Rhetoric in Arguments about Feminism: Analysis of Piers Morgan and Eleanor Mills Debate

This essay analyzes the use of rhetoric in the debate about feminism between Piers Morgan and Eleanor Mills. It also discusses the different concepts of feminism and how it has evolved over time.

Running head: FEMINISM
FEMINISM
Name of Student:
Name of University;
Author note:

1
FEMINISM
A topic which is always there on the top ten most common lists for any debate or
argument is feminism. Feminism started as a reaction or a revolt against the men centric ways
and conventions of the society or the world. Although, it started as a necessary revolution in the
favor of women all over the world and demands equality and equal opportunities for both men
and women. However, the topic for feminism has taken a toxic turn and has led to the emergence
of feminazi. There was a debate in the show, the morning Britain, between Piers Morgan, who is
Britain broadcaster and Eleanor Mills, based on this sensitive social issue. Both Piers Morgan
and Eleanor Mills use interesting concepts of rhetoric to persuade and influence the audience as
well as to win from their opponent. The uses of rhetoric in arguments make the arguments more
persuasive and strong. The essay aims to analyze how rhetoric has been used in the arguments
about feminism between Morgan and mills. The essay will also throw light on the different
concepts of feminism and how has it changed and evolved overtime.
Rhetoric can be defined as the art of making statements in a way that people are
influenced and convinced by it. The purpose of incorporating rhetorical concepts while taking is
to be persuasive so that people can agree to the speaker and be influenced by whatever the
speaker has to say to the audience. According to a study, the rhetoric has three key concepts, that
is, the concept of logos, the concept of pathos and the concept ethos (Billig, 2015). The main aim
of using the rhetoric in arguments is to be persuasive and the three above mentioned concepts of
rhetoric help in appealing to the audience. Logos refer to the logic behind being selective in
using information in your arguments (Herrick, 2017). Pathos refers to the way in which the
speaker is able to appeal to the emotions and use them to persuade the audience in his favor
(Hirsch & Keller, 2015). Lastly, ethos refers to speaking in a way that the audience feels credible

2
FEMINISM
and empowered by providing them option. Ethos can also be employed by proving the credibility
of the speaker by providing evidences from trusted sources.
The argument opens with Piers Morgan asking the question as to why should a man feel
patronized while opening the door for a women and asking her to go first. In the first sentence it
self we see how Piers Morgan very cleverly uses the concept of ethos and makes Eleanor Mills
feel like he wants to know her opinion as well as making his stand clear in the topic. Using the
concept of rhetoric in order to be persuasive, Eleanor Mills first justifies herself as being in favor
of good manners and even teaching her daughters to be generally good mannered but also points
out that she finds ‘ the ladies first thing’ as being patronizing. She incorporates logos, one of the
concept of rhetoric, when she uses the theory of feminism, saying that the practice of opening the
door for a women highlights the psychological ideology that women are fragile and delicate
being who needs to be looked after and taken care of (Grant, 2013). She further uses pathos to
appeals to the young girls as her target audience, and says that a lot of young girls like to be
treated as equals and do not like the door to be opened for them and the chair to be pulled for
them or their bills to be paid by men. She uses the theory of feminism to be persuasive and to
point out the objectification of women in the hands of men by considering women as fragile
empty vessels who might break if not looked after.
The topic of feminism is further stretched when Piers Morgan says the phrase “lovely
ladies” and Eleanor Mills said that, this very phrase is highly patronizing. Here, Eleanor Mills
could not make use of logos and instead gave some vague arguments to support her pint like,
piers would not have called lovely ladies to a group of men, which does not have any logic. Piers
in response makes use of logos and says that they are not men, they are ladies and so, he calls
them lovely because they make him appear less horrific in the camera. Here, one is forced to

