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Eivory Shellman Ms.Zulu English 101 10 October 2020 Rhetorical Analysis of “Still Needing The F Word” In the article "Still Needing The F-Word," author Anna Quindlen (Quindlen) sheds light on the hardships of women in our society and the necessity for feminism to still be present. Throughout the article, the author uses an authoritative tone alongside various literary devices and rhetorical appeals like repetition, irony, simile, logos, and pathos to convey the argument of this essay. The author begins the article by criticizing the assumption of us being in a postfeminist era. Quindlen proceeds to introduce a study of women at Duke University (Duke) and then defines feminism for the reader. Quindlen then explains some struggles of women who attend Duke and how the struggles force them to do things like putting unnecessary amounts of effort into their appearance to compete with their male peers (Quindlen 125). A quote from a Duke report says, "Being 'cute' trumps being smart for women in the social environment," Quindlen adds to the section, "That's not postfeminist. That's prefeminist." (Quindlen 125). Quindlen later dispels the claim of women receiving the same conduct in the workplace as their male counterparts by including a Princeton study where women report their dissatisfaction with their job and lack of companionship with their colleagues (Quindlen 125-126). Quindlen then observes, "Californians were willing to ignore Arnold Schwarzenegger's alleged career as a serial sexual bigot" (126) to demonstrate how society can disregard women. The article concluded with

2 Shellman Quindlen pointing out the lack of change in the world for women equality, even after the issue was illuminated long ago by Friedan in her book (126-127). The article began with a creative pairing of irony and repetition to attract the audience when Quindlen started the article by describing the F-word with irony and then revealing it with repetition. The use of irony is when Quindlen says, "Let's use the f word here. People say it's inappropriate, offensive, that it puts people off. But it seems to me it's the best way to begin when it's simultaneously devalued and invaluable.--- Feminist. Feminist, feminist, feminist." (125). A definition of irony is a contradictory statement that is inconsistent with the readers' anticipated result(Irony). The irony in this quote is the implications of the profane F-word being the topic of discussion, but Feminist is then revealed as the actual topic. Alongside the irony is the repetition of the word Feminist's to emphasize the readers' misconception of the F-word being described. This introduction introduces a serious topic with humor to spark the interest of the reader. The use of humor invokes pathos, which is used differently at a later point in the article. Pathos and logos are both rhetorical appeals used by Quindlen in the article. Pathos persuades the audience using emotion, while logos persuades the audience using reason and facts. The first use of pathos was briefly described in the introduction. Later on, another use of pathos was when Quindlen asserts, "What if he'd habitually publicly humiliated black men, or Latinos, or Jews?" (126) to compare the public's reactions to sexual assault allegations to other groups. Quindlen's comparison was intended to evoke sympathy in readers that belong to the groups she mentioned. Quindlen's comparison could also be interpreted as a way to give readers who are narrow-minded another outlook on the topic.

3 Shellman . Quindlen uses an abundance of logos throughout the article and coincides with her authoritative tone to provide the reader with strong evidence to support the argument. In the majority of the article, the author quotes and refers to two studies conducted by Princeton and Duke to support the claims being made. One example of logos use is when Quindlen argues, "While young women are given the impression that all doors are open, all boundaries down, empirical evidence is to the contrary. A study from Princeton issued at the same time as the Duke study showed that faculty women in the sciences reported less satisfaction in their jobs" (125-126); in this quote, a claim the author disagrees with is presented and immediately invalidated by the author with the support of a study related to the topic. This use of logos is very significant because it was used as an effective response to a counterargument of the author’s claim. If the reader was in agreement with the counterargument, the use of logos in this situation was intended to inform the reader of the truth, with real-life evidence to dismiss a common misconception. In "Still Needing the F-Word," Quindlen uses an authoritative tone paired with the use of different literary devices and rhetoric to inform the audience on the need for the continuous support of feminism. The use of these literary devices begins in the introductory sentences to captivate the reader and is then later used to keep the reader's attention. While literary devices are vital in this article, the most important is the use of rhetoric; Quindlen includes Pathos and Logos. Still, the use of logos is more prevalent in the article than the use of pathos. The heavy use of logos mainly supports the argument by using studies related to the author's view. This article's pathos is just as important; the pathos can persuade readers who were possibly in disagreement with the author's claims. In conclusion, Quindlen's use of Rhetoric and literary

4 Shellman devices successfully provides a way to inform the public on feminism, and it's need to stay relevant.

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Works Cited “Irony Definition, Common Examples, and Significance in Literature.” Literary Devices, 6 Sept. 2020, literarydevices.net/irony/. Quindlen, Anna. “Still Needing The F Word.” Newsweek, Newsweek, 13 Mar. 2010, www.newsweek.com/still-needing-f-word-138627....