Emily Nelson
Professor Lutz
English 151
November 3 2011

Abortion: The Arguments in Today's Society 

Abortion is one of the most highly debated topics among the world to this day. There are many different views and opinions that surround this topic that make the situation all that more complicated. The sides of the argument include Pro-Choice and Pro-Life and it is one of the only disputes that effects people morally, socially and medically. Pro-Choice refers to those who support women’s rights to abort a fetus. Pro- Life activists believe abortion should be made illegal and believe it is murder. When a woman is given the option to abort, immediately there is a lot of emotion and pressure surrounding the decision to be made. Depending on the circumstance, a woman’s right to abort a fetus is crucial, always controversial, but ultimately it is a very strong decision from all angles. Pro-Life activists have valid arguments and support the right to life, but there are times where abortion is done in an understandable situation. Abortions are part of a woman’s right to choose and the law protects that right. Overall, I believe abortions can be done for the right reasons and they are going to be needed in various circumstances, I support a woman’s right to choose.

WHO HAS ABORTIONS

http://realweb.ifastnet.com/images/reas_stats.gif

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions have been on the decline since the 1980s. 61.8% of abortions happen in 9 weeks or less into the pregnancy, it is healthiest for a woman to get an abortion done early and an easier procedure for doctors to complete. Of the women who are getting abortions, over half of them are under the age of 20. According to the picture to the right, majority of abortions happen because of financial issues, women aren’t ready for a child, there are problems with the father, and a few other reasons as well. Although there is the option of adoption after the child is born, would you really want an unstable mother to carry a fetus for nine months in her womb and expect her to raise it to be healthy? I understand why Pro-Life activists want to preserve the fetus and give it a good life if a mother is unable to, but Pro-Life activists ignore the other factors such as a woman’s feelings about the situations. Teen mom’s sometimes can’t emotionally handle the effects of having or carrying a child. Their bodies haven’t planned for it and it is physically demanding and changes their childhood forever. The mother’s life is equally important as the fetus' and both parties are accounted for in the abortion decision. 

The Guttmacher Institute provides accurate and current statistics about abortion. People who get abortions come from many different ages, races, religions and locations. Their website, link previously listed, contains a video that summarizes who, what, where, when and why about terminating pregnancies. Along with the video and statistics, Guttmacher also provides abortion services and explains the laws surrounding the process.

The main argument made by pro-choice supporters is for choices to remain an open option for any individual, there should not be a law against deciding if having a child would be a good option for the carrier or for the unborn. By the Free Dictionary definition, pro choice is described as “favoring or supporting the legal right of women and girls to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy to term,” (Free Dictionary). Free Dictionary also describes pro-choice as a woman’s right to control her own body.

Supporters of Pro-Life beliefs use The Bible and government policy to support their anti-abortion opinions. They believe that all lives should be saved, no matter what circumstance, no matter how long the fetus has been in the womb. According to the pro-life side of the argument, once a woman has conception of the fetus, it is a living person and abortion is murder. About every anti-abortion support group will tell you that terminating a pregnancy is the same thing as voluntarily killing an innocent human being. In my research I came across a website that supported life starting the second of conception. Many people contribute to the question of why pro-life? At this website readers will find personal stories of how the pro-life movement has affected them. 
When a fetus isn’t recognized as entering person hood, abortion is not able to be judged by the government as murder. Recently the government has put many restrictions on abortion rights. According to the article The Case for Pro-Choice Participation in Drafting Fetal Homicide Laws, by Mary Beth Hickcox-Howard, fetal homicide laws are putting a lot of restrictions on women who want to abort. The article states, "the only acceptable response to a proposed fetal homicide law is to attempt to block its passage entirely and substitute a bill that enhances punishments for assaulting a pregnant woman, but does not create a separate criminal offense for harming of killing the fetus,” (Hickcox-Howard 319). This is an example of fetal homicide laws in action. If the government can’t make a firm distinction between attacking a pregnant woman as one person or attacking a pregnant woman as two people (the fetus being the second person), we can tell that pro-life arguments aren’t strong enough to be put into action. A blog found about Religion and Pro-Life Issues explains why pro-life activists believe a woman is guilty of murder when she is choosing to have an abortion and how it questions that woman's morality. The blog uses God in the argument and explains how the bibles says you should not kill people. A blog by Frank Pavone, Priests for Life, uses different verses in the Bible to prove many reasons for anti-abortion. Each post uses a different excerpt from the Bible and brings it back to why they feel abortion is morally wrong. Pro-Choice activists do not like when new laws are passed, it creates more work for them to prove their stance. Not to say that pro-life supporters don’t have valid arguments but the fact of the matter is, the government has yet to distinguish a fetus as a human. The new laws put restrictions on abortions and make it more difficult for a woman in need to get the surgery. Each side of the abortion debate have very strong points to be made, but when looking at the facts, abortion has yet to be outlawed and women have yet to stop needing the medical procedure.

