Demonstrates that the rhetorical vision of STOP ERA is essentially mythic in both its plot (the romantic quest) and in its characters (psychological archetypes). Discusses the subtle and pervasive impact of such mythical archetypes. (JMF)

Through a critical analysis of the public discourse surrounding the capture and rescue of Jessica Lynch, this essay investigates how Lynch's body "comes to matter" in political debates regarding women in combat. This article argues that popular representations of Lynch's natural femaleness rearticulate the seemingly biological distinctions between…

Demonstrates how the "Old Feminist" movement, originating in broad humanitarian concerns that affirmed woman's selfhood, eventually was transformed into the essentially different "Woman Suffrage" movement. Analyzes a key episode, the 1860 divorce debate. (PD)

Discusses the inadequacy of current rhetorical criticism and theory for the evaluation of protestors and agitators. Explains why discourse by and about women should be integrated into rhetorical studies, reviewing 11 books which make key texts available or increase understanding of feminism as a historical social movement. (SR)

Advances a "rhetoricized" conception of alienation through the work of Mary Wollstonecraft, a British feminist writing in the 1790s. Suggests that alienation is a discursive problem posed by the interpolation of women throughout history and the reification of those interpolations over time. Shows how alienation functions as a critical…

Presents and analyzes the formation, characteristics, and growth of feminist theatre groups as tactical responses to certain rhetorical problems faced by women liberationists. (JMF)

Discusses feminine symbolism in the American frontier myth as an evolving cultural/rhetorical manifestation of a developing archetypal process. Analyzes the films "Alien" and "Aliens," in which the lost feminine is encountered, found to be vengeful of exploitation of her domain, and then killed by a patriarchalized heroine. (SR)

Analyzes two of the earliest known speeches by United States women, Priscilla Mason's 1793 salutatory oration and Deborah Sampson Gannett's 1802 lecture tour. Suggests that the conflict between justifying their violation of taboos and speaking in ways appropriate to the occasion (and to their sex) limited their ability to produce coherent works of…

Shows how the rhetoric of selected woman humorists from 1820 to 1880 exemplifies the operation of various comic literary reference frames. Asserts that their comic frame disintegrated because these writers were unable to foster identification between females and males and failed to provide a world view that could accommodate social change. (MM)