Alicia and Sarah work through the grief and trauma of the characters in the Academy Award nominated, Women Talking. They discuss the rhetorical appeals used by the women as they make a life changing decision and the role of consent in their final conclusion. At the end of this week’s discussion, they talk about the things they've been reading, watching, and analyzing outside of the classroom.
Literary terms of the week: Rhetoric, ethos, logos, pathos
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Music by Craig Harmann
Cover art by Matt Holman
Show notes:
30-second summary
YouTube or rental
Why Women Talking?
Literary terms of the week:
Rhetoric - comes from Greek verb “eiro” (“to say”)
Initially created to analyze speeches and discussion
Ethos (credibility of speaker)
Small religious colony in 2010
Women were sedated with cow tranquilizers and raped (ages 4 and up)
Pacifists
Women are uneducated, but set up a voting system
Pathos (emotion of audience)
“The attacks were originally attributed to ghosts and demons. When the women woke up feeling drowsy and in pain, their bodies bruised and bleeding, many believed they were being made to suffer as punishment for their sins. Many accused the women of lying for attention or to cover up adultery.”
Stay and fight vs leave (damnation either way)
On Philippians 4:8 - “Freedom is good. It is better than slavery. Forgiveness is good. It’s better than revenge. And hope for the unknown is good. It is better than hatred of the familiar.”
“Sometimes I think people laugh as hard as they’d like to cry.”
Logos (text)
“We didn't talk about our bodies. So when something like this happened there was no language for it. And without language for it, there was a gaping silence. And in that gaping silence was the real horror.”
Horses bolt when they are scared (bolting vs leaving)
Animals are safer than women here
Systems of power vs guilt
“It’s not only the boys who have been excellent students.”
Forced vs chosen forgiveness
“Men and women would make all the decisions for the colony collectively. Women would be allowed to think. Girls would be taught to read and write. The schoolhouse must display a map of the world so that we can begin to understand our place in it. A new religion taken from the old, but focused on love, would be created by the women of the colony. Our children would be safe.”
CONSENT TERMS (from Yes! No! A First Conversation about Consent)
Bodily autonomy
Body vocabulary
Affirmative consent
Boundaries
Feelings & empathy
What are we enjoying right now?
Alicia: Not Dead Yet (TV on Hulu), Mad Honey (Jodi Piccoult)
Sarah: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (book), Shrinking (television)
Related episodes
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Chapter 3:15 - We Are Talking