 While researching the topic of abortion, a lot of results came up as personal stories and experiences. Many pro-choice activists post about positive abortion experiences, Kimberly Blessing goes into detail about the reasons of why she is pro-choice. Many of her points can resonate with many people across the United States. Blessings makes the statement, “I’m pro-choice because I know the panic a woman can suffer when she thinks she’s pregnant,” (Blessings). The topic of abortion is black and white for pro-life supporters. If a woman is pregnant, they should have the baby, but the feeling Blessings describes is common amongst countless women everywhere, we see it in everyday life, movies, TV shows and books. Maybe there was a misuse or no use of contraceptives or maybe there was an incident of rape, sometimes women feel like their life is over when they have an unplanned pregnancy. Women must know if they will be able to take care of this baby and possibly need to decide if they would be able to handle giving it up for adoption. On the pro-life side of the argument, they understand that some women are not ready to bring a child into the world, keeping that in mind, this group also provides support to help the mother raise the child or they help them with the adoption process. The article Religion and Politics: USA, by Lisa Sowle Cahill acknowledges the fact that women who want to abort should realize there is help for them and they don’t have abort their pregnancy, "the Pregnant Woman Support Act proposes to reduce abortions by promoting pregnancy assistance, adoption, and education and support for new mothers,” (Cahill 189). This shows how even with alternative options to abortion some women still need them.

Blessing’s blog is very personal, her writing is very informal and appeals to many readers. After reading what she had to say it made me realize how pro-life supporters in the government are trying to get these laws passed that are ultimately stripping women’s right to choose away from them. Another point made in this blog that really opened my eyes was “I’m pro-choice because there are already too many unwanted and uncared-for children in this world, and I believe to bring another unwanted one in is cruel to that child,” (Blessings). The main belief of pro-life supporters is a mother should take care of the child until it is able to live outside of the womb, they do not necessarily have to raise the baby but having the baby is the purpose of anti-abortion activists. Forcing a woman to go through with an unwanted pregnancy that results in an unwanted baby is an act of disrespect to those women and their child-to-be. When a woman is choosing to terminate her pregnancy, she is doing it to take care of something that would not result in a good situation for anybody. More personal abortions stories can be found at Our Bodies Ourselves.

http://liberatethemedia.com/images/Pro-Choice-Design-for-Web.jpg

SETTLING THE ARGUMENT

Pro-Life supporters are accused of not giving enough support to pregnant women and pro-choice supporters are accused of being murderers. As of now, there is no settlement on the debate of abortion. Many states have lowered the amount of money they give to abortions and require much more legal processing before a woman can actually get an abortion. The numbers of abortions have been on the decline since the 1980s but they still occur fairly often. Approximately 3,700 abortions occur daily in the United States. Unintended pregnancies continue to be an issue in America and abortion will continue to be debated. I believe that a woman should never be constricted to her choices dealing with her body. There are plenty of options for women to consider when entering pregnancy, and abortion should remain to be one of them.

Cahill, Lisa Sowle. "RELIGION AND POLITICS: U.S.A." Theological Studies70.1 (2009): 186-91.

     Print.

Hickcox-Howard, Mary Beth. "THE CASE FOR PRO-CHOICE PARTICIPATION IN DRAFTING

     FETAL HOMICIDE LAWS." Texas Journal of Women & the Law17.2 (2008): 317-41. Print.

