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

Running head: FEMINISM
FEMINISM
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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

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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