience reaction like Brumberg was. In fact, I had two examples with multiple sentences after each description, whereas Brumberg allowed at most two sentences of analysis. Brumberg instead emphasized what the audience observed of men and how they played a role in the objectification of women. Thus, when rewriting my paragraph, I kept the same examples as my previous rewrite, but I focused on how the men played a role in objectification as well as audience reaction to the photo itself. Lastly, in this case, Brumberg did not use a concluding sentence, but rather ended her paragraph with a bold statement regarding the photo she had just analyzed.

Group Rhetorical Analysis

I will once again refrain from posting the images discussed in this post for copyright reasons, and will instead post this pin-up girl since it is related to the section I had to re-write. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin-up_girl

Rewrite of my section of Brumberg's essay:

In a culture that continues to value the physical appearance of a woman, it has unfortunately become commonplace to turn the rites of passage for young women that once held great symbolic meanings into commercialized celebrations of beauty. For a simple example, take a young girls first party. Lauren Greenfield captured four young girls attending the first party of their seventh grade year. In the photo, the girls are all posing, and they are heavily made up as well as in clothing that is quite tight and mature for their age. Greenfield seems to be showing her audience of other women and individuals that have peaked interest in girl culture that the purpose of these rites of passages has become warped in today's society. She is enhancing the idea that these girls, instead of being excited to go out and have a fun night with friends, are more concerned with their sexualized poses and physical appearance. In fact, one of the girls does not even seem to be happy about going out with her friends; it just seems to just be about getting pretty. Another example in which a more serious rite of passage is affected is during a quinceañera. The quinceañera is a tradition within the Spanish culture that celebrates a girls fifteenth birthday. In the photo Greenfield shows, the girls look rather nervous and dissatisfied with their formal appearance. The photographer wants to broadcast that these once crucial and heavily weighted moments in a young girl's life have now been deduced to materialistic celebrations. Thus, when a girl is taught this at a young age, it teaches them to be accepting of the roles men play in their objectification.

While there are a countless number of men that do not objectify women, there is still a fraction that does and/or allows it to happen. One prime example of this is the photo that Greenfield took in Panama City, Florida during spring break. In that photo, a girl has her legs wrapped around a man's waist, and her head bent back into the crotch of another man. In this way she is pretending to perform oral sex on one man while almost having intercourse with another. While it all may be supposedly in the spirit of spring break, does no one find it disturbing that we think that it "is a part of the spirit of spring break"? Here, Lauren addresses a multitude of women and men by putting this photo out there and saying, look at how this looks from a spectator's point of view. Women were once considered pure, and after seeing that photo, people are not so sure of that statement. Another example of how men can play an audience or a role in the objectification of women can be seen in the photo that Greenfield takes of a pornographic film star with her coworker. The focus of the image is the woman's breasts, body, and unhappy facial expression. By closing up on her body, Greenfield throws into our face how the man has hands draped across her arm and right under her breast across her stomach. The fact that the man's face is not even being shown demonstrates just how focused the image is on her and what he is doing to her. Furthermore, it is clear that she is not enjoying the experience (as can be seen by her facial expression). In today's culture, it has become part of the norm to both objectify women, and turn the once spiritual and mental rites of passage into sad events that focus on the appearance and "beauty" of these girls.

SOAPSTone paragraph:

The first S stands for speaker in this case is the photographer Lauren Greenfield. Each time I needed to introduce an example, I used her name in the introductory statement. The O is for occasion, and for each photo was actually the context of what was in the picture (in some cases, there were captions). I introduced those as I introduced the photo as well. The A in soapstone is the audience, and that is of course girls, and anybody that is interested in "girl culture" which can include men as well. The P is for purpose, and while the photo essay had an overarching purpose, each photo served its own reason for being in the essay. This statement typically followed the example of the photo and addressed why thee picture was important to understand. The second S stands for subject, and just as purpose does, it changes for every photo. In some cases it was the multiple girls going to a party, and in others, it was a single woman expressing discomfort at being touched and half naked. Moreover, by using all the rhetoric from her photos, Lauren Green was able to create a sort of grotesque tone in which she shows how disturbing the changes in girl culture have been over the years. 

Here is the link to the group outline.
I commented on Arrick's and Michael's blog posts. :)