Emily Nelson RD

Emily Nelson

Bryan Lutz

English 151

23 October 2011

Abortion Pros and Cons in Today’s Society

Abortion is one of the most highly debated topics among the world to this day. There are many different views and opinions that surround this topic that make the situation all that more complicated. The sides of the argument include Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. Pro-Choice refers to those who believe women should have the option to abort a fetus. Pro-Life activists believe abortion should be made illegal. When a woman is given the option to abort, immediately there is a lot of emotion and pressure surrounding the decision to be made. Depending on the circumstance, a woman’s right to abort a fetus is crucial, always controversial, but ultimately it is a very impactful decision from all angles. Pro-Life activists have valid arguments and support the right to life, but there are times where abortion is done in an understandable situation. Overall, abortions can be done for the right reasons but they aren’t always recognized for being a logical decision.

PRO-CHOICE

The main argument for pro-choice supporters is for choices to remain an open option for any individual, there should not be a law against deciding if having a child would be a good option for the carrier or for the unborn. When a fetus isn’t recognized as entering personhood, abortion is not able to be judged by the government as murder. When researching the topic of abortion, a lot of results are personal stories and experiences. Many pro-choice activists post about positive abortion experiences, one article in particular can be found at http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/category/prochoice. This article by Kimberly Blessing goes into detail about the reasons of why she is pro-choice. Many of her points can resonate with many people across the United States. Blessings makes the statement, “I’m pro-choice because I know the panic a woman can suffer when she thinks she’s pregnant,” (http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/category/prochoice). This feeling is common amongst countless women everywhere. Maybe there was a misuse of no use of contraceptives or maybe there was an incident of rape, sometimes women feel like their life is over when they have an unplanned pregnancy. They must look at the facts and are faced with a very hard decision, women must ask themselves “will I be able to take care of this baby” and/or “will I be able to give this child up after birth”. If a woman has an unexpected pregnancy after rape, it is emotionally stressful deciding what to do with the fetus. This is a situation where pro-choice support groups gain a lot of respect on their stance. How can a woman be expected to care for a child that would be a constant reminder of being raped?

PRO-LIFE

Supporters of Pro-Life beliefs use The Bible and government policy to support their anti-abortion opinions. They believe that all lives should be saved, no matter what circumstance, no matter how long the fetus has been in the womb, according to the pro-life side of the argument, once a woman has conception of the fetus, it is a living person and abortion is murder. Most women who have gotten an abortion typically have misused contraceptives or used them, very few women use protection methods correctly who get abortions. Pro-life supporters believe abortion questions some women’s morality. The topic is black and white for anti-abortionists, if a women is pregnant, they should have the baby. On this side of the argument, they understand that some women are not ready to bring a child into the world, keeping that in mind, this group also provides support to help the mother raise the child or they help them with the adoption process. The main belief of pro-life supporters is a mother should take care of the child until it is able to live outside of the womb, they do not necessarily have to raise the baby but having the baby is the purpose of anti-abortion activists. 

SETTLING THE ARGUMENT

Pro-life supporters are accused of not giving enough support to pregnant women and pro-choice supporters are accused of being murderers. As of now, there is no settlement on the debate of abortion. Many states have lowered the amount of money they give to abortions and require much more legal processing before a woman can actually get an abortion. The numbers of abortions have been on the decline since the 1980s but they still occur fairly often. Unintended pregnancies will always be an issue in the United States, how the government decides to handle the situation is still very much undecided and could go any way.

