“Feminine style” and political judgment in the rhetoric of Ann Richards

The Intersection Between Deep Moral Frames and Rhetorical Style in the Struggle over U.S. Immigration Reform

“…The feminine style appears to comport well with the substance of the nurturant parent frame. Indeed, much of the accumulated scholarship on the feminine style has highlighted this style's nurturing and empathetic qualities (Campbell, 1998;Dow & Tonn, 1993;Hayden, 2003;Jamieson, 1995;Tonn, 1996). For example, Dow and Tonn argued that the feminine style aptly conveys the ''feminine ideals of care, nurturance, and family relationships' ' (p. 289).…”

“…Over time, a wealth of scholarship has defined and refined the unique attributes that make up the feminine style (Campbell, 1986(Campbell, , 1989(Campbell, , 1998(Campbell, , 2002Dow & Tonn, 1993;Hayden, 1997Hayden, , 2003Jamieson, 1988Jamieson, , 1995Jasinski, 2001;Parry-Giles & ParryGiles, 1996). This style follows an inductive path.…”

“…To demonstrate the ascendency of the feminine style in the contemporary political sphere, Jamieson (1988) charted Ronald Reagan's route to earning his reputation as ''The Great Communicator,'' and she attributed much of his communicative success to his mastery of the feminine style. Other politicians, such as Ann Richards (Dow, 1994;Dow & Tonn, 1993) and Bill Clinton (Parry-Giles & Parry-Giles, 2002), have relied heavily on femininely styled discourse to achieve an effective voice in the political process. Politics today comes to citizens through television, and politicians' televised discourse comes across far more effectively when it takes a feminine stylistic form.…”

Consciousness-Raising as Collective Rhetoric: The Articulation of Experience in the Redstockings' Abortion Speak-Out of 1969

“…37 The deployment of an experiential epistemology is empowering because it ''encourages audiences' reliance on their own instincts and perceptions of reality, even if these dispute dominant models.'' 38 In her discussion of Black women's development of the kitchen as a ''safe spaces of resistance,'' Olga Davis contends that the use of Womanism ''places African American women's experiences (from their unique vantage point) at the center of discussion and claims an intellectual tradition through a discourse of experience.'' 39 Such a tradition empowers Black women by allowing for their own self-definition and at the same time creates the ''conceptual framework necessary for community building and activism in academe.''…”

Feminine style in presidential debate discourse, 1960–2000

“…Analyzing the political discourse of Ann Richards, including her keynote address to the 1988 Democratic National Convention, a form of campaign discourse, Dow and Tonn (1993) concluded that feminine rhetorical style is not limited to discourse about women's or feminist issues but is present in mainstream political discourse and promotes empowerment through synthesizing form and content of the message. Evaluating Richards' use of feminine style elements in particular, the authors concluded that Richards makes experiential knowledge the standard for political judgment and that she uses the elements of feminine style (personal disclosure, anecdotes and examples, inductive reasoning) to create relationships or connection with the audience.…”