Kara Corona

1065 Eagle Canyon Dr.

Sparks NV, 89441

Dear Mr. C,

Before I started project 1 I had truly little understanding of reading and writing

rhetorically but I still enjoyed trying it in my writings for school. I mostly understood the fact

that there were many diverse types of reading and that annotations helped in drafting essays and

further understanding the true meaning of the article. I did not particularly enjoy annotating the

texts I was reading because the way I originally learned it, I never found it to help me, and I did

not enjoy it, so it became more of a chore than a way to help me. But learning new strategies

throughout starting high school made reading and annotating texts easier and mor enjoyable for

me, which improved my essays and allowed me to read more advanced texts because I had ways

to understand parts I would not have been able to understand before. For example, I used to not

re read texts or make any annotations other than questions and small thoughts. Essays that I had

written in the past before I was familiar with the multiple strategies to read and annotate,

included poorly found quotes and, I was never able to fully expand on said quotes because I did

not have proper annotations.

Writing project 1 only improved the way I annotated and my reading strategies I used,

because of the number of notes and comments I was able to make on the article I chose. Having

this opportunity, I was able to practice more strategies such as summary annotations and a slow

reading strategy. For example, the quote “But gender stereotyping can function as a ‘realist’

device in the more technical sense. Even if a stereotype is factually inaccurate, if it fits with
readers’ common-sense beliefs it can help to make a fictional world believable.” (Debuk 2/5), I

found from my chosen article “It Ain't What You Say” by Debuk, and I was only able to find it

because I used the slow reading strategy, and I had also made an annotation on it. But along with

the benefits these strategies brought, they also brought challenges because I was stuck only using

certain strategies each time rather than expanding and trying new strategies because I was most

comfortable with those few. And incorporating those new strategies ended up being beneficial

because they were the strategies that helped me find most of the quotes I used.

In this project I learned many new strategies to help me get through my senior year and

well into the start of college. These strategies I can bring them into my beginning college classes

and other classes that involve reading and analyzing a text to understand and evaluate the main

purpose. One of the things I think I will continue to struggle with is trying new strategies as I

learn them rather than stick to the ones I already know and trust. I also feel that I will struggle to

use some of these strategies outside of an english class because my mind tends to correlate

annotations with english texts rather than all texts.

“It Ain’t What You Say” by Debuk, is an article about the way women are portrayed

through literature and the use of verbs and adjectives to subconsciously push sexist stereotypes.

She brings in many examples from all types of literature from children’s books to political debate

transcripts, as well as research from other people and her own experiences. And using her article

I was able to expand many of her points and create a further argument on the different matters

she brings up in the article. One of the main points that she hits in her article is how present
sexism is in literature and the significance it has. She talks about using specific verbs to

stereotype each gender, especially females, who in many books, articles, and transcripts tend to

scowl, squeak, snap, and bark things rather than verbs like said, shouted, or bellowed that are

usually attached to men. Debuk explains how verbs like these prove the power dynamic between

men and women more, suggesting that women are less powerful than the men. For example,

when these verbs are used in transcripts where you can also watch the event Debuk says that

“The real difference, they argue, is in the way male and female speakers are judged: if women

deviate from stereotypical expectations by presenting themselves as tough rather than gentle,

combative rather than conciliatory, they are perceived as more aggressive than men who behave

in exactly the same way.” (Debuk 2/5).

Also, one of Debuk’s main points was the fact that sexism is so normalized in literature

that it is unconsciously affecting the next generation. She talks about the use of stereotypical

verbs and adverbs in children's books and how it gives these kids’ subconscious stereotypes

which could very well become the basis for the rest of their lives. An example of this is provided

by Debuk from a conversation she personally had with her friend that ended with the following

consensus, “But knowing their own mother went out to work hadn’t prevented them from

absorbing the stereotype of mothers as stay-at-

home parents.” (Debuk 3/5). Which just shows how easily children can be influenced without

even being aware of how important their opinions and knowledge of the subject may be. And

what I feel is Debuk’s third and last point in her article is because the sexism is so present and

normalized in literature and day to day language, that authors might not even be aware of their

doing in the matter. She mentions how renowned authors like J.K Rowling even include some

stereotypical dialogue purely subconsciously. For example, even though J.K Rowling did a good
job of not uncooperating many gender-stereotyped verbs and adverbs, according to an

investigation done on the books, “Hermione’s tended to imply strong emotions, especially fear

and sadness (they included ‘screamed’, ‘squealed’, ‘shrieked’, ‘squeaked’, ‘wailed’ and