Emily Nelson blog 15

    For my blog essay I am going to be writing about the topic of abortion, exploring the two sides of pro choice and pro life. I find this topic very interesting because there are so many different ways to look at ‘what is right’ and how people think this type of situation should be handled. I have found four different blogs that will help me further my understanding on the topic of abortion.
    My first blog is called “Pro-Choice Blog Archive” by Kimberly Blessing. Blessing is firmly pro-choice and through out her blog she is very blunt about her reasoning. She bullet points all of her reasons for being pro-choice and then uses other articles to help support her opinions. This article appeals to me because regardless how anyone feels about the situation, you can relate to at least one of her opinions. Blessing uses strong logos because her persuasion is brought about very logically, “I’m pro-choice because there are already too many unwanted and uncared-for children in this world, and I believe to bring another unwanted one in is cruel to that child,” (Blessing). This article is different than others because it is solely one person’s opinion, but uses credible sources to back her up, unlike other blogs that are a mixture of many people combining into one opinion.
    The second blog I chose was “Pro-Life Blog” by Bill Beckman. This blog is a collection of many different court issues on getting rid of abortion. It is a lot of news stories combined into one blog maintained by Beckman. I think overall this blog uses logos as well because logos appeals to reason and thinking logically. These articles aren’t opinion based, they are what is actually happening in our society. This blog is unique because it ties many different news sources into one collective blog all relating pro-life thought processes.
    For my third blog, I chose to look at another pro-life blog by Frank Pavone. Pavone is an American Catholic priest who is a pro-life activist. His blog uses the catholic bible to prove abortion wrong. Depending on ones religious standpoint, this blog could easily be an example of pathos. Religion is typically a strong reason why people are pro-life and if you’re undecided on your opinion, using the bible to appeal to ones emotions could easily sway them pro-life. This is another unique blog mainly because it is 100 percent religion based.
    For my final blog I found another pro-choice article, “Blog for Choice” is written by many contributors and is a community blog for pro-choice America. It someone reminded me of “Pro-Life Blog” that I previously used because the most recent update is a news article on how representatives voted on a recent abortion issue. This article is much like “Pro-Life Blog” in the sense that they both use news articles and court cases as sources to their pro-choice and pro-life arguments. I believe this a good example of logos for the same reasons previously stated. Both of these blogs use good reasoning to support their points and I think it is interesting to read all the different ways our country is handling this very controversial issue.

1. http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/category/prochoice
2. http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/blog.htm
3. http://www.priestsforlife.org/blog/index.php/life-is-of-inestimable-value
4. http://www.blogforchoice.com/archives/2011/10/how-did-your-re.html

Emily Nelson blog 14

    Meg Hourihan’s excerpt on blogging in Everything’s a Text by Dan Melzer and Deborah Coxwell-Teague helped me make a lot of connections with our class blogs to the original purpose of blogging in the first place. Hourihan’s piece showed a lot about how blogs have evolved and what they are now, “Blog posts are short, informal, and sometimes controversial, and sometimes deeply personal, no matter what topic they approach,” (Melzer & Coxwell-Teague 295). I found this information eye catching just because I found it so true. My blogs are always pretty informal, they get to the point and I sometimes connect them with my own personal experiences. They aren’t always strictly structured which makes them a great interactive tool between classmates.
    Hourihan made very interesting statements on the evolution and the continuation of the evolution of internet communication and blogging. “What’s important is that we’ve embraced a medium free of the physical limitations of pages, intrusions of editors, and delays of tedious publishing systems,” (Melzer, & Coxwell-Teague 297). It is very clear in this current day in age that everything around us changing at a mile a minute. Everyone is looking for the newest technology that make means of living easier on them. Here we can see how evolution of communication has allowed people to easily share and access their own knowledge and interact with others. Blogging has allowed people to escape the norms of formal publications and lets bloggers express themselves on an array of topics on their own blogs and give feedback on other blogs that appeal to them. There are no longer worries of publication rules when one only wishes to use blogging as their means of communication. Blogging can be used for many different internet interactions and I support Meg Hourihan’s ideas and thoughts on the changing of blogging communication.

Emily Nelson blog 13

    As I was reading English Mercury Reader I read a lot of facts about exploratory essays that I forgot to include in my final essay. The first hot spot I noticed in chapter five was, “Along the way you can make your narrative more colorful and grounded by including your strategies for tracking down sources, your conversations with friends, your late-night trips to a coffee shop, and so forth,” (Ramage, Bean & Johnson 113). I agree with this statement, I wish I would have used more personal experiences and more background information at how I arrived at a point. It would have made the essay overall more interesting.
    The next hot spot I found in chapter five was something I found very helpful wehn researching for my own essay, “By providing overview information about potential sources, they help new researchers determine whether a particular source might be useful for their own purposes,” (Ramage, Bean & Johnson 117). This quote is referring to annotated bibliographies and how they are helpful to new researchers. It’s easy to access informative articles by reading what they are about before reading the whole article.
    When I moved on to reading chapter nine, I found two more hot spots. The first one refers to something I didn’t do too well on in my essay, “Once you have cited an author and it is clear that the same author’s material is being used, you need cite only the page numbers in parentheses in subsequent citations,” (Ramage, Bean & Johnson 223). I don’t think I followed that rule for my whole essay and I definitely need to tighten up my citation rules in the next essay I write.
    My second hot spot for chapter five I found interesting was if you are citing a magazine or newspaper without an author mentioned, Ramage, Bean and Johnson state, “If no author is identified, begin the entry with the title or headline,” (226). I didn’t know you could make a citation without and author accessible, good to know for future references.

