From the beginning of the text, the author has an incensed, insulted tone. She especially makes the most of the word “nonsense” (253) to describe her outlook on Western size paradigms. Moreover, the author forms an atmosphere of pity around the Western women when she declares, “We Muslim women have only one month of fasting, Ramadan, but the poor Western woman who diets has to fast twelve months out of the year” (256). Mernissi forms empathy for women in Western culture, for they have to suffer to simply fit the status quo of their society. By applying pathos, Mernissi is capable of comparing and contrasting just how dissimilar public demands in Western and Eastern culture are. She shows how in Morocco there is no meaning behind “sizes,” and women do not have to change themselves or become “childlike” (255) to attain beauty. Whereas when she was in New York, she was “too big” (253) to be considered normal as “size 4 and 6 are the norm” (253). Moreover, Mernissi was labeled as “deviant” (253) because she did not fit the current trend. Throughout her essay Mernissi creates sympathy for herself due to how she was treated, and also for the average Western woman, as they are also apparently not normal. Additionally, the emotional appeal is key for one to understand Mernissi’s predicament, as it persuades the audience to realize that the “size 6” trend is insulting to
From the beginning of the text, the author has an incensed, insulted tone. She especially makes the most of the word “nonsense” (253) to describe her outlook on Western size paradigms. Moreover, the author forms an atmosphere of pity around the Western women when she declares, “We Muslim women have only one month of fasting, Ramadan, but the poor Western woman who diets has to fast twelve months out of the year” (256). Mernissi forms empathy for women in Western culture, for they have to suffer to simply fit the status quo of their society. By applying pathos, Mernissi is capable of comparing and contrasting just how dissimilar public demands in Western and Eastern culture are. She shows how in Morocco there is no meaning behind “sizes,” and women do not have to change themselves or become “childlike” (255) to attain beauty. Whereas when she was in New York, she was “too big” (253) to be considered normal as “size 4 and 6 are the norm” (253). Moreover, Mernissi was labeled as “deviant” (253) because she did not fit the current trend. Throughout her essay Mernissi creates sympathy for herself due to how she was treated, and also for the average Western woman, as they are also apparently not normal. Additionally, the emotional appeal is key for one to understand Mernissi’s predicament, as it persuades the audience to realize that the “size 6” trend is insulting to