‘whimpered’). Ron’s unique verbs, conversely, included a number (such as ‘mumbled,’

‘grumbled’ and ‘grunted’)” (Debuk 4/5). Also found in the same investigation, Hermoine tended

to ‘whisper’ and ‘gasp’ three times more than Ron did and does over 15 more times the ‘yelling’

than he does, and on the other side Ron does about five times as much ‘muttering’ as Hermoine.

Debuk mentions how she would be “surprised if they had any conscious awareness of the

patterns revealed by analyses of their work.” (Debuk 4/5) but that “if we accept that those

patterns both reflect and

perpetuate sexism, perhaps we should be challenging writers to make a conscious effort to break

away from them.” (Debuk 4/5). She wants to explain how easy it can be to get rid of these

gender stereotypes by just being consciously aware of the verbs and adverbs used in all forms of

literature.

And in my personal experience, after analyzing her article multiple times for the multiple

assignments I have written about her paper, I can say I agree with her to about the full extent of

all the points she brings up. How she mentions the way women are portrayed as almost villain-

like in political transcripts is something I have done research on before, and how women in

politics or in any important business settings are portrayed. They are usually portrayed as rude or

condescending or in most cases they are portrayed as uneducated or dumb. For example, in an

article I read not too long ago called “Women in Politics and the Media” by Meriem Trabelsi,

goes into hard detail about the way women are portrayed in discriminatory and sexist ways. She

says, “they often use terms that emphasize women's traditional roles and focus on their
appearance. They perpetuate stereotypes of women politicians as weak, indecisive, and

emotional.” (Trabelsi 1/ 4). This and many other articles written not only support the claim

Debuk makes but brings more evidence from another platform that can be used to portray people,

which is social media. And to go into more depth of what I think is another one of Debuk’s main

points, is how again the amount sexism and gender-stereotypes have been normalized in today's

literature to the point where I have personally had to get multiple opinions on a book or article,

to get a true opinion on whether the text was mainly sexist or not. And in the many conversations

I've had with my peers about books and whether the author is portraying any characters, male or

female, in gender-stereotypical ways, I agree with another small point Debuk makes where she

finds that, “Male authors were more reluctant than female ones to allow their male characters to

‘sob’; and in their books it was usually female characters, not male ones, who ‘interrupted’.”

(Debuk 2/6). In the books Ive read from a multitude of different authors, I have been able to

conclude that even if it is subconsciously, men tend to portray females in a more gender-

stereotyped way, and even author whole books in more of a gender-stereotyped light.

And for Debuk’s third main point that I found; I feel like I should highlight the fact that in many

children's books that I have been read to or read to someone else, I have always had an off

feeling about the way women were portrayed in those books. Granted now there are many

children's books on feminism and “girl power,” but still, some of the widely proclaimed

children’s books use some of the basic gender-stereotyped roles in their stories. Which is where I

can tie this point of Debuk’s article to another point of how gender-stereotypes are, again, so

normalized to the point where when it is in cooperated in stories in these children's books it

seems almost realistic. Which is another small point Debuk brings up where she argues “But

gender stereotyping can function as a ‘realist’ device in the more technical sense. Even if a
stereotype is factually inaccurate, if it fits with readers’ common-sense beliefs it can help to

make a fictional world believable.” (Debuk 2/5). And overall, this small point can tie into all her

other main points of the why sexism in literature is so normalized, and why authors add it into

their books and articles subconsciously, or even purposefully sometimes to bring down people.

Or even why it makes it so easy and likeable for children to believe and latch onto from reading

in these books that set foundations for their emotions in later years of their lives.
Works Cited

Debuk. (2020, August 20). It ain’t what you say... language: a feminist guide.
[Link]

Trabelsi, M. (n.d.). Women in politics and the Media. International IDEA.