Our Existential Crisis, Our Headache In Our Barbies, Ourselves, Emily Prager uses her own personal experiences to attempt at forging a connection between her and the portion of the audience who also believe Barbie’s design to be a damaging piece of work. Instead of acknowledging her audiences’ feelings Prager only takes hers into account and seems to forge ahead as though all her readers understand where she is coming from. Even as Prager forges ahead, flanked by the influence of pathos she fails to fully pull her audience into understanding just how badly Barbie’s design has damaged the developing psyches of children everywhere.
There are many instances in which Prager could’ve expanded on and brought to light the truth behind her claims, …show more content…
In the second paragraph Prager claims that, “It is a fact of Barbie’s design that if she were a human woman, she’d fall flat on her face,” but there lies a problem with this claim. How can her audience be expected to accept this when there is nothing supporting it fully and wholeheartedly? It is a fact that a girl named Valeria Lukyanova, who went all out to achieve Barbie’s proportions (HumanBarbie.org). Prager simply stated her beliefs and tried to pass them off as facts expecting her audience to take her word on the matter. The last sentence of the third paragraph asks, “Could this account for the popularity of breast implant surgery?” (Prager 1). Instead of gathering the facts and showing whether or not Barbie’s appearance had any influence on the rising popularity of breast implants, Prager moved on. Her claim could be seen as credible if she had gathered statistics that showed that women who have had breast implant surgery owned Barbie dolls growing up or that they find Barbie’s out of proportion body type to be the epitome of womanly perfection. Seeing, however, that Prager disregarded the importance of the facts and did not …show more content…
Prager’s credibility is encountered in the first couple of lines of the article, an essayist and fiction writer who has published for The National Lampoon, The Village Voice, and Penthouse among other magazines. By laying out some of her work experiences Prager sets the foundation of credibility. The entire tone of the article evokes a feeling of trustworthiness due to the sincere way that she voices her opinions. Prager begins the fourth paragraph stating, “I don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes here,” by starting off the paragraph in this manner she acknowledges the fact that these are her opinions and they may not be the most reliable but they are sincere. The majority of Prager’s ethos can be traced back to an approach that ends in Prager’s work being morally likable. In the third paragraph Prager states, “... that doesn’t ameliorate the damage. There are millions of women who are subliminally sure that a thirty-nine inch bust and a twenty-three inch waist are the epitome of lovability,” by bringing this fact up she points out how right it could be to have a children’s toy so sexualized that women grow up believing that their body is inadequate when compared to a doll’s. By doing this and bringing to light the oversexualization she gives the male audience a chance to peer into what the doll may
There are many instances in which Prager could’ve expanded on and brought to light the truth behind her claims, …show more content…
In the second paragraph Prager claims that, “It is a fact of Barbie’s design that if she were a human woman, she’d fall flat on her face,” but there lies a problem with this claim. How can her audience be expected to accept this when there is nothing supporting it fully and wholeheartedly? It is a fact that a girl named Valeria Lukyanova, who went all out to achieve Barbie’s proportions (HumanBarbie.org). Prager simply stated her beliefs and tried to pass them off as facts expecting her audience to take her word on the matter. The last sentence of the third paragraph asks, “Could this account for the popularity of breast implant surgery?” (Prager 1). Instead of gathering the facts and showing whether or not Barbie’s appearance had any influence on the rising popularity of breast implants, Prager moved on. Her claim could be seen as credible if she had gathered statistics that showed that women who have had breast implant surgery owned Barbie dolls growing up or that they find Barbie’s out of proportion body type to be the epitome of womanly perfection. Seeing, however, that Prager disregarded the importance of the facts and did not …show more content…
Prager’s credibility is encountered in the first couple of lines of the article, an essayist and fiction writer who has published for The National Lampoon, The Village Voice, and Penthouse among other magazines. By laying out some of her work experiences Prager sets the foundation of credibility. The entire tone of the article evokes a feeling of trustworthiness due to the sincere way that she voices her opinions. Prager begins the fourth paragraph stating, “I don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes here,” by starting off the paragraph in this manner she acknowledges the fact that these are her opinions and they may not be the most reliable but they are sincere. The majority of Prager’s ethos can be traced back to an approach that ends in Prager’s work being morally likable. In the third paragraph Prager states, “... that doesn’t ameliorate the damage. There are millions of women who are subliminally sure that a thirty-nine inch bust and a twenty-three inch waist are the epitome of lovability,” by bringing this fact up she points out how right it could be to have a children’s toy so sexualized that women grow up believing that their body is inadequate when compared to a doll’s. By doing this and bringing to light the oversexualization she gives the male audience a chance to peer into what the doll may