Emily Nelson Blog 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzZyUaQvpdc
Watch this, you'll understand why I think it is a good piece of rhetoric. It uses so many real issues and facts and ties it all in with social media and really makes a statement on how powerful social media is in our day in age.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T2yiZJKNL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
This is an image of the book He's Just Not That Into You. If you haven't read it and you're a girl, YOU SHOULD, if you're a guy and want to laugh...read it. I think this is a good piece of rhetoric because it is very blunt and to the point, the message it is trying to get across makes perfect sense and that's why I really enjoyed this.

Emily Nelson Blog 10

Essay Question: Social Influences on Appearance and Body Image for Judged men and women

SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCE AND APPEARANCE-BASED REJECTION SENSITIVITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Lora E. Park and Ann Marie DiRaddo Rachel M. Calogero University at Buffalo, The State University of New York University of Kent

A large body of research has shown that people are likely to adopt the norms, values, and behaviors of their peer group; this may be especially true for appearance ideals (109).

Appearance-RS is the first known empirically validated construct to directly link intrapersonal appearance concerns with interpersonal concerns of rejection; it represents the joint influence of appearance anxieties with the cognitive expectation of rejection based on appearance. (113).

First Quote: Talks about influence, good area to look at when researching social influences.

Second Quote: Good quote. Need to research more of appearance anxieties.

Stress and Dress: Investigating the Relationship

Between Social Anxiety and Appearance Management Among Gay and Straight Men

Andrew Reilly, PhD Northern Illinois University

Nancy Ann Rudd, PhD Ohio State University

In turn, social anxiety probably influences the coping strategies employed if the created appearance is perceived to be unlike the cultural ideal or unappreciated by others. (154).

However, it is clear that anxiety encourages people to consider engaging in appearance management behaviors that can cause risk to their health and well- being. (163).

First Quote: Good section about anxiety.

Second Quote: RESEARCH MORE APPEARANCE MANAGEMENT.

Emily Nelson essay questions

Do women dress to impress other women? Why is there a constant judgement among women?

Emily Nelson Blog 8

    Suheir Hammad’s performance of “First Writing Since” hit home with many different Americans. She spoke about a very important day in American history in a very serious tone with a very heart felt intent. Hammad’s use of logos, ethos and pathos was very apparent throughout the entire speech. She used logos when saying “these are my friends and fam, me in those buildings and we’re not bad people, do not support America’s bullying,” (Hammad). Here she relates to the American’s who aren’t apart of how other countries view us as bullies. She reasons with the majority of America who are the little men in this country who have no effect on what goes on with war and our countries technicalities. She uses ethos when she states “one more person assume no arabs or muslims were killed, assume they know me or that I represent a people or that a people represent an evil,” (Hammad). This definitely appeals to the speaker in this case. Hammad belongs to a race that was harshly judged after the attacks of 9/11 and people looked at that foreign descent much differently after that day. When she said this she was speaking of how people assumed she had some form or relation to the attacks after they happened, just because she resembled some of the attackers culture. Hammad relates to her audience when she says “and when we talk about holy books, hooded men and death, why never mention the KKK,” (Hammad). This is an example of how she uses pathos, after Hammad makes this point you hear a strong crowd reaction. The audience from time to time would clap after strong points were made and thats how you can tell she made her argument to her audience.
    Hammad used a form of poetry to make her argument about this sad day in American history. She spoke with rhythm and emotion that kept her audience engaged and attentive. Her passion was felt through her speech, making the argument toward how different races got terrible judgement after the events of 9/11. I feel that she was persuasive in proving her points and I think a lot of that has to do with the reality and truths found in all of her arguments that she made.

