DOCSLIB.ORG

A Rhetorical Analysis of Storytelling on NARAL Pro-Choice America's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Rhetorical Analysis of Storytelling on NARAL Pro-Choice America's “Stories for Reproductive Freedom”: A Rhetorical Analysis of Storytelling on NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Website Anna Maltbie | Miami University, Ohio In the debate on abortion access in the United States of America, the pro-life movement tends to dominate strong appeals to emotion while the pro-choice movement relies more heavily on facts and appeals to logic. This division of the rhetorical landscape ignores key present-day pro-choice advocacy efforts involving appeals to pathos. I consider how storytelling is used in the pro-choice movement to share the perspectives of people who have been impacted by abortion access, dispel myths surrounding abortion, and give con- crete examples of the who, why, and how of abortion. In my article, I examine thirty-three stories from the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice America’s “Stories for Reproductive Freedom” webpage. I argue that the various strategies for wom- en to share their personal experiences present in the stories I analyze demonstrate how the pro-choice movement claims a voice in the rhetorics of emotion surrounding abortion that has been dominated by the pro-life movement for decades. As the legal battle for abortion access still rages today, it is vital for pro-choice advocates to understand how and why storytelling is an important tool in the continuous fight for access to abortion. Introduction their bodies and futures. The pro-choice move- ment has been politically active over the last The topic of abortion is polarizing in the decade due to the passing of extreme abor- United States of America, with many people tion restrictions (Pickert 1). To explore how taking a stance on one of the extremes, either storytelling has been used to combat the re- for access to abortion (pro-choice) or against surgence of anti-abortion laws in this recent access to abortion (pro-life). When there are time period, I analyze 33 personal accounts such strong opinions tied to both sides of a about abortion access from National Abortion debate, more than just logic and facts are in- Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice volved in the decision-making process. It is America’s “Stories for Reproductive Freedom” important to consider how Americans discuss webpage, a potentially valuable dataset that and form their beliefs about abortion because has not yet undergone close analysis by rhet- this affects how they vote for laws that dictate oricians. Before I begin my analysis, I explore the rights of women to make decisions about pro-life versus pro-choice rhetoric as well as the Maltbie | 27 historical and present importance of NARAL In response to severely limited access to in pro-choice activism in the United States. I abortion pre-Roe v. Wade, nonprofit organiza- also address how feminist digital activism and tions such as NARAL formed to consolidate digital storytelling underlie the personal narra- the voices of pro-choice activists into a driving tives I analyze in this article. force for lobbying efforts and political change The pro-life and pro-choice movements are (Pickert 5; Staggenborg 16). NARAL engag- opposing sides to the same issue. According- es in political action and advocacy efforts to ly, the movements take contrasting approaches oppose restrictions on abortion and expand in their rhetoric. While the pro-life movement access to abortion. Today, NARAL must con- includes logos in its rhetoric, there is often a tend with keeping abortion legal as many states strong appeal to pathos aimed at eliciting an have limited access by cutting funding and emotional response against abortion through shutting down abortion clinics. In particular, inflammatory language. This type of rhetoric Alabama enacted the Human Life Protection is demonstrated in the 2004 Unborn Victims Act in May 2019 to impose a near-total ban of Violence Act, which was lobbied for by the on abortion in the state. Although a legal chal- National Right to Life Committee, one of the lenge has delayed the bill’s implementation, it largest American pro-life organizations. The is clear that the pro-choice/pro-life debate is law aims “to protect unborn children from still raging today and advocacy efforts from or- assault and murder” (United States, Con- ganizations such as NARAL are vital for con- gress). Although the law makes an exception tinued access to abortion in the United States. for women who consent to an abortion, this act was notable as it grants legal representa- Feminist Activity and Digital tion to unborn children at any stage of devel- Storytelling in the Pro- opment. This is an antithetical concept to the Choice Movement pro-choice rhetoric that usually uses technical terminology according to the stage of pregnan- Feminist activism lies at the root of the pro- cy (such as embryo for the first eight weeks) to choice movement, which is intrinsically tied to avoid problematic associations of unborn ba- women’s rights about their bodies and health. bies as living humans deserving of legal pro- The pro-choice and feminist movements