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Tameica Muir
11.16.17
Rhetorical Analysis

Yes Is Better Than No

Yes is better than no, most people dont understand what that means. In the Op

Ed it states how there needs to be more consent on campuses to protect women from

getting harmed in a situation. The authors use rhetorical devices to state that consent

should be taken more seriously on campuses. The authors choice of audience is

ineffective because the audience is not informed and is not catered to. Kimmel and

Steinem do not specify their intended audience in the article but there are examples in

the article that imply that the intended audience are women and men both on campuses

and outside of campuses do not get enough consent. In the first two paragraphs of the

Op Ed the author uses metaphors to appeal to pathos. The authors uses emotional

events that people might go through to pathos, to get them to understand the meaning

of consent. In the Op Ed it says, [Or] imagine that a man breaks into your home while

you sleep off a night of drunken revelry, and robs you blind. Did your drinking imply

consent? (Kimmel, Steinem). In paragraph five of the Op Ed the author use facts to

appeal logos for example, Thats why the recent passage of Senate Bill 967 in California

is such a welcome game-changer in understanding and preventing sexual assault. The

bill, which passed the Senate unanimously after a 52 to 16 vote in the State Assembly,

now awaits Gov. Jerry Browns signature, which is expected. It would make California

the first state to embrace what has become known as the yes means yes law, because it

alters the standard regarding consent to sexual activity on college campuses.

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In paragraph 6 the authors use repetition to prove a point to the audience, and

grab their attention to what they want them to understand from this Op Ed. That is, its

rape. Under such a standard, the enormous gray area between yes and no is defined

residually as yes: Unless one hears an explicit no, consent is implied. Yes means

yes completely redefines that gray area. Silence is not consent; it is the absence of

consent. Only an explicit yes can be considered consent. Ethos- On paragraph six in

the Op Ed it appeals to ethos because the author wants the audience to understand it

makes sense to consent. In this paragraph the author makes an appeal to ethos by using

a logic based argument and presenting an ethical question. and then I asked him with

my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain

flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could

feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will

Yes. Yes means yes is clearly saner and sexier. And thats true for both Leopold and

Molly Bloom, as well as the rest of us.

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Kimmel, Michael, and Gloria Steinem. Yes Is Better Than No. The New York Times,

The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/09/05/opinion/michael-

kimmel-and-gloria-steinem-on-consensual-sex-on-campus.html.