3
FEMINISM
think that what Eleanor Mills says is ridiculous and has no basis because the question that
Eleanor asks that if there would be a group of men, piers would have not called them lovely
ladies. Piers’ simple answer that they are not men but women indicates the fact that he has used
logos in his arguments to persuade the audience. According to a report, the level of persuasion
directly reflects the Way a person uses rhetoric (Dixon, 2017). When Eleanor Mills says that a
lot of women does not want to be called ladies, it is evident that she is trying to use manipulative
speech which can also be called unethical communication because she does not provide an
evidence to who these girls are that she is referring to and how does she know what they want to
be called and what they do not want to be called. However, pierce’s approach is pretty specific
he says that if she questions the “lovely ladies” who do his makeup, none of them will ever have
a problem in being called a lovely ladies. According to a study, the persuasiveness of the speaker
reflects on how successfully he uses the rhetorical concepts (Lilly, 2018).
The theory of feminism is again used by Eleanor Mills when Piers Morgan claims that
Eleanor Mills or people like Eleanor Mills are trying to kill chivalry and manners. She takes the
chance to prove Piers Morgan wrong by saying that the very term chivalry is originally was an
old knightly quote which refers to the men rescuing damsels in distress. By showing the origin of
the term said by piers, Eleanor Mills shows her credibility and persuades the audience. She
shows herself more credible than Piers Morgan by explaining the origin of a term that her
opponent has used in his argument to win over her. This reflects the use of ethos, which is one of
the key concepts of rhetoric (Dow, 2015). She further elaborates on the concept of feminism and
says that younger women do not want to be a part of the system that sees them as inferior and
wanting the support of men all the time they instead want to be treated equally. According to the
theory of feminism, it is ultimately about equality and equal and equal opportunity (Marshall,

4
FEMINISM
2013). a repost says that Feminism is all about giving women equal chance and equal
opportunity and equal pay for equal work as everybody else (Hirsch & Keller, 2015). However,
at some points in the discussion Eleanor Mills appears a bit of feminazi instead of feminist. This
aspect of her character comes to the forth from time to time while she communicates and argues
with Piers Morgan. She also appears to be using manipulative speech sometimes while arguing
with piers on the topic of feminism. According to a study, manipulative speech is generally use
to persuade audience without having genuine concerns for the audience and have some selfish
agenda to achieve (Dubov, 2015).
Further the issue of men offering to pay for dinner has been talked about between Piers
Morgan and Eleanor Mills where piers asks if it is a criminal offense to pay for dinner when
they go for a date asking if he is asking something in return or it is some kind of power play.
While Eleanor mills is trying to prove that it is some power play behind men wanting to pay
bills, Piers Morgan deduces the whole as romance. He simply makes use of logos again to be
persuasive. According to a report, logos literally mean logic and rhetorically it is used to deduce
or draw a conclusion using reason to be persuasive (Hayton & McEnhill, 2014). Piers Morgan
makes use of his rhetoric skills to deduce or conclude that men pay for the bills because they
expect nothing but romance in return, they think that this date or dinner with the women can go
somewhere.
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that the art of rhetoric is used
for being more persuasive and convincing in arguments. Both Piers Morgan and Eleanor Mills
have used innovative concepts for persuading the audience and convincing them on the topic of
feminism. The way both Eleanor Mills and Piers Morgan use the three key concepts of rhetoric,
that is , logos, pathos and ethos is commendable. Both of them try to win over the other by using

5
FEMINISM
their skills and credibility in persuading the audience. It is clear that both of them hold strong
command in rhetorical concepts as they use them successfully in their arguments.

6
FEMINISM

7
FEMINISM
Reference:
Billig, M. (2015). Rhetoric of social psychology. In Deconstructing social psychology (pp. 59-
72). Psychology Press.
Dixon, P. (2017). Rhetoric. Routledge.
Dow, J. (2015). Passions and Persuasion in Aristotle's Rhetoric. Oxford Aristotle Studies.
Dubov, A. (2015). Ethical persuasion: the rhetoric of communication in critical care. Journal of
evaluation in clinical practice, 21(3), 496-502.
Grant, J. (2013). Fundamental feminism: Contesting the core concepts of feminist theory.
Routledge.
Hayton, R., & McEnhill, L. (2014). Rhetoric and Morality—How the Coalition Justifies Welfare
Policy. In Rhetoric in British Politics and Society (pp. 101-115). Palgrave Macmillan,
London.
Herrick, J. A. (2017). The history and theory of rhetoric: An introduction. Routledge.
Hirsch, M., & Keller, E. F. (2015). Conflicts in feminism. Routledge.
Lilly, C. S. (2018). Power and persuasion: ideology and rhetoric in communist Yugoslavia,
1944-1953. Routledge.
Marshall, B. (2013). Engendering modernity: Feminism, social theory and social change. John
Wiley & Sons.