were tection. Contrary to pro-life arguments, the close allies pre-Roe v. Wade. The National pro-choice movement tends more towards rea- Organization for Women (NOW) lent support son and fact-based discourse as the movement’s to NARAL’s “Children by Choice” demon- goals are focused on lobbying for abortion ac- stration on Mother’s Day in 1969, their first cess laws rather than changing people’s opin- national action (Staggenborg 51). In recent ions. However, I believe there is the potential years, feminist efforts have utilized digital for the pro-choice movement to likewise in- platforms for their movements. An example of clude appeals to pathos and shift the rhetorics this is hashtag activism, which uses hashtags of emotion around abortion. on Twitter to connect activists online and has 28 | Young Scholars in Writing catalyzed movements such as #YouKnowMe conversations about women’s issues such as and #ShoutYourAbortion that allow women to sexual assault and abortion around the varied, share their abortion stories (Guerra; Ortega). actual impact on real people (Guerra; Ortega). In a study of feminist hashtag movements Other forms of digital storytelling in addi- in which people share their sexual assault ex- tion to hashtag activism are used in the pro- periences via Twitter, Heather Lang explores choice movement. In Digital Storytelling: Cap- how, “though each of these hashtags developed turing Lives, Creating Community, Joe Lambert in its own rhetorical ecology, they are united defines stories as “what we do as humans to by an overarching exigence: #YesAllWom- make sense of the world. We are perpetual sto- en, #WhyIStayed, #SayHerName, #Been- rytellers, reviewing events in the form of re- RapedNeverReported, #MeToo, and others lived scenes, nuggets of context and character, respond to public misunderstanding, disbelief, actions that lead to realizations” (5). Stories or complacency surrounding violence against are a medium for people to connect with one women” (10). another on a personal level, and these connec- Lang argues there is an inherent danger tions facilitate understanding and empathy to- in using digital platforms that separate phys- wards the unknown. Storytelling is especially ical bodies from issues that pertain closely to important in the case of advocacy for abortion, the body such as sexual assault and, I would a topic in which misinformation and inflam- add, abortion. In particular, Lang recognizes matory rhetoric are widespread. For many, that as information about sexual assault rap- abortion is a theoretical concept, and infor- idly disseminates, people may fail to recognize mation on abortion is typically only available it as “a lived reality, or as a preventable social to those who seek it. Stories from people who problem,” making it vital for people to share have been personally impacted by abortion their experiences to ground these facts in re- can help humanize the topic and share per- ality (10). I argue that there is a similar con- spectives that would otherwise not enter the cern with abortion. While presenting factual, conversation about abortion access. For exam- biological arguments about abortion appeals ple, in an analysis on ethos in the pro-choice to logos, this strategy risks creating a single, movement, rhetorician Timothy Ballingall sterile narrative that removes the subjective ex- discusses Wendy Davis’s 2014 memoir Forget- perience of individuals impacted by abortion ting to Be Afraid as a precedent of “maternal access. As Shari Stenberg explores in her analy- abortion narratives,” stories in which women sis of shame in relation to sexual assault in the depict their abortion experience through the #NotOkay movement, social media provides lens of a grieving mother who chose to have an a platform for women to engage in conversa- abortion (106). Such stories provide insight to tions on a public forum and discuss the com- those who have never needed to consider the plex social nuances of these issues (Stenberg). topic themselves and may help to challenge In these movements, storytelling reorients the established stigmas surrounding women who Maltbie | 29 get abortions, such as being “selfish” or “bad My Methodology: mothers” for choosing to abort their unborn Categorizing Stories for baby. Personal accounts and stories can serve Reproductive Freedom broader activism goals by dispelling myths surrounding abortion and giving concrete ex- The 33 stories in my dataset are from NARAL amples of the who, why, and how of abortion: members and are about how their access or who is getting an abortion, why they make this lack of access to abortion has impacted their choice, and what steps they need to take to get lives. They are approximately one to eight an abortion. paragraphs each. Identifying information is The stories in my dataset are a form of largely limited to first name, last initial, and digital abortion advocacy storytelling.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020
    Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 Nic Newman with Richard Fletcher, Anne Schulz, Simge Andı, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Supported by Surveyed by © Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Digital News Report 2020 4 Contents Foreword by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen 5 3.15 Netherlands 76 Methodology 6 3.16 Norway 77 Authorship and Research Acknowledgements 7 3.17 Poland 78 3.18 Portugal 79 SECTION 1 3.19 Romania 80 Executive Summary and Key Findings by Nic Newman 9 3.20 Slovakia 81 3.21 Spain 82 SECTION 2 3.22 Sweden 83 Further Analysis and International Comparison 33 3.23 Switzerland 84 2.1 How and Why People are Paying for Online News 34 3.24 Turkey 85 2.2 The Resurgence and Importance of Email Newsletters 38 AMERICAS 2.3 How Do People Want the Media to Cover Politics? 42 3.25 United States 88 2.4 Global Turmoil in the Neighbourhood: 3.26 Argentina 89 Problems Mount for Regional and Local News 47 3.27 Brazil 90 2.5 How People Access News about Climate Change 52 3.28 Canada 91 3.29 Chile 92 SECTION 3 3.30 Mexico 93 Country and Market Data 59 ASIA PACIFIC EUROPE 3.31 Australia 96 3.01 United Kingdom 62 3.32 Hong Kong 97 3.02 Austria 63 3.33 Japan 98 3.03 Belgium 64 3.34 Malaysia 99 3.04 Bulgaria 65 3.35 Philippines 100 3.05 Croatia 66 3.36 Singapore 101 3.06 Czech Republic 67 3.37 South Korea 102 3.07 Denmark 68 3.38 Taiwan 103 3.08 Finland 69 AFRICA 3.09 France 70 3.39 Kenya 106 3.10 Germany 71 3.40 South Africa 107 3.11 Greece 72 3.12 Hungary 73 SECTION 4 3.13 Ireland 74 References and Selected Publications 109 3.14 Italy 75 4 / 5 Foreword Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) The coronavirus crisis is having a profound impact not just on Our main survey this year covered respondents in 40 markets, our health and our communities, but also on the news media.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Metoo Movement Through the Lens of the Twitter
    EasyChair Preprint № 4042 Understanding The MeToo Movement Through The Lens Of The Twitter Rahul Goel and Rajesh Sharma EasyChair preprints are intended for rapid dissemination of research results and are integrated with the rest of EasyChair. August 16, 2020 Understanding The MeToo Movement Through The Lens Of The Twitter Rahul Goel and Rajesh Sharma Institute of Computer Science University of Tartu, Estonia frahul.goel, [email protected] Abstract. In recent years, social media has provided platforms for rais- ing the voice against sexual harassment (SH). The MeToo movement is one such online movement that aims to show the magnitude of this stig- matized issue in society. In particular, on Twitter, which is the focus of this study, has attracted a large number of tweets from all over the world regarding the MeToo movement. The studies of the MeToo movement focus on the SH and sexual assault (SA) incidents but fails to analyze its other hidden facets. In this work, we perform micro-analysis of the MeToo movement using tweets and present a descriptive analysis cou- pled with macro level tweets analysis in order to reveal and understand the diverse subtopics of the MeToo movement. In addition, we also iden- tify and characterize varied user-groups derived through social network analysis. We find that users discussing a similar facet forms a strong community. Some of the facets out of many being discovered are as fol- lows (1) SH incidents reporting is high for people of color1; (2) discussion over color often leads to the use of hate and offensive vocabulary; and (3) along with workplaces, domestic SH cases are higher.
    [Show full text]
  • MIAMI UNIVERSITY the Graduate School
    MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Bridget Christine Gelms Candidate for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ______________________________________ Dr. Jason Palmeri, Director ______________________________________ Dr. Tim Lockridge, Reader ______________________________________ Dr. Michele Simmons, Reader ______________________________________ Dr. Lisa Weems, Graduate School Representative ABSTRACT VOLATILE VISIBILITY: THE EFFECTS OF ONLINE HARASSMENT ON FEMINIST CIRCULATION AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE by Bridget C. Gelms As our digital environments—in their inhabitants, communities, and cultures—have evolved, harassment, unfortunately, has become the status quo on the internet (Duggan, 2014 & 2017; Jane, 2014b). Harassment is an issue that disproportionately affects women, particularly women of color (Citron, 2014; Mantilla, 2015), LGBTQIA+ women (Herring et al., 2002; Warzel, 2016), and women who engage in social justice, civil rights, and feminist discourses (Cole, 2015; Davies, 2015; Jane, 2014a). Whitney Phillips (2015) notes that it’s politically significant to pay attention to issues of online harassment because this kind of invective calls “attention to dominant cultural mores” (p. 7). Keeping our finger on the pulse of such attitudes is imperative to understand who is excluded from digital publics and how these exclusions perpetuate racism and sexism to “preserve the internet as a space free of politics and thus free of challenge to white masculine heterosexual hegemony” (Higgin, 2013, n.p.). While rhetoric and writing as a field has a long history of examining myriad exclusionary practices that occur in public discourses, we still have much work to do in understanding how online harassment, particularly that which is gendered, manifests in digital publics and to what rhetorical effect.