Emily Nelson Blog 7

    When writing an exploratory essay, there are many important elements to consider during the writing process. After reading chapter five in The English Mercury Reader by John C. Bean, June Johnson and John D. Ramage, I noticed a few very key points in composing an exploratory essay. “The essential move for exploratory thinking and writing is to keep a problem alive through consideration of multiple solutions or points of view,” (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 107). I find this important because keeping a problem alive keeps a reader interested at all times. If you stray away from your point a reader may get lost in irrelevant thoughts. Another point I found important was about contrasting views, “the key to effective exploratory writing is to create a tension between alternative views,” (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 108). This to me also goes back to keeping a reader interested. Exploring different views not only lets the reader see different sides to a problem, but it lets the writer open up to alternative solutions to the problem at hand. This statement doesn’t only apply to writing exploratory essays, I feel like it applies to general life situations as well. If you only allow yourself to see one side you miss out on a lot of new experiences. The third key element I found important to an exploratory essay was “instead of a single, focused question, you might start with a whole cluster of related questions swimming in your head,” (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 110). When keeping this statement in mind, a writer won’t have to limit their essay to answering only one question. There is one problem that is being explored in the essay but answering multiple questions about the problem will allow a writer to truly explore all of the different angles to view a solution. All three of my points essentially relate back to keeping a reader interested by viewing a central problems at many different view points. These elements will always keep a reader interested and in my opinion it is very important to do so.

Emily Nelson Blog 6

    After reading chapter three of Guyland by Michael Kimmel, I found a lot of what he had to say about masculinity to be very thought provoking. One of the first statements I found to spark my interest was about men trying to impress me, “masculinity is largely a “homosocial” experience: performed for, and judged by, other men,” (Kimmel 47). When I first read this, I immediately thought of the group of guys my friends and I hung out with in high school. They were so worried about image, none of them ever wanted to look dumb in front of each other. It really annoyed me a lot of the time because I could tell they weren’t very sincere. It relates to this quote because boys do try to impress other boys just to keep or gain status. They need to look well in the eyes of other men, and then the women come along after that.
    Kimmel later brings his passage to talking about violence associated with men and the results of the guy code. “Most guys are good guys, but that doesn’t lessen the reality of the violence that surrounds them,” (Kimmel 58). I completely agree with this part of the piece. This example shows how men are good, and that there are some out there that really do have good intentions. It is not fair for those who are good to have to be overshadowed by all the crime associated with the bad men in this world. Not saying there aren’t bad women, but from our activity in class, we can see that crime is more so associated with masculinity. I like the fact that Kimmel points out how men are good and men are bad, all we typically hear about is the bad, but at times it is refreshing to hear about how there are still good people around.

Emily Nelson blog 5

After viewing the Tropes vs. Women video I was opened up to how some women really are portrayed in movies. Through out the video the phrase “manic pixie dream girl”  was referred to countless times, meaning the girl in movies who saves the man for his benefits only. I found it particularly interesting when clip stated “women are not here for your inspiration, celebration or to coax you out of your troubles,” (Feminist Frequency). I agree with this statement but I don’t think the movies used as examples were necessarily trying to portray that in the film’s message. Yes, in those films the men are the main characters but there are plenty of movies where men play the supporting role to the female main character. 

Another hot spot I found in this video was “manic pixie dream girls supporting character used to further the story line of the male hero, she really has no life of her own, she has no family or interests or much of a job that we ever see,” (Feminist Frequency). I strongly disagree with this statement. Even when women are the support role they are still a huge part to the story line. I view it as without the woman’s strength in the films used as examples, the male would have no chance in succeeding.

As for the Doofy Husbands video, I did think it was funny, but I didn’t agree with it. In the beginning when Sarah Haskins stated “spend five years trying to land this guy, mother f***** can’t even make breakfast,” (Haskins) I instantly disagreed. I have a dad that makes the best breakfast in the whole world, I know dads can make breakfast. I also found it mean when said in the video “you need them around to do three things, barbecue, breed children and take care of the lawn ,” (Haskins). This is just unnecessary. Everyone knows that husbands and fathers are worth way more than that. Yes men are particularly good at those things, but they aren’t worthless as this video makes them out to be.

Emily Nelson blog 4

August
Believe
    After reading August’s essay on anti-male bias, my initial thoughts disagreed with a lot of the main points made. After playing the believe in doubting games, introduced by Peter Elbow, I opened my eyes up and started to understand why August has made these arguments. “Male victims are simply not news; women (and children) victims are,” (August 131). After reading this part I started to agree with August, not because I strongly believe that women are extremely sexist towards males, but because there is a lot of truth in this statement. The number of times you hear about women victims in the news completely blows male reports out of the water. There is truth in what August is proving here.
Doubt
    Although I can agree with some of what August has to say about anti-male bias in English, I have to argue against most of what is said in the essay. I understand where August is coming from, but I do not think the arguments are a reflection on all women. There are points women could argue back about sexist males in our society, I personally could argue rap music and everything it stands for, but I know it doesn’t reflect all males as a whole. Just as I don’t think it’s fair to argue all women are held to this standard that August describes. If everyone is so worried about sexism in our society then why does everyone keep pointing fingers?

