This article is written by an accredited psychotherapist, Julie Mencher. Mencher has a private practice in Northampton, MA, consults for colleges, camps, and corporations on the subjects involving the LGBT community, and is the former transgender specialist at Smith college. These credentials prove the ethos of the rhetor. The piece opens with a little information about Mencher's past. Her parents were very young when they had her and she always felt like an outcast in her family. Her story as a lesbian in a less than accepting world is emotional. This appeals to pathos. She goes on to talk bout her clients and the struggle LGBT identifiers face every day. She describes her respect for them and the complexity of the lives they live. Two quotations that struck me were: "the trans woman who wants me to weigh in on her makeup, hair and outfit – because who else does she have to ask?; the trans man who asks my advice about how to have sexual pleasure in a body he despises." and "Your father isn’t becoming your mother, but she is becoming the woman she always felt herself to be." Before reading this article, I felt like I had an acute understanding for the difference in lives people in the LGBT community have. Mencher Gave me an entire new understanding and respect for the LGBT community. This new found respect is due to the author appealing to my emotions (pathos) in order to engage me and get me to understand a completely different lifestyle.
One thing I found off putting was this: "I was the mom who gave her son dolls and dressed him in striped leggings, long after the age of consent (at least according to him). Those were my tears when, on his first toy store trip after he learned to walk, he strutted over to the trucks and never looked back." I feel like she was forcing a lifestyle on her son. As a lesbian woman I don't believe she would appreciate people trying to alter her beliefs and, in turn, she should let her son have an organic gender journey rather than trying to force homosexuality on him.
The rhetorical analysis of the article is in depth and is correct. Also, the quotes placed into the blog allow the reader to know exactly what your referencing in the article. Lastly, the final paragraph about her pushing her child to be a certain way is very alarming and distasteful.
ReplyDeleteI analyzed the article in the same way, and I too have a newly bound respect for the LGBTQ community. The struggles that they face in our society are much different than ours. I was also stricken by the fact that she would dress her son like a female, almost encouraging gender fluidity. While no-one did that to her when she was growing up, I dont think it was morally correct for her to force that upon her son, when that one day he would be able to make the decision for herself.
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