Women's Suffrage pt. 1

Blog Post Analyses of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

For the first two photos, I focused on the visual aspects as there wasn’t much text, but I do feel that the visual aspect can go a long way in analyzing this part of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement.

Rhetorical Devices:

http://cartoonistgroup.com/subject/The-Women%27s+Suffrage-Comics-and-Cartoons.php

Visual: This piece of rhetoric is clearly all visual, but it still has a strong message
Color	Value	Obviously in black and white, but the value of the colors shown here matters. The mental pictures being portrayed are in a lighter color while she is the main focus. All of these acts and roles that women play are less important than the woman wanting the right to vote.
Perspective	Geometric	The depth this image has creates a sense of floating. Like the woman has to float around and play a part in all of these roles, yet still doesn’t have enough respect or enough say in the votes. Even though those jobs are controlled by the votes of the people.
Diagonals	Oblique	The unstableness of the image shows that there is an unstable voting system. Women are feeling pulled every which way without a say in how things work.
Space	Full	The frame is full of images and ideas of what the movement is all about. It seems chaotic and somber all at the same time. Much like how the women were feeling at the time.
Focus	Focalizers	There are many things that pull your eyes across the image. The different scenes being circled and light in color, and the woman in the middle being a darker color focuses her in as well.
Angle	Eye level	We are eye level with every aspect of the image. I feel that it gives the concept a more relatable feeling. Like woman are seeing these things very clearly and somehow we need the men to see this as well.
Genre	Icons	The key to the narrative here is that the woman that is in the center of all the images and ideas is what we really need to focus on. She is surrounded by all these jobs she and other women must do but have no say about, and she is clearly upset about that.
Type: the only type in the image is “SUFFRAGE” on her sash.
Stroke-height ratio	Medium height to width	I believe this is important because it really draws attention to what she is representing. It is big and easily read.
Style	Bold and all caps	The sash is written in bold and all caps, which like stated before, is important because we want to be able to easily tell what is being represented here. I am sure all of the woman can get a feel for what is being represented, but at the time, these arts were intended to persuade men.

 

 

http://starofdavida.blogspot.com/2014/10/jews-and-suffrage-part-4-anti-suffrage.html

Visual
Light	High contrast	On the poster, the words are very high contrast. It may just be because of the times they were living in with the resources they had available, but I believe it really makes the words stand out. It’s simple and sometimes a little goes a long way.
Perspective	Geometric	I feel that the photographer intended for there to be a sense of depth to this photo. There is the mystery in the back in the shop being all blacked out, but we can see what is happening up front. This is much like the movement itself. The background is a mystery, but we can see the forefront of how things seem to be going.
Diagonals	Balanced	The whole photo itself seems to be balanced. It all has very good composition and it gives off a feel that the men are in control.
	Oblique	The poster on the other hand is offset. Some of the words are pulled off to the side and it just kind of looks mixed up. It gives off the vibe of unorganized or kind of just thrown together with out any planning.
Space	Full	There is a lot going on in the overall photo. It creates a sense of chaos and makes you want to look at ALL of the details. From only men being at the opposed booth, to the woman looking on from a distance.
	Full	The poster is full from top to bottom and from side to side. They letters needed to be large to read, and there is no room for more.
Focus	Focalizers	There are three different focalizers that pull your attention across the photo. The first thing you probably notice is the men, then the sign, and finally the woman. The photo was taken this way on purpose. It was meant for you to draw a conclusion from it.
Angle	Eye-level	This photo was taken at eye level so that we can see all that is going on. It creates a sense of being there and experiencing it for yourself. I feel that is important in interpreting photos, being able to see yourself there and feel it.
Type
Stroke-Height Ratio	Medium	The stroke height ratio is medium. I think this is important in analyzing the image because it shows how important they wanted these letters/words to be to the audience.
Stroke weight	Medium/heavy	The letters seem to be dense in stroke as they are needed to be seen and they are important to the “anti” campaign.
Style	Bold and all caps	It’s important to have these attention getters for the campaign no matter what side you’re on.
Family	Serif and sans serif	I feel like the combination of serif and sans serif is important to note. The focus is interchanged between the two statements.

