{"id":953,"date":"2018-03-21T08:15:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T12:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/?p=953"},"modified":"2018-03-20T16:56:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:56:24","slug":"aly-raisman-and-rhetorical-activism-complicating-the-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/2018\/03\/21\/aly-raisman-and-rhetorical-activism-complicating-the-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Aly Raisman and Rhetorical Activism: Complicating the \u201cSports Illustrated Swimsuit Conundrum\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman delivers her impact statement during the sentencing of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who pled guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault. (Photo by\u00a0Dale G. Young\/Detroit News via AP<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most of January 2018, one of the worst sexual abuse scandals ever in sports<\/a> dominated the news cycle, as former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to life in prison<\/a>. During the trial, more than 100 sexual abuse victims testified about the predatory environment Nassar had created. Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman delivered an awe-inspiring 13-minute testimony<\/a> that received national praise. Raisman, who identified herself as a powerful voice and advocate for all victims of sexual abuse, embodied the persona of feminist advocate and champion for abuse victims. However, Raisman\u2019s credibility as a feminist advocate has come into scrutiny in light of her decision to pose \u2013 for the second time \u2013 for the 2018 Sports Illustrated<\/em> swimsuit issue<\/a>. This case raises several questions: Can Raisman still be considered a feminist advocate in light of her choice to pose for a sexist, white, heteronormative, and objectifying magazine feature<\/a>? Where is the line between empowerment and objectification? As a rhetoric scholar, I am interested in how both<\/em> Raisman\u2019s traditional form of activism (public address) and <\/em>her embodied rhetoric are compatible feminist discourses. My purpose is to explain Raisman\u2019s multi-modal activism through the lens of feminist rhetorical criticism \u2013 highlighting the concept of \u201cpower feminism\u201d \u2013 in order to complicate what feminist sports scholars and hosts of the Burn It All Down <\/em>podcast call the \u201cSports Illustrated<\/em> swimsuit conundrum<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Modes of (Feminist) Rhetorical Activism and Power Feminism<\/h3>\n

Feminist rhetorical activism takes many forms. Traditionally, rhetorical activism has been defined as \u201cpublic protest,\u201d \u201cconfrontation,\u201d or other forms of verbal, deliberative discourse. \u00a0However, communication scholars Sowards and Renegar advance a more pluralist view of rhetorical activism<\/a>. In addition to public address, they argue, feminist rhetorical action may manifest as creating grassroots models of leadership; using strategic humor; building feminist identity both on- and off-line; sharing stories; resisting stereotypes and labels; and other visual or embodied forms of protest. Such forms of protest have been used for centuries. Images of women cycling<\/a> in nineteenth century magazines functioned to resist dominant cultural frames of the \u201cfrail\u201d female body whose reproductive parts needed to be preserved. In the twentieth century, second-wave feminism<\/a> introduced consciousness-raising<\/a> activities where women could gather to share, listen, and organize. Finally, in our current century, SlutWalks have attempted to reclaim<\/a> the kinds of clothing traditionally associated with \u201cpromiscuity\u201d and resist the rape culture logic that blames assault victims. Such victim-blaming discourse proliferated after the release of Raisman\u2019s Sports Illustrated<\/em> feature, as exemplified by a tweet directed at Raisman reading, \u201cHow can you complain that you were molested?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Contemporary rhetorical activism is not limited to one of these forms; rather, most activist discourse is multi-modal as well as multiply-mediated. Further, there are competing forms of feminist thought<\/a>. I argue that Raisman\u2019s rhetorical action is in line with “power feminism,”<\/a> which focuses on working within the system or \u201cusing the master ‘s tools\u201d to affect \u00a0change in society. Media studies scholar Rebecca Hains has criticized \u201cpower feminism\u201d in her analysis of television content<\/a>, which revealed that \u201cpower feminist\u201d characters adhere to normative standards of femininity, making them successful commodities in the marketplace. While such criticisms are indeed necessary, I argue that \u201cpower feminist\u201d rhetorical action is still important, even if it is imperfect.<\/p>\n

Aly Raisman as \u201cPower Feminist\u201d and Multi-Modal Advocate<\/h3>\n

During Raisman\u2019s testimony<\/a>, she said, \u201cI have both power and voice and I am only beginning to just use them.\u201d I argue that both her verbal testimony and her Sports Illustrated<\/em> swimsuit feature<\/a> are complementary forms of feminist rhetorical activism. Both demonstrate Raisman\u2019s transformation from a passive victim into an active agent in the form of a survivor\/advocate. In her testimony, she chronicled the story of her objectification and abuse. Her direct confrontation (\u201cLarry, it\u2019s your turn to listen to me\u201d) demonstrated Raisman\u2019s reclaimed voice and agency. In the case of her embodied rhetoric in Sports Illustrated<\/em> \u2013 both the traditional poses and the \u201cIn Her Own Words\u201d feature<\/a> \u2013 Rasiman displays, rather than hides, her body. She transforms from victim to survivor. This is a \u201cpower\u201d move, which stands in contrast to what Naomi Wolf<\/a> called \u201cvictim feminism.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is still important to maintain critiques of the patriarchal media landscape<\/a> we inhabit. Sports Illustrated<\/em>\u2019s Swimsuit Issue is certainly not the epitome of women\u2019s empowerment or feminist discourse; it is unfortunately one of the only times women appear in Sports Illustrated<\/em> at all<\/a>. Further, \u201cpower feminism\u201d is not without its criticisms. As radical feminists have argued, \u201cthe master\u2019s tools will not dismantle the master\u2019s house.\u201d<\/a> However, this does not undermine Raisman\u2019s feminist activism, and we should not revert to ideals of purity that demand women be passive and modest. In Raisman\u2019s own words (written on her naked body),<\/a> \u201cWomen do not need to be modest to be respected.\u201d That simple assertion says so much. Aly Raisman is no victim \u2013 she is a powerful survivor. Raisman\u2019s multi-modal activism depicts a survivor who has claimed her body, her power, her agency, and her voice. For Raisman, both speaking and posing make her a \u201cpower feminist\u201d because she both<\/em> acknowledges the power she has as a woman and a high-profile athlete (the role-model persona), and<\/em> she participates in an institution (the swimsuit issue) that caters to patriarchal and heteronormative ideals. However, her public testimony and her embodied rhetoric should be viewed as compatible and complementary forms of activism. Rhetorical action can be simultaneously progressive and regressive. Advocacy \u2013 and any communication, really \u2013 is never just an either\/or. It can be, and usually is, both\/and.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Alt<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is a doctoral candidate in Communication (Rhetoric and Political Culture) at the University of Maryland. She is interested in the communication of elite sport culture, organizational rhetoric, and advocacy. You can follow her on Twitter at<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>@rhetorbec<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most of January 2018, one of the worst sexual abuse scandals ever in sports dominated the news cycle, as former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to life in prison. During the trial, more than 100 sexual abuse victims testified about the predatory environment Nassar had created. Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman delivered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2075,"featured_media":955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Aly Raisman and Rhetorical Activism: Complicating the \u201cSports Illustrated Swimsuit Conundrum\u201d","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[103758,245,36493,497,103760,3463,96467,103761,103762],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aly-raisman","tag-feminism","tag-gymnastics","tag-olympics","tag-power-feminism","tag-sexual-assault","tag-sexual-misconduct","tag-sports-illustrated","tag-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-issue"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/files\/2018\/03\/Raisman.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8iFlL-fn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":957,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/engagingsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}