    [Show full text]
  • Analyzing Ideological Discourse on Social Media: a Case Study of the Abortion Debate
    Analyzing Ideological Discourse on Social Media: A Case Study of the Abortion Debate Eva Sharma*, Koustuv Saha*, Sindhu Kiranmai Ernala*, Sucheta Ghoshal*, Munmun De Choudhury Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia 30308, United States (evasharma,koustuv.saha,sernala3,sucheta,munmund)@gatech.edu ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION Social media provides a unique platform enabling public discourse An active “public sphere” is a crucial element of social, political, and around cross-cutting ideologies. In this paper, we provide a method- cultural change. Since its emergence in the ancient Greek agoras, ological lens for studying the discourses around the controversial public sphere has served as a facilitator of informed and logical topic of abortion on social media. Drawing from the theoretical discussion around a variety of societal topics [23]. The seminal framework of “Critical Discourse Analysis”, we study discourse work of communication scholar Gerard A. Hauser notes that, by around abortion on Twitter through analysis of language and the coming together to freely discuss and identify contentious problems, manifested socio-cultural practices. First, employing a large dataset individuals can reach a common judgment, form public opinion, of over 700 thousand posts, we find that abortion discourse can be and influence collective action, policy, and decision-making [25]. classified into three ideologies: For, Against, and Neutral to Abor- Social media platforms such as Twitter have emerged as promi- tion. We observe these ideological categories to be characterized nent forums promoting open and democratic exchanges around by distinctive textual and psycholinguistic cues. Finally, we ana- many controversial topics. Many have argued these platforms to lyze the nature of discourse across ideologies against the backdrop be extending the public sphere due to their ability to facilitate of socio-cultural practices associated with abortion.
    [Show full text]
  • Creating Digital Tools to Connect to Local Care
    Abortion Care Network 2019 ACN Board WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER Andrea Ferrigno, Co-Chair Whole Woman’s Health, TX Dallas Schubert, Co-Chair Preterm, OH David S. Cohen, Vice Chair Drexel University School of Law, PA Ravina Daphtary, Treasurer All* Above All, PA Julianna Gonen, Secretary National Center for Lesbian Rights, DC Kwajelyn Jackson, Executive Member at Large, Feminist Women’s Health network Center, GA NEWS Amelia Bonow #ShoutYourAbortion, WA The Newsletter of Abortion Care Network | Spring 2019 Kim F. Chiz Allentown Women’s Center, PA Jen Moore Conrow Jen MC Consulting, PA Ashia George Scotsdale Women’s Center, MI Creating Digital Tools to Kenya Martin National Network of Abortion Funds, TX Monica R. McLemore Connect to Local Care The Women’s Options Center at Zuckerberg San Francisco General, CA Finding an abortion clinic can be difficult. Abortion is still largely shrouded in secrecy, Sheila Ramgopal which means that few people know about their local abortion clinic before they need Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, PA care, and few patients talk openly about the clinic where they had their abortion. Mercedes Sanchez Further, anti-abortion extremists are constantly pushing deception and myths about Cedar River Clinics, WA abortion, making it difficult for patients to know what to look for and what to avoid. DeShawn Taylor Desert Star Family Planning, AZ Independent abortion clinics (Indies) make up about half of all abortion clinics and provide nearly two thirds of all abortion care in the US. In six states, the only abortion Molly Rampe Thomas Choice Network, OH clinics are independent, and in many regions, Indies are the only places offering both medication and in-clinic procedures.
