Jacey Wyatt

Instructor Mrs. Fielding

WRTC 103
3 Oct. 2017

Rhetorical Analysis of Graydons: The Pursuit of Beauty Is Harmful

Perfection is a disease of the nation, pretty hurts. Many young girls all over the world

have heard this disheartening quote from the queen of beauty herself, Beyonc. It is unfortunate

that at such a young age girls are thrown into a world where looks define them. One particular

woman, Author Shari Graydon wrote The Pursuit of Beauty is harmful, published in 2013 as

an online journal by the Greenhaven Press. She convinces her audience that they are so absorbed

in the media with seeing unrealistic photos of women, making these photo shopped images their

reality. Shari explains to her audience that this is really happening by providing true stories about

how some women are altering their bodies in artificial ways. This topic is perfectly targeted at

young women between the ages of thirteen and thirty-five, where they still care enough about

their body image to go through surgery or even put their health at risk to change their

appearance. Graydon sufficiently convinces her audience that body image portrayed in the media

is taking an emotional and physical impact on girls through the use of emotional stories and

statistics.

In her article, Shari Graydon claims that women are at war with their bodies. Body image

is negatively impacting women by influencing them to undergo artificial surgeries, starving

themselves, brain washing by the media, and distorting images which alter the definition of

beauty. Graydon concludes that in order to stop all of this, society must let manufacturers,
advertisers, publishers and programmers know that they are losing business due to their unethical

tactics.

Throughout her piece, Graydon uses many substantial sources that strengthen her claim

and appeal to ethos. Shari is an award-winning author and speaker; her main goal is to intensify

womens voices and promoting media literacy. Her background information applies to ethos so

her audience can see that she is credible herself and already has background information on her

topic. Her sources include the cautionary words of Dwight Eisenhower (P. 1), the British

Fashion Council decline(P.7), and the studies on anorexia in the 1980s( P. 18). These sources

amplify Graydons credibility by providing a quote from a former president and relating it to the

topic, emphasizing real events that have occurred in Europe on the health of models, and getting

to the bottom of anorexia in finding a solution. The appeals to ethos in this piece come from

many people and sources throughout the world, giving the audience the idea that this is more

than just a small issue in our backyard.

The logos appeals in this piece give a better picture on how severe this topic is to society.

Graydon uses several facts and statistics that relate to young girls, which calls attention to

younger generations. These mind-blowing facts consist of, Pageant winners have become

significantly slimmer and less curvaceous, and almost all of the contemporary centerfolds

assessed in a 1999 study were considered underweight(P.16), Canadian Medical Association

Journal found that close to one in three preadolescent girls are trying to lose weight and one in

10 shows symptoms of an eating disorder(P.19), and eating disorders have the highest

mortality rates of all psychiatric disorders(P.20). Graydon draws attention to the fact that what
young girls are seeing in the media are affecting them. In their minds, this matter is so crucial

that they are willing to put their life on the line. This tactic really gets her readers engaged.

Along with strong logos appeals, Graydon adequately makes appeals to pathos

throughout her article, getting readers emotionally invested. Even the title of this piece is an

appeal to pathos; right off the bat it grabs a readers attention. As Graydon gets more in depth

with eating disorders and the health of young girls her pathos appeals become stronger. In

August 2006, Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos starved herself for her career and was rewarded

with heart failure that killed her at the age of 22 (P.7). This quote is very powerful because it

has a sense of sarcasm when describing the young models death. Graydon uses several

examples within her work about the death of young woman in the result of eating disorders. But

what is really causing this? The French have always claimed one must suffer to be beautiful, but

you're forgiven for believing that obscenely premature death may actually defeat the purpose

(P.8). Our society and the way it is shaped causes the mental strain on women to be unnaturally

thin. This quote is infuriating because it states that beauty is painful but if you kill yourself you

are forgiven. These girls are not intentionally killing themselves they are just abiding to the

beauty standards the media has put before them and they are trying to live up to it. Graydon tugs

on the audiences heart strings, making readers feel empathy for girls reacting this way.

Graydons appeals to ethos are ineffective as the article progresses. For example, after

her paragraph on distorted images she loses her reliability with sources and she uses very broad

statistics to finish up her point. This damages her credibility and to how much detail she truly

knows about the topic. Although the authors authority is questioned she still does a marvelous

job in using emotional language affectively while introducing the impact eating disorders have
on girls. Her main focus never leaves site; she constantly reminds her readers that they should

never compare themselves to women seen online or on billboards because they are unrealistic.

Wrapping up her article she suggests in order to end this body image war, businesses should

realize they are losing money due to their corrupt approaches.

This issue is essential to what is happening today. Just a few months ago the womens

march took place in Washington D.C. Women from all over the country supported feminism and

how women should be treated differently. At this point women are fed up with being seen only

for their bodies and for being treated unequally compared to men. Our society has gotten a lot

better with advertising clothing with real body models but we still have a lot of work to do.

Graydon gives her readers an insight and an emotional connection to this issue that is currently

feeding off of younger generations.

 Works Cited

Graydon, Shari. "The Pursuit of Beauty Is Harmful." The Culture of Beauty, edited by Louise I.

Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010659241/OVIC?u=viva_jmu&xid=6d4d9e0c. Accessed

5 Oct. 2017. Originally published as "How the Media Keeps Us Hung Up on Body Image,"

Herizons, vol. 22, no. 1, Summer 2008.