Chris Cleveland

2/11/2018
Wrtc 103
Sheila Fielding

Rhetorical Analyses
In modern media it is not uncommon for writers to express the horrors or sexual assault and

rape in hopes that when one reads it they will be shocked and appalled, enough so to act. Certainly,

writing about this is done in good faith, to help ensure that people aren’t victimized in this manner

anymore. However, the question proposed is, what about the people that have already survived such

horrors. How does writing about all the horrible things they went through personally affect them, does

it hurt them, or does it help them move on? Anya Alvarez, a professional golfer and rape survivor, says

that this hurts the women effected by it and that outlets the write about rape need to find new ways to

convey the brutality of rape, without putting down the people that it has affected. She writes about this

in her piece “Writers Can Convey the Agony of Rape Without Disempowering survivors” Alvarez builds

an emotional and convincing argument, though sometimes too emotional, as to why writers need to

change their ways to better help survivors move on.

Anya Alvarez main claim is that when media outlets write about how rape victims lives are

ruined it has a lasting psychological effect on the survivors, making them feel less like survivors and

more like victims. She starts by writing about her own experiences with being called a victim, stating “As

soon as the word “victim” came out of the moderator’s mouth, I felt a sense of immediate sadness and

grief. I felt like I had suddenly lost control of the steering wheel:” (paragraph 1). She uses this point to

illustrate that she too was a victim and that, even if Alvarez has moved on, she is still reminded about

her history of abuse when other continually refer to her as a victim. Alvarez has a long history of abuse

and sexual violence and explains her own difficulty bouncing back from this type of traumatic
experience. One way she shows just how hard the process of dealing with a rapist can be is by stating

the following,” Of the three times I’ve been sexually assaulted, I’ve reported the abuse once to the

police. When I was 9 years old, I was sexually abused for six months by a family friend. I testified against

my abuser in court, and my experience was so emotionally traumatic that when I was raped at 16, I

opted to not report the abuse to legal authorities” (paragraph 6). She explains the different issues she

had recovering from her multiple rapes. Alvarez is very outspoken about the trauma she went through,

which is an intelligent way of reinforcing her point, that you can talk about the horrors of rape and still

not disempower the survivors. Anya then transitions into talking about the disempowerment that can

come with being labeled as a victim. For Alvarez this label is something that drags survivors down, not

allowing them to move past what has happened to them, even if they’ve bounced back. Alvarez then

ends the argument by explaining that there are ways to convey the horrors of rape, without running the

lives of the survivors. The article is structured topically, with each topic being something that builds off

or relies upon the one before it. The transitions are very natural and are often used to go form a logical

argument to a more emotional one. The argument seems to be structured this way intentionally, by

using strong emotional appeals to draw the reader in then transitions to a logical argument given as a

solution to a problem presented in the emotional appeal. This works very well for Alvarez and is perhaps

the strongest part of her argument.

As previously stated the argument is presented in a format that constantly switches from

emotional appeals to logical ones, that tie together. The weakest part of this paper comes from its logos.

Since the nature of her paper requires her to appeal to emotion Alvarez sometimes commits the fallacy

of using an emotional appeal as the bases for her logical argument without baking it up with any studies

or proof, or without the emotional appeal having anything to do with her argument. That’s not to say

that this always occurs, in most cases the opposite is. The emotional appeal can serve as a strong base

for some of her arguments, after all her article is about the emotional wellbeing of others. One moment
this works brilliantly is where she explains an instance where after she was assaulted she would avoid

watching the news in fear of seeing how other people’s lives were ruined like her own. Alvarez then uses

this to help convince of the subtle but significant psychological effect that being a “victim” can have. A

major flaw with her argument is that all her evidence come first hand from her, and has no other

backing, keeping this article from being perfect.

One of this article’s greatest strengths come from the ethos of the writer. Anya Alvarez is a

former LPGA, woman’s golf, star who has also survived two sexual assaults and a rape. Anya Alvarez has

spent most of her adult life after being a golf star as a women’s rights activist, specializing in helping

teens to recognize healthy relationships, or to recover from unhealthy ones. The USA today write

“Alvarez has used that life-altering experience as a platform to advocate against teen dating violence

and abuse and for healthy relationships.” (paragraph 1). Alvarez is very vocal about her background and

history of sexual violence in her article. These are used as points, not only to show how certified she is

on the topic, to share emotional trauma with the reader.

Which leads to the last and best-done part of her article, the ethos. Alvarez use of emotion is

central in her article. She constantly uses stories and statements that are meant to elicit an extreme

emotional response, or shock in some cases. Alvarez is trying to put people into this serious and dark

emotional mindset and she does so brilliantly. She shows the darkness that comes with rape in a way

that only someone that’s been through one could. Statements like “the shame I felt was almost

unbearable. I did not tell anyone for almost three years.” (paragraph 4) are used to draw the

reader into the emotional despair that she went through. This works in her article because she

uses it to make a point. All the depressing stories at the beginning of the article are used to set

the reader up for the second half of the article. The second half changes the articles emotional

tone, it goes from one of defeat to one of overcoming. She writes about how she overcame all

that had happened to her and moved on, she survived. This change of tone is used masterfully
to bring up her main point and reinforce it. Since the reader was brought into her mindset

through these stories and eventually left feeling relieved when she overcomes it, they are now

predisposed to dislike anything in association with her past events. Alvarez uses this time to

bring up her main point, how being called a victim can bring her back to that first mind set, and

how it can affect those around her.

From the strong opening to the haunting finish, Anya Alvarez’s article very successfully

works to convince the reader to be causes of how they write about rape survivors. While Alvarez

article can suffer from the lack of factual backing it certainly strives at what it does right, which is

the subtle emotional manipulation, used to bring the reader on her side. Alvarez convinces one

without a doubt that this is something to take into consideration.

Works cited:

Alvarez, Anya. "Writers Can Convey the Agony of Rape Without Disempowering Survivors."

Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/FQPYJA068412322/OVIC?u=viva_jmu&xid=3fbdc7d2.
Accessed 13 Feb. 2018. Originally published as "Why I’m Not a ‘Victim’ of Sexual Assault," Rewire,
9 June 2016.

Carey, Jack. “Washington golfer Anya Alvarez finds solace in sharing.” USA Today,

Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 May 2011,

usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/golf/2011-05-04-washington-alvarez_N.htm.