Rhetorical Analysis #1

Identity In the Crossroads Between Sex and Gender
Is that a man or woman? This is a common question asked after only a brief look at Jess Goldberg, the protagonist in Leslie Feinberg’s novel, Stone Butch Blues. Each person is born to a specific sex, male or female. Some people in society stray from the norms and become gender variant. Jess’s gender variant life style along with her religion, Judaism, paved the way for an extremely difficult and confusing upbringing. Jess is treated inferiorly upon entering the women’s clinic due to her gender variant qualities, which reflects unequal accessibility to healthcare during the mid and late 20th century. Jess’s endeavors as a gender variant female allow Feinberg to appeal to the readers’ emotions, by portraying the obstacles and misconceptions Jess encounters on a daily basis. Secondly, Feinberg appeals to the reader’s understanding of how uneducated and untrained healthcare professionals are at this time and place. Finally, in the women’s clinic, Feinberg introduces the doctor who establishes a glimmer of hope in a seemingly hopeless environment. Before continuing, it is essential to acknowledge that Feinberg, the author of the novel and mastermind behind the scene is more then qualified to illustrate the struggles that gender variant people endure due to the fact that she herself was a lesbian butch growing up in the 1960s and is a well known LGBT author and activist. Feinberg has published writings on LGBT history in the Workers World newspaper and also won the Lambda Literary Award for Stone Butch Blues.

Feinberg establishes pathos by appealing to the readers’ emotions. Emotions are something bred into humans regardless of sex, race, ethnicity and any other differentiating factor. Jess has a fluctuation of emotions throughout the novel. Many of the reoccurring emotions are generated upon entering the women’s clinic. Jess has an unsafe and uncontrollable irritation in her genital region. She swallows up her pride and goes to a women’s clinic where she is not greeted with much respect. Because the general public is often uneducated in transgender life, the people in the women’s clinic often misunderstand Jess. When Jess told the receptionist her reason for visiting was a vaginal infection she didn’t get the response she expected: “The receptionist looked me up and down. Are you kidding me?” This response causes Jess to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. She is so hurt by the response that she “debated leaving, but the itching and burning became worse every day.” When Jess answers the receptionist respectfully, not only is the receptionist rude to her, but the people in the waiting room are rude as well. . When Jess hears someone say “Why can’t they just be crazy in their own place?” she feels humiliated. Everyone is there for the same reason, but due to her appearance she is treated inferiorly. Lastly, a fierce emotion stemming from all these events is pure anger. In response to being mistreated Jess says, “Fuck you”. This scene shows how fed up Jess is with everything and how her rage and anger cause her to speak violently towards others even though its not within her character.
Feinberg appeals to the readers’ logic by portraying how poorly the healthcare system in managed. During the mid to late 1900s, Americans held themselves to a strict status quo. There is no room to stray outside the boundaries, which is what people like Jess are doing. During this time the health care system was black or white, there was no in the middle. Throughout the novel Jess deals with many hardships that most people never have to experience. The women’s clinic is a prime example. As soon as Jess enters the clinic, the receptionist notices Jess’ masculine appearance and gives her a hard time when she claims to have a vaginal infection. When the receptionist is informed that Jess has such an infection, she responded with “A what?” as if she didn’t know what a vaginal infection was. If it were any other patient she would be taken care of with respect. After a debrief with Roz, the nurse, Roz accuses Jess of having an issue. Roz said “I don’t know what your problem is but this is a clinic for women who are sick, and your using up that resource right now”. This suggests how flawed the healthcare system is and how ignorant and hurtful people could be. This passage clearly depicts the need for a better healthcare system with higher educated staff members. Up to this point in the novel there is little tolerance for those who did not adhere to the rules of each gender.
Feinberg established ethos by using the doctor who is a highly credible member of society. Jess is shunned by the public due to her internal conflict between sex and gender. People were very quick to judge, such as the receptionist and Roz. Just when everything seems to be going sour at the clinic, a doctor enters the scene. The doctor asks, “what’s going on here?” The doctor swoops down into the room like the hand of god. The doctor soon makes Jess her first priority, unlike everyone else in the clinic. The doctor displays a high field of credibility due to her education and training within her specialty. Fienberg’s use of the doctor balances the passage and embraces a sign of hope. The doctor told Jess, “You can make an appointment on your way out. Don’t put it off too long”. This reflects that the doctor was genuine and that she sincerely cares about Jess and her progress with the infection. The doctor proves that there are some tolerable people and that not all healthcare clinics and professionals are so inconsiderate and uneducated.
The author’s use of pathos, logos, and ethos is depicted when Jess enters the women’s clinic. Due to her masculine appearance, emotions such as humiliation, anger and embarrassment were inevitable upon how improperly she was treated at the clinic. Feinberg also distinctly portrays how corrupt people and the healthcare system could be during this time of intolerance towards gender variant people. Lastly, Feinberg introduced the doctor as a character who shined light on a dark situation. The high credibility of the doctor evened out the lopsided situation. It sheds light on Jess and it shows that not everyone is antagonistic towards her and that there is a sign of hope for her and all those alike.