How many hit movies have had overweight people play the starring role? How many ads in the personals request heavy men or women? What newspaper articles describe fat women as “beautiful”? The answer is close to none. W. Charisse Goodman, the author of the 1995 The Invisible Woman: Confronting Weight Prejudice in America. Her thesis is that “American society tolerates and even encourages prejudice against people, especially women, who are not thin.” The chapter being analyzed here, “One Picture Is Worth a Thousand Diets”, she discusses the ways in which the media make invisible or deal with disregard women whom are overweight. This depicts the nation’s values when it comes to overweight people. It does, however, spark emotions due to her examples and word choices.
In Goodman’s first paragraph, she blames the mass media for encouraging people to “absorb as many goods as possible far beyond the saturation point.” (Lunsford, 408) She states that people believe the more have, the sexier and more successful they will be.
Goodman goes on to say that the personals ads in the newspaper “reflect the usual stale stereotypes and sexism of weight prejudice.” (411) Again, in this argument she uses fact and evidence to build up her claim. She found that out of 324 ads by men seeking women in which the men specified body type, 312 requested a thin body type using many synonyms for “thin”. She concludes that men care more about a woman’s looks rather than herself as a whole. This bold statement may enrage her male audience and cause them to stop reading. She does, however, make a good case for this claim.
This article is meant to inform people of the situation taking place. This argument is based on values because Goodman complains that the nation does not live up to high principles and morals when it comes to large people. It also uses artistic and inartistic appeals in order to draw near her audience. In some arguments, she uses surveys to give evidence and facts to her statements. She does this to establish credibility with her readers. In other arguments, she uses logic a
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