Rhetorical Analysis: 'America Made Me A Feminist'

Paulina Porizkova, a model and traveler, writes in “America Made Me a Feminist” about the differences in culture and beliefs. Now she believes woman have fallen short of what they can accomplish. Throughout her piece, she uses a series of rhetorical tools but mainly relies on her experience. However, her experience is persuasive in showing a need for feminism. Porizkova takes her women audience through the previous locations she has lived and shows the difference in a woman’s worth. Porizkova effectively conveys her message to her intended audience that women should be feminists in order to thrive despite suppression.
Porizkova opens her opinion piece by discussing how she views the connotations of the word “feminism.” She introduces this …show more content…
If a boy were to bully her in Czech, she would have cried. Women in Czech do not stand up for themselves, which implies that they are weak and less than the boy bullying her. After a long day of work, women come home “to cook, clean and serve their husbands” (Porizkova). Although Porizkova is implying that there is a problem with serving the needs of others before oneself, she is showing a clear need for feminism. She shows feminism’s importance by writing about the damage she witnessed within the Czech society. She starts by writing, “women were cajoled, ignored and occasionally abused,” meaning that men do not treat women well (Porizkova). She continues to write that women “were mentally unstable domestic animals” (Porizkova). Her experience in Czech left her to think that women are less than men. Her personal testimony resonates well with the audience and makes them feel bad for Czech women. In Czech, women accept their position as beneath men and they suffer the consequence. Porizkova uses her time in Czech to show her audience how badly women are treated across the …show more content…
Traveling all over the world, Porizkova experiences lots of different cultures and utilizes them to persuade the audience to believe in feminism. While in Sweden she learned that women are tough, but when she came to America she began to think women are weak. Porizkova expresses the need for feminism effectively to her audience. A woman’s self-worth determines how she will live her life. She uses pathos and her testimony to bring people to her purpose. Woman in America are trying and dwindling out, but Porizkova writes that the cure is