    [Show full text]
  • Interactive Framing Dynamics and Ideological Boundaries in the American Abortion Debate
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy Interactive Framing Dynamics and Ideological Boundaries in the American Abortion Debate A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Kia Heise IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dr. Teresa Swartz, Dr. Lisa Park August 2015 © Kia Heise 2015 Table of Contents i. Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1 ii. Chapter 1 Social Movement Framing Theory…………………………………......................6 iii. Chapter 2 Pro-Life And Pro-Choice Framing And Counterframing Processes…………….20 iv. Chapter 3 Case #1: Abortion as Good Mothering: Claiming a “Moral Framework” for Abortion Rights ………………………………………………………………….56 a. Framing Abortion As Good Mothering…………………………………73 b. Testing the Boundaries of “Moral” Choices……………………………..88 v. Chapter 4 Case #2: Abortion as Black Genocide: Claiming Racism in the Pro-Life Movement………………………………………………………………………112 a. The Conflicting Racial Ideologies of the Black Pro-Life Leaders: Victimhood, Pathology, and Colorblindness…………………………...150 b. Narratives of Racial Authenticity and Betrayal in the Abortion as ‘Black Genocide’ Debate……………………………………………………….184 vi. Conclusion: The Risks of Blurred Boundaries: Exploiting Weakness, Filling the Gaps, Using the Language of the Opposition...………………………………...219 vii. Bibliography…………...………………………………………………………224 viii. Appendices...…………………………………………………………………..234 i Introduction While the ideologies of the pro-life and pro-choice movements are seemingly diametrically opposed, their framing strategies over time are deeply interconnected, resulting in a blurring of ideological boundaries between the movements. Since the legalization of abortion in 1973, the pro-life and pro-choice movements have been constantly engaged in a process of framing and counterframing, with each movement gaining political advantages at different times in the last 40 years (Rohlinger 2006, McCaffrey and Keys 2000, Esacove 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Public Health Implications of #Shoutyourabortion
    Northumbria Research Link Citation: Ahmed, Wasim (2018) Public health implications of #ShoutYourAbortion. Public Health, 163. pp. 35-41. ISSN 0033-3506 Published by: Elsevier URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.06.010 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.06.010> This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/35176/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html This document may differ from the final, published version of the research and has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies. To read and/or cite from the published version of the research, please visit the publisher’s website (a subscription may be required.) *Manuscript WITHOUT Author Identifiers Click here to view linked References [Type here] 1 Public Health Implications of 2 3 4 #ShoutYourAbortion 5 6 7 8 9 Abstract 10 11 Objectives: Social media platforms such as Twitter allow members of the public to raise 12 13 14 awareness for issues, causes, and events.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Rights, Hate Crimes and Hashtags
    Human rights, hate crimes and hashtags: Evaluating community discussions on social media By Katie Lever, Research Assistant, and Victoria LaPoe, Western Kentucky University It is obvious that culture and time shape language. The word "tweet" was once used to exclusively describe communication between birds, but now millions of humans tweet on a daily basis. These tweets still send messages but they resonate much louder than a simple chirp. Although flighty like birds, tweets can hold tremendous weight in spite of their short window of relevance (Tweets are extremely replaceable and hard to find in the time after they are posted due to the massive circulation of tweets around the world) with the aid of the pound sign. Much like the term "tweet," the pound sign has undergone a verbal transformation. There was a time when the rarely used keystroke was only used to signify a numeric value, but now holds societal value. Enter the "hashtag." On March 21st, 2006, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey created the social media website that would transform the now-ubiquitous pound sign forever. Although Dorsey's first "tweet" didn't actually include the iconic symbol, as Twitter gained ground in the realm of social media, social technology expert Chris Messina created the first hashtag, #barcamp, referencing an online group-gathering technology. His infamous tweet read: “how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?” Termed a "hashtag," Messina intended the pound sign to be used as a symbol to circulate online discussions and it didn't take long for the hashtag to gain popularity not only on Twitter, but also on other social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, and even in verbal conversations.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019 Media Year in Review
    2019 The Media Year in Review Pastoral Team carries a message of life to the nation and the world Father Frank Pavone and the entire Priests for Life Pastoral Team were regularly quoted or called on to comment on the hottest topics in the news. New York States passes law expanding abortion access until birth “The fact that this is no longer the case in New York shows how out of step this new law is both with the rest of America and with common sense,” said Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. Hypocrisy, 'Homicide', and 'Horrors': New York's Brand New 'License to Kill' Viable Babies Sparks Intense Outrage Janet Morana, co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and executive director of @PriestsforLife tweeted: "As a native New Yorker my heart is broken knowing precious babies can now be killed until birth for any reason. #abortion is nothing less than homicide and to expand its bloody reach on the anniversary of #RoeVWade is a disgrace. #prolife #WakeUpAmerica" U.S. Senate fails to bring Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to floor for a vote The Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, vowed to make this vote a 2020 issue. “For the Democrats, a newborn slated for extermination before birth is fair game even after birth. This is infanticide. The only thing Americans can do to protect these most vulnerable babies is to vote out of office those who fail to protect them,” Father Pavone said. Senate Democrats Fail to Protect Infants Born Alive After Abortions from Infanticide SENATE DEMOCRATS VOTE DOWN INFANTICIDE BILL Senate Democrats Block Bill to Stop Infanticide and Care for Babies Born Alive After Abortions Thousands join the 46th March for Life in Washington Droves of pro-lifers will attest to uniqueness of pre- born life at 46th annual March for Life Women Defy #ShoutYourAbortion with Their Stories of Regret Marching Amidst a Divided Congress Kentucky Catholic diocese condemns teens who taunted vet at March for Life When Christian leaders like Fr.
