TOW #18 "Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute to Be Scared?" by Caroline Paul

This week I was absolutely wowed by "Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute to Be Scared?" by writer and firefighter, Caroline Paul. Although Paul does not have an extensive collection of published work, her experiences as one of the first female firefighters for the San Francisco Fire Department and her New York Times publication led me to regard her as a highly credible author. In her piece, she shares her personal experience in a convincing narrative format that left me pondering the gender stereotypes that are ingrained into us by society from the time we are too young to even realize it. I walked away from this article with a completely new appreciation for all of the times that my Mom and Dad told me to "quit being damsel in distress" when I got stuck in a tree or on top of the monkey bars. However, the reliability of the piece is not exclusive to girls who were raised by parents who encouraged them to face problems on their own but also the "10 year old girls who were taught it was cute to screech 'I'm too scared'" (para. 14).  Through her use of anecdotes, first-person plural pronouns, and statistics from the Journal of Psychology, Paul creates a logical, yet emotionally appealing, argument disagreeing with the accepted norms that teachers girl to be delicate instead of taking risks.

Paul begins by sharing several of her more daring feats as a female firefighter: "I’ve pulled a bloated body from the bay, performed CPR on a baby and crawled down countless smoky hallways," (para. 1) and ends her piece with what she believes allowed her to accomplish these incredible things: " I put my fear where it belonged, behind my feelings of focus, confidence and courage," (para. 15). These examples make her argument much stronger and also evoke feelings of admiration, as these feats are very impressive to begin with considering that she literally saved lives. Since her purpose is to not only draw attention to this negative stereotyping but also to get her audience to do something about it, this is really effective. She also repeats the word "we" over and over again which helps her piece feel very relatable and also make it seem like something the audience should really take an interest in. Additionally, the statements Paul utilizes from the Journal of Psychology help bring a strong logical appeal into a very emotionally based argument. The combination of devices helps her really achieve her purpose, as does the occasion in which the text was written. In an era of great social change, it is crucial that strong female role models step away from social norms and show the potential in all.

I accessed this article through the NY Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opinion/sunday/why-do-we-teach-girls-that-its-cute-to-be-scared.html?ref=opinion