 

https://opinionessoftheworld.com/2010/08/26/womens-equality-day-celebrates-battle-for-womens-suffrage/

Schemes
Repetition		Each sign they are holding is repeating “Mr. President” and it is also repeating the question theme. It emphasizes who they are addressing and who the most important person to address is. The president must address the issue.
Visual
Light	High contrast	Both the banners and the photo itself has high contrast. I believe this shows the importance of the fight and I like the contrast between their dresses and the actual banners.
Perspective	Flat	This photo seems a little flat to me. I really like that it seems this way while the women are protesting. It makes it seem very straight forward about their position on the issue at hand.
Diagonals	Balanced	The banners as well as the image as a whole is very balanced. It seems organized and well thought out.
Space	Open	The top and bottom of the photo has a lot of white space. I like how everything is centered in the middle. It puts the focus on what they are protesting.
Focus	Focalizers	There are two focalizers in this image, and they are both equally as important. The banners are in focus because they are all dressed in black, but the woman are also in focus because of the composition of the image.
Angle	Eye-level	Most, if not all, photos taken during this movement are all eye level. As explained before it creates a nice emphasis on being there with them fighting alongside them. Whichever side they may have been on.
Type
Stroke-height ratio	Medium	This is important because the lettering on the banners needs to be easily read. If it was all cramped, then it would be hard to read.
Style	Bold and all caps	Many of the banners are bold and all caps. It brings attention to the words and it makes it easy to read.
Family	Sans serif	This makes the letters stand out to the crowds. It is more precise and very title like. It makes it seem more important.

 

 

http://library.austintexas.gov/ahc/votes-women-54444

Schemes
Arrangement	Climax	All of these important reasons are in order of importance. With each one they state, it hits you in the feels more and more. It starts off simple and gets more aggressive. This is important to build up the reasons and bring everything together to make the most sense.
Repetition	Anaphora	At the beginning of each reason, “because” is used to add emphasis to those reasons. It makes it feel like the list goes on and on and that there are so many great reasons to allow women to vote. It allows the sense of redundancy to in a way tire them out of the reasons.
	Words	“woman”, “women”, “because”, and “laws” are the most repeated words. It makes it very clear the point that is being made. Women need to vote for the laws they must abide by and the laws that affect their children. They feel that is the only fair way to do it.
Visual
Color	saturation	The color of this document may just be because of the time period, but I think it has some effect. The color has a very “manila folder” feel to it. Kind of professional, kind of obnoxious.
Light	High contrast	The high contrast in this document is important because it keeps the focus on the words. It makes them more clear to the reader and keeps the points being made in the spotlight.
Diagonals	Balanced	The document is balanced. Everything is in the middle and centered and it is all very well organized. It makes sense for it to be that way because the nature of the movement is against woman being not good enough to have a say, this shows how organized and well put together they can be when speaking about government.
Space	Open yet full	The text is all at the middle of the paper which makes it feel open, but there is a lot of text which makes it feel full. There is a lot of information on the document and it is important to not make it feel too intimidating.
Genre	Style	This paper does have a particular style. It is in a way propaganda to get people on the woman’s side. It has that feel to it, kind of like the “I want you” posters during the war.
Type
Stroke-height ratio	Medium	This is important, so it is easy to read. It is not compressed or very wide. It is typical and simple and easy on the eyes.
Style	Mix	There is bold, narrow, and all caps. This is important to emphasize certain parts of the text that need to stand out. And with it feeling narrow, I feel that is creates a sense of urgency.
Family	Serif	Using serif makes if flow from one letter to the next and from one word to the next very smoothly. It keeps your eyes moving across the text. They want to make it easy to read and get people to keep reading and this just helps the flow of the text.
Spacing	Leading	I can see a little bit of leading on this paper. Some of the words have bigger spaces between them than others do. It makes it interesting to read I suppose. It makes it look a little different, or it could possibly have been a mistake.

