The Subversive Echo: A Comparison of Language Reclamation as a Feminist Rhetorical Strategy Open Access

Abstract

Feminist figures throughout women’s rights movements use the same methods of subversion to validate and elevate their own voices. In this thesis, I analyze a key rhetorical appeal from the inception of the women’s rights movement and from current conversations, using these selected moments as case studies that exemplify the Subversive Echo. Of the rhetorical appeals made on behalf of the suffragette cause, one piece particularly illustrates an impeccable application of the Subversive Echo: “The Declaration of Sentiments.” While previous scholarship has acknowledged the relationship between the “Declaration of Sentiments” and the Declaration of Independence, few works have thoroughly compared the texts or conducted a rhetorical analysis on the connection. Section 1 explores this relationship, while Section 2 explores how “Pussy Grabs Back” informs contemporary feminism and reflects a quintessential example of the Subversive Echo. The Subversive Echoes of the “Declaration of Sentiments” and “Pussy Grabs Back” ultimately illustrate successful examples of feminist rhetoric reclaiming the past, breaking its hold, and reaching towards gender equality, thus suggesting these waves are still in conversation and that contemporary feminist movements explicitly rely on their foremothers. Through the act of close reading, while also using digital tools for methodical data visualization, one can better understand the precise moves of language reclamation as a feminist rhetorical strategy. Comparing strategies of the Subversive Echo, found throughout feminist waves, provides rich material to analyze and better understand power dynamics around the female voice.

Table of Contents

Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1

Note: Limitations & Objectives................................................................................................. 9

Section 1: Beginnings.................................................................................................................... 13

First-wave Feminist & Suffragette Rhetoric........................................................................... 13

Asserting the Validity Female Voice: How Echoing Offers Ethos......................................... 18

Close Reading the Echo: A Rhetorical Analysis of the “Declaration of Sentiments”.............. 25

Section 2: The Present.................................................................................................................... 41

Contemporary Feminist Rhetoric............................................................................................ 44

Close Reading the Echo: A Rhetorical Analysis of “Pussy Grabs Back”............................... 56

Appendix....................................................................................................................................... 64

Bibliography.................................................................................................................................. 72

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	English
Degree	M.A.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Language, Rhetoric and Composition Women's Studies
Keyword	subversive echo Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pussy grabs back Trump feminist Declaration pussy echo women Declaration of Independence feminism Declaration of Sentiments rhetoric
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Nickerson, Catherine, Emory University
Committee Members	Bahri, Deepika, Emory University Trapp, Joonna S., Emory University

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