    [Show full text]
  • Rhetoric of Digital Abortion Storytelling Megan Kelley | Miami University, Ohio
    “Use #YouKnowMe and share your truth”: Rhetoric of Digital Abortion Storytelling Megan Kelley | Miami University, Ohio Feminist movements have utilized consciousness-raising by empowering women to share their personal experiences to support the efforts of the larger movement further. The #YouKnowMe movement brings consciousness-raising into the digital sphere. This paper looks at how the #YouKnowMe movement encouraged Twitter users to share their personal stories, experiences, and emotions associated with their abortion. I analyzed 39 of the most popular tweets that contain #YouKnowMe and were tweeted on May 15-16, 2019. These tweets were either personal stories or feminist critiques. The personal stories included the situations surrounding the decision to get an abortion as well as any emotions or thoughts that went into making the decision. The feminist critiques came from Twitter users using the hashtag to talk about the larger societal structures while simultaneously supporting the users that chose to share their personal stories. The #YouKnowMe movement is a perfect example of how the rhetoric of digital storytelling can help support the modern-day feminist movement as well as normalize talking about one’s abortion. YouKnowMe is a Twitter-based social move and share your truth” (@BusyPhilipps). The ment within the larger reproductive rights top tweets from #YouKnowMe indicate that social movement. The reproductive rights this movement was focused primarily on creat- #movement as a whole utilizes many facets of activ- ing a community of people who have gotten an ism to achieve its goals, such as storytelling, lob- abortion, had personal experiences with abor- bying, field work, or protests.
    [Show full text]
  • Pro-Woman Framing in the Pro-Life Movement
    Fighting for Life: Pro-Woman Framing in the Pro-life Movement Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Alexa J. Trumpy Graduate Program in Sociology The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Andrew Martin, Advisor Vincent Roscigno Liana Sayer Copyrighted by Alexa J. Trumpy 2011 Abstract How do marginal actors change hearts and minds? Social movement scholars have long recognized that institutional outsiders target a range of potential allies to press their agenda. While much of the movement research historically privileged formal political activities in explaining social change, understanding the way actors draw upon culture and identity to garner wider support for a variety of social, political, and economic causes has become increasingly important. Ultimately, research that incorporates political process theories with the seemingly dichotomous notions of cultural and collective identity is especially valuable. To better understand how movement actors achieve broad change, I draw on recent attempts to examine how change occurs in fields. I argue it is necessary to examine how a field’s structural and cultural components, as well as the more individual actions, resources, rhetoric, and ideologies of relevant actors, interact to affect field change or maintain stasis. This research does so through an analysis of the current debate over abortion in America, arguably the most viciously divisive religious, moral, political, and legal issue since slavery. Over the past four decades, the American abortion debate has been glibly characterized as fight between the rights of two groups: women and fetuses, with pro-choice groups championing the rights of the former and pro-life groups the latter.
    [Show full text]
  • Reproductive Justice Is… an NCJW Discussion Guide
    Reproductive Justice Is… An NCJW Discussion Guide “Reproductive Justice Is…” is an NCJW discussion guide designed for NCJW members and supporters to delve deeper into reproductive justice as an intersectional framework. This framework explores how different systems of oppression interact to affect a person’s ability to make personal decisions about their body, sexuality, health, and future. This guide includes articles about diverse identities and social justice struggles, followed by discussion questions to spark conversation. How to Use This Discussion Guide Here are a few ways you can use this resource to dig in to the reproductive justice framework. With the exception of the first set of articles on intersectionality, the pieces are not listed in any particular order. Adapt the questions to the needs of your NCJW section or community. Put together a “reading club” — Schedule a series of discussions for interested advocates and discuss each set of articles. Discuss at a meeting — Ask members of your board or advocacy committee to read one set of articles and then schedule time at the next meeting to discuss it. Create handouts for an event — Are you putting together a panel discussion on paid leave? Make copies of the “Reproductive Justice is Economic Justice” set of articles and hand them out. Read aloud during Shabbat dinner — Looking for a way to work some learning into your Shabbat meal? Select a set of articles to read aloud during dinner and then discuss. The NCJW Washington office is available to provide additional resources and technical assistance. Contact Leanne Gale ([email protected]) with any questions.
    [Show full text]