Tannen
Believe
    I hate this essay, I strongly disagree with almost 100% of it, but I did open myself up to accepting what Tannen had to say about being marked and unmarked and understand where the points are coming from. Women are judged all the time by appearance, I don’t agree with it, but it’s true and how you are labeled or ‘marked’ says a lot to people. Men sometimes are left for open interpretation, as in they aren’t constantly being judged like women. The points Tannen makes are good arguments, but I think there is a lot more to being unmarked and marked than what is described.
Doubt
    As I previously stated, I was not a fan of what Tannen was saying. I think women are way more than what they wear or how they present themselves. I believe all people shouldn’t be prejudged, I don’t think everything is based on the surface. You have to listen to what people have to say to understand what they are fully about. Tannen states in the essay, “...but a woman whose hair has no particular style is perceived as not caring about how she looks, which can disqualify her from many positions, and will subtly diminish her as a person in the eyes of some,” (Tannen 142-143). This statement makes me angry. I don’t agree with this mainly because if appearance truly does further you down the totem pole, then those judging aren’t worth what one has to bring to the table in the first place. I don’t like prejudgement and don’t agree with Tannen’s beliefs of women being marked all the time.

Emily Nelson blog 3

    Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue” gave a very unique perspective on language barriers. Overall, I noticed Tan’s writing style was in an open prose form of an essay. All of her thoughts and stories were about the different types of english she encounters. Tan ends the introduction stating “Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with,” (Tan 113). I can tell from how she phrased this that she will be explaining to her readers her experiences with english and that she is not trying to persuade us. “Mother Tongue” always stays on topic but there was never anything said that was trying to persuade the audience. Tan never directly states a thesis but she entertains the journey of her english experiences well.
    I believe Tan is trying to speak to people who aren’t accepting of different cultures. She showed the instances when her mother was at the hospital and talking to her stockbroker where the language barrier set her apart from other patients or clients. The simple fact that Tan’s mother couldn’t speak great english put her on a lower level than others. I think Tan wanted to address that and let people know that that is not the right way to handle things. In this case, stockbrokers and doctors in Tan’s essay are shown to be lazy because they don’t take Tan’s mother as seriously as others.
    This essay doesn’t conform to the typical essay writing style. It is more of a story being told, but it is done in an essay format. Tan uses quotes to prove points, like in a typical essay, but doesn’t follow a normal essay format. Tan is informative and direct to her audience, but she isn’t stating facts and quoting literature to argue a point. She uses personal experiences to show her side and where she is coming from and that sets this essay apart from an average essay.

Blog #2 Emily Nelson

The first hot spot that stood out the me in Everything’s a Text by Dan Melzer and Deborah Coxwell-Teague was “As Janelle’s writing demonstrates, we each have individual histories as readers and writers,” (Melzer and Coxwell-Teague 66). I believe in the excerpt for many reasons. I mainly find truth in this because it explains why everyone has their own writing style. Writers form their opinions based on their beliefs and their own experiences through life. People see things differently from how they were raised and where they grew up and can form a completely original opinion that someone like you and me would have never even thought of. Readers also can relate to this because everyone interprets what they have read differently. People understand literature differently and that is where it is helpful to be open to hear outside opinions on the same material, it could always open your eyes up to something you would have never thought of.

Melzer and Coxwell-Teague stated a second hot spot that stood out to me in this chapter, “It is important to move outside of your experience as you explore your personal literacies,” (68). The passage later goes on to explain that one could do this by doing some research on cultural histories and background. I find this intriguing simply because when I think research I think about finding sources and recording it, but in this case, I begin to think about how I need to change my research process. I see where finding background can make thoughts flow together more because when the background is known, it’s easier to explain why you have arrived at your argument in the first place. Researching is key to any piece you begin to write and this excerpt really stood out to me because it opened my eyes to different ways to go about finding support I will need in future writing.