Rhetorical Analysis Of Never Just Pictures

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I am writing in response to your request that I analyze Susan Bordo’s “Never just Pictures” and make a recommendation for or against the publication in The Shorthorn. I have considered the rhetorical appeals of Bordo’s piece and determined it will be largely persuasive with the readers of The Shorthorn. The readers are highly likely to find the piece interesting mainly because the article, even though written and published in 1997, is still valid in this modern day era. The Shorthorn readers are mainly young college students, amongst which 60.3% are females who can directly relate to the issue at hand. The social pressure upon young women to achieve the perfect body has been like fire consuming our society. In her article “Never Just Pictures”, …show more content…
The article provides details of how the teen retailer does not stock sizes XL or XXL in women’s clothing simply because the CEO, Mike Jeffries, does not want larger women wearing his brand. They openly accept, and unfortunately, brag about being exclusionary about their brand. This is a perfect example of how big fashion industries are making people know that only the “cool kids” are accepted. You do not see big fashion brands that are specifically targeted for larger people, but there are retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch that are only built around sex appeal which directly affects a lot of young …show more content…
For example, discussing about Stephanie Grant’s autobiographical novel, the Passion of Alice, Bordo mentions about how thin models look as if they are living without desire and without the longing of any kind. She anticipated readers thinking why would anyone want to live without desire, and why would any fashion corporate use a model who looks like this? She provides Freud’s take on the psyche of death that “it represents not the destruction of the self but its return to a state prior to need, thus freedom from unfulfilled longing, from anxiety over not having one's needs met.” This is further explained how the fashion industry has used it to their advantage by pointing fingers at the world and saying since it has only given us anxiety, diseases, stress and other issues, shouldn’t we just stop caring and become

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