Understanding Pathos

There is a quest to better respond to our culture of rape. How do we do so?

Today, we read chapters 7 and 8 from The ARCS book. 
-We were asked how to use emotional appeals, or "pathos", to better respond to rape and rape culture. My group thought that pathos helps to put ourselves in the victim's shoes. It helps us to be more compassionate and want to find better options for them to feel supported. It also helps to gain sympathy for victims. You can also better appeal to your audience by ways you are using your emotions.

We also talked about the ways in which the media always questions the victim, by straying away from emotions and pathos. 

Pathos as a Commonplace:
-It is important to know what your audience feels about rape, and then change your commonplace accordingly.
We know that rape is used as a tool of domination, and that Pathos can be perceived and used differently throughout the world. Many cultures view rape in different ways. 

The media, is a public response, which tries to be "unbiased". They must speak in a way in order to make the common public feel comfortable. Therefore, the Pathos tends to stay away from Pathos. 

What is a more proactive approach? We all agreed in class as well, that a Collective Compassion is something our society needs to achieve. But, how could this happen? Well, it all starts by creating a reason and place for people to care. In other words, put a human face on it. It's important to try and put yourself in the victim's position. Otherwise, it is really hard to connect to someone in which you cannot find some common ground. Also, workshops, education, spreading awareness, peace rallies, and even poetry slams help to spread a collective compassion towards sexual assault victims in our society. 

We also talked about the different tactics and ways to appeal through emotions:
-Education of rape culture. 
-Prevention-only tells you what not to do. Be prepared to know what to do, yet do not use it unless you have to. 
-negatives vs. positives.
-appealing to pity=bad. 
-Be proactive, rather than reactive [our justice system is reactive].
-Help victims regain their strength.