Tuesday, February 11, 2014
The Wife-Beater D.E.J.
As I was reading The Wife-Beater by Gayle Rosenwald Smith, the author really caught my attention with the unrealistic quote "Some articles quote women who felt the shirts looked great, especially on guys with great bodies. One woman stated that it even made guys look "manly." So manly equals violent?"(529). Throughout the quote above, Smith over emphasizes that manly equals violent with one women's opinion. Smith states just her opinion that has no actual proof behind it, no back up evidence, just what she believes is to be true. She dives in saying that women think a wife-beater is manly using only her opinion. What Smith was saying would have been more reasonably true if she would have used all other women's opinions instead of just one women's thoughts. By Smith doing this, it would have been more factual for the readers to believe. Smith influence the readers opinion by jumping to her conclusion and saying that, it makes the readers double think if everything else she has said is the truth or just her opinion. Smith is also trying to fluctuate the readers opinion so that they agree with her by incorrectly doing it. She should be using facts to argue it, and not using just her opinion. Smith also uses fallacies when trying to argue her point. This quote is an example of one, it is deceptive, misleading, and/or a false notion. Smith uses the opinion of what one women states, by her doing that is it suppose to be in say for all women? This quote is a type of fallacy called Personal Attack, or Argument Ad Hominem. This fallacy affects the validity of the argument by attacking the motives or character. By doing this it causes the readers attention to divert from the facts of an argument. Rather then focusing on the negative significance of the "Wife-Beater", the author slides the readers attention to her opinion.
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Jordyn, You make some great points here! Smith seems to be trying to convince the reader that what she believes is the truth by highlighting a statement made by one woman in particular. I agree with you that the author does jumps to a conclusion that all women think that men look manly in this type of shirt. I can see where other readers could be influenced by the author’s writing strategy. The woman’s statement Smith used doesn’t convince me, because it is an opinion based on her feelings and there is not any factual evidence from valid research study. I agree with the types of fallacies you used with Smith’s quote, especially the part about it being misleading. I also think the author uses the fallacy called Hasty or Sweeping Generalization, this relates back to how she is jumping to a conclusion by using one woman’s view and generalizing about all women. You pointed out other ideas I have not taken in consideration when I read the article for the first time. All these thoughts that are pointed out change the way I think about the the slang term “Wife-Beater”, and the common use of the term. You have some insightful ideas found within your comments about this article.
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