Date of Award
2023
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in English
Department
English
First Advisor
Stephanie West-Puckett
Abstract
This thesis seeks to understand how the Feminist Mormon Housewives advice column, “Dear fMh,” which ran from 2006-2016, works in alignment with the ethics of care that has existed in American women’s advice columns for generations, as well as how this care specifically functions in the offline-online space. Using feminist rhetorical analysis that focuses on exploring, explaining, and empathizing rather than persuasion, I analyze the writing produced in the most active years of this forum–2006-2007–to understand how this space is created and its relation to the offline space. I base my chapters in Cheryl Glenn’s theory that coalition, reconciliation, and reflection are the concepts that separate feminist rhetorical analysis from traditional rhetoric and that these concepts are vital to democracy and to our survival. My chapters are titled “Reconciliation,” Coalition,” and “Reflection” respectively, and I analyze how these concepts exist in the forum and that they are intended to continue outside of it. I am approaching this as both a rhetorical project and a tool for survival for those involved.
Recommended Citation
Unger, Julia, "IS IT FREEDOM YOU WANT?: FEMINIST MORMON HOUSEWIVES “DEAR FMH” COLUMN AS A PARTICIPANT IN THE ETHICS OF CARE IN AMERICAN WOMEN’S ADVICE COLUMNS" (2023). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2330.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2330
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