Reflective Blog Post #3 Grace Hancock

In her article titled The "Promiscuous Audience" Controversy And The Emergence Of The Early Woman's Rights Movement, author Susan Zaeske quotes fellow author Karlyn Campbell: "" In nineteenth century America," Campbell writes, "femininity and rhetorical action were seen as mutually exclusive. No 'true woman' could be a public persuader."" I see this quote as perfectly encapsulating how women were treated in public spaces in the nineteenth century, and I'm sure even earlier.

I was surprised to learn that "promiscuous audiences" meant as defined as Zaeske, "audiences composed of both men and women." As I understand the word today, promiscuous is a word used to describe someone, usually a woman, who is sexually active with many people, someone who "hooks up" often. I am interested in hearing during class time how my fellow peers think the meaning of the word promiscuous changed overtime.

The public space, as it is conceived today, is so broad and accessible that I would argue that it is not gendered. Author Michael Warner describes the nebulous nature of the modern-day public space when he writes in his article Publics and Counterpublics: "It remains less clear how a public could be translated into an image of the public, a social entity." It is true that there are still public spaces that exist where one group of people abuse their power over the space to put down another group of people (i.e. woman-hating INCEL sub-Reddit(s) on Reddit.com). It is because there are so many voices partaking in the public space today thanks to the invention of cell phones, the internet, and social media, that those voices who try to put others down can be ignored by others who don't agree with their message. For nearly ever public space created to project one idea, there will be another public space created to protest that one idea. It is because the public space today is so wide-reaching that I believe the public space as it is now is not gendered.