Progay/Antigay: The Rhetorical War Over SexualityCombining humanistic rhetorical criticism with social scientific concepts, Ralph R. Smith and Russel R. Windes examine how the discourse of the progay/antigay debate shapes the self-understanding and strategies of the two opposing sides. The struggle over issues such as lesbians and gay men serving openly in the military, same-sex marriage, and inclusion of "sexual orientation" in anti-discrimination and hate crime laws have evolved along with the development of rival progay and traditionalist antigay communities. In the process of presenting their arguments to the wider society, the two sides exercise extraordinary influence on each other. As a result of the public policy debates, the progay movement has moved toward an essentialist, non-sexual identity, while the traditionalists have shifted toward a secular public self-representation. Progay/Antigay also analyzes the internal disagreements within the two movements. The same-sex marriage debate illustrates important dimensions of the contest over sexuality. The authors examine rhetorical strategy and counter-strategy in this specific institutional context. Progay/Antigay also discusses how the study of the variant sexuality issue provides the opportunity to assess paths for reconciliation and to judge concepts of political pluralism and multiculturalism. |
From inside the book
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... public policy positions . Rhetorician Celeste Condit Railsback ( 1984 ) correctly asserts that critics should not focus " on the advocacy of only one side of a controversy , " but instead ought to analyze the " social text created by ...
... public policies are influenced to draw specific appeals from their armamentarium in order to shape one another's identity claims and relational and situational definitions . The study of communication about public policy toward variant ...
... public policy issues begins in Chapter 1 with a description of the general public policy controversy over variant sexuality and with an overview of the emergence of conditions which pro- duced the current extensive public debate about ...
... public sphere , to re- fute antigay appeals , and to justify public policy favorable to lesbians and gay men . Chapter 3 explains our understanding of this pattern of appeals , stressing that these appeals are not forged through ...
... public policy questions if they encouraged reduction of opportunistic and shallow argument , the formulation of more substan- tive appeals , a rethinking of identity claims , and a deeper appreciation of the fundamental challenges which ...
Contents
1 | |
Chapter 2 Analysis of Communication in Contests Over Variant Sexuality | 35 |
Chapter 3 Appeals in Progay and Traditionalist Discourses | 57 |
Chapter 4 Antagonistic Construction of Identity and Conflict | 93 |
Chapter 5 Debate Within Communities | 127 |
A Case Study | 155 |
Chapter 7 Criticism of the Variant Sexuality Issue Culture | 181 |
References | 203 |
Index | 227 |
About the Authors | 239 |