Suppress the monster, silence the bitch : containing the rhetorical feminine

Abstract

The suppression of women's voices in the rhetorical sphere continues to present issues for women who attempt to excel in traditionally male-dominated fields of study. Historically, women who attempted to claim a place on the rhetorical platform were silenced and denied, as they defied patriarchal and socially constructed binaries that relegated women to the background. While modem women have gained rhetorical agency in many respects, others are still contained into their "proper" roles of the submissive and docile by those in power. To gain access to this platform, women must, as Sally Gearhart suggests, "scale themselves" to the preferred masculinized discourse to be heard. But the consequences for adopting masculinized discourse perpetuates containment for women who step outside the binary constructs. Using Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's literary theory involving the angel vs. monster dichotomy and anxiety of authorship, I demonstrate in this thesis how women attempt to overcome suppression through perseverance and destruction of social binaries in the rhetorical sphere. I investigate issues which lie within social media discourse, discourse in major media outlets, and discourse used in academia. Furthermore, I created my own primary research into the usage of the word "bitch" as a containment term and as a linguistic equivalent to Gilbert and Gubar's "monster." I demonstrate with this research the ways in which labels used toward women in literature reflect labels used in the rhetorical sphere. This thesis also investigates a small group of nationally recognized universities and attempts to call attention to patriarchal standards which reflect outdated rhetorical pedagogy methods. Finally, I suggest ways in which women can reclaim their own ideas of womanhood that break the dichotomies and allow women's voices to flourish in a sea of masculinized rhetoric.