 

 

Arguments

https://nwhm.org/resources/general/woman-suffrage-movement

https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/19th-amendment

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/

https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/womens-suffrage-history-timeline.htm

http://centuryofaction.org/index.php/main_site/News_Articles/year/1912/P155

Fallacies

Black or white	This entire movement was about women wanting the vote and men not wanting them to have it. As in most arguments involving government abs voting, you had the option to be for it or against it and there was no in-between.
Appeal to Ignorance	This one is an important one to the movement. Most men were opposed to having woman vote because they believed they only had a voice inside the home. They thought that they were no smart enough or of authority enough to have a say in the laws or government issues just because they were female. But how would they know they smart in these ways? They used their campaigns and their organizations to prove this to the outside. They opened their eyes.
Straw man	The beliefs of the woman are being attacked, just because they are women. They should be quiet and just do as they’re told. They call out the belief that woman should have a say and then attack it with they are woman and should work in the home.
Appeal to misleading authority (tradition)	History says that woman are not allowed to vote, so these women protesting this. This was one fallacy that was prevalent throughout the whole movement. They wanted to change what people interpreted the constitution to say. The founding fathers said it, so it must remain, right? Wrong.
Ad Hominem	They are all women protesting this! They must be wrong because they have no say.
Appeal to Consequences	This one goes for both sides. Those that were fighting for the vote believed that great things would happen, and those that opposed it believed that bad things would happen.
Bandwagon	In a way this was sort of a bandwagon movement. It started with a small group of women who realized that they needed more from the government and wanted a say. The other woman realized this was totally true and they wanted to join in and soon there were thousands of women across the US demanding the right to vote.
Emotional Appeal	Many of the reasons that the women used were regarding children. This would tug at the father’s heartstrings and make them think tice about who was making the decisions for their children. This might have also been a sexist approach as well, but that’s another story.

 

 

Perelman

Premises
Values	Abstract and specific	Nothing about the movement is based off facts. It is based off values that are put out there by a group of people with kind of an abstract reasoning, but wanting specific outcomes. The specific outcome of the movement generated a more abstract one as well (which I will talk about in the social movement section)
Premise Modifiers
Presence	Time	Although the movement took almost a decade to be successful, those that were for the movement made it feel urgent. There were decisions that needed to be made at each step in the movement. I suppose it was urgent in the individual steps it took to get to the final result.
	Repetition	The movement was all about repetition. Making sure the purpose was heard and engrained in everyone’s minds. It was all about making them aware and making them make faster decisions. For the woman and those women’s children. It was all about a matter of time.
Interpretation	Specific choices	Specific choices were being made by these woman on how they were going to be successful. They didn’t just throw together some random posters or some random marches, they had to plan everything out to be as successful as they could be.
Quasi-logical
Inclusion	Treating as part of a larger whole	The movement wanted the right for women to vote, but embedded within the suffrage movement was equal rights and to have a say outside of the home. It was in a way part of feminism. Standing up for themselves and getting outside of that Victorian era stay at home and mother the children vibe.
Based on Structure of Reality
Decisive	Vote because it will affect victory	This one seemed appropriate. It about voting! But seriously. This movement was made possible because every little thing they did led to a victory. From the letters to the posters to the protests to the marches. The more people to do something the better.
Unlimited development	New developments increase value	With every part to the argument that they added, the movement just got better and better. They came up with new and more involved ideas as time went on and this helped them to win the vote. They kept pushing and adding and getting more involved and it made the movement better for everyone.
Coexistence	Intention	With all of the women that came together to protest and organize this movement, all of their acts and the things they said and did and all the arguments they came up with, revealed that they were all wanting the same things and had the same intentions.
Symbolic Liaisons	Double Hierarchy	I can see a double hierarchy happening here. The men who were opposed and the legislation that was made up entirely of men was a very closely related thing. They were the ones making the decisions and preventing these women from voting.
Establishing Structure of Reality
Example	Event revealed a reality	This movement revealed the reality of the past and what needed to happen in the future. How women were treated before and how they deserve to be treated in the present and future. With each step something new was revealed.
Illustration	Import/presence	This movement opened the eyes to what the constitution was really saying. In a way it strengthened the way we all function as a society. Maybe if just or a little bit. There will always be something wrong.