Roberts 1

Carly Roberts
Zack De Piero
Writing 2
14 October 2015
Standing Strong
According to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, one out of every four college women will
be the victim of sexual assault during their academic career (Cleveland Rape Crisis Center).
Most will agree that this ratio is unacceptable, and the release of a new yes means yes consent
bill has hit the headlines of many newspapers. Particularly, the International Business Times, LA
Times, and USA Today all published articles questioning the effectiveness of the new bill. The
yes means yes legislation passed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2015 is aimed toward public
California college students and requires an affirmative and conscious decision to engage in
sexual activity. In addition to the previous no means no legislation, the new yes means yes
bill is designed to reduce violent/nonviolent sexual encounters across college campuses,
however, the articles contain many conventions such as ethos, logos, and counterarguments to
illustrate the bills importance in society, but still remains skeptical of its impact on students.
Particularly, the International Business Times (IBT) is an online news publication that
supports the yes means yes legislation, but believes that cases of sexual assault may be hard to
identify. The IBT offers news, opinion, and editorial commentary on business-related stories,
usually attracting the attention of politicians or business men/women. Just like most articles, IBT
grabs the readers attention by the articles large, bolded title Yes Means Yes Sexual Assault
Prevention Law Has Prototype In Many College Campus Policies. The author gave a
background of the bill in the title, so readers can determine whether or not they want to read the

Roberts 2
article based on its content. Under the title there is a picture of the first college to adapt the
legislation, followed by several short, choppy paragraphs containing the context of the article. An
important convention is that the author states the counter argument by saying, although the
California bill is a historic step on the state legislative level, the revised language that defines
consent does not necessarily mean sexual assaults have decreased (Mintz). It is important that
the author respects the motives of the new bill because it is acknowledging a serious issue,
however requiring a complying yes is not going to change the motives of intoxicated teens.
Many girls are taken advantage of and it is difficult to prove whether or not both partners give an
endorsing consent to sexual activity.
In addition, the IBT uses many rhetorical strategies, such as ethos and logos, in order to
earn the respect of its audience, while giving believable evidence to support its argument. The
author uses ethosa strategy to prove the sources credibilityby referring to well known
organizations and other news sources, such as CNN, so the reader believes the text. Also, Mintz
portrays logosthe argument from reasonby saying that While its too soon to tell if the Yes
Means Yes law will be effective in curbing the rate of sexual assaults on campus, the change in
tone is seen as a step in the right direction (Mintz). Clearly, this new form of consent is new to
California schools, therefore, nobody knows how it will affect students. It would be a miracle if
every male, or even female, college student respected the mental awareness and values of the
opposite gender. Overall, the IBT uses many facts and examples to show that California is
making progress and that hopefully the legislation will influence students to assert their
dominance when it comes to sexual activity.
In comparison, the LA Timesa leading source of breaking news, sports, entertainment,
and politics, attracting many people from Southern California and the worldpossesses

Roberts 3
rhetorical devices to engage the readers interest in the yes means yes article. This source
focuses more on the negative aspects of the new bill, because according to Voxs Ezra Klein, if it
is actually taken seriously it will settle like a cold winter on college campuses, throwing
everyday sexual practice into doubt and creating a haze of fear and confusion over what counts
as consent (Pearce). The author uses the simile it will settle like a cold winter on college
campuses to show that he believes that this new law will not be effective, because winter
usually contains bad, cloudy weather, which shows that this new law will just create more of a
gray area around the means of sexual consent. Also, the rhetorical question, So whats the big
deal? is used toward the beginning of the article for the readers to understand the purpose of this
topic and how it affects them. The LA Times article did a good job of using this rhetorical
question to connect and engage with the audience by showing how the new bill will most likely
affect college students. It also adds to the casual and informal tone of the article, which attracts
more of a younger audience because they can relate to the context more. If the audience is not
reminded why the text is important, then it would just be a waste of time to continue reading.
In many aspects of life, it is important to understand both sides of a certain situation,
which is a major convention of the LA Times. This LA Times article, What They Are Saying
Californias Yes Means Yes Sexual Standard Has Liberals Divided hints in its title, that there
will be several different counterarguments proposed throughout the article. For example, feminist
writer Katha Politt states that she believes affirmative consent is a feminist dream come true
(Pearce). Unlike the other skeptics mentioned in this article, Politt believes that empowering
women and enforcing them to give consent is a miracle, and will only have a positive impact on
society. It is admirable that the author included Politts counter argument because it helps the
article remain unbiased toward the topic, which is an important convention of news sources. In

Roberts 4
conclusion, the LA Times comes off as very opinionated and does not have high hopes for the
new consent bill.
In addition, USA Today uses strong diction to trigger the audiences emotional side. For
instance, the article contains the word tragic and the sentence Its very difficult to say no
when youre inebriated or someone slips something into your drink (Welch). This is the only
article that has possessed a pathos effect, which makes the audience aware that scary things
actually do happen to students. The diction triggers the readers emotions and helps the audience
empathize for those who have been sexually assaulted. This article possesses a factual and
informative tone, while still keeping it readable for all audiences interested in trending topics.
All three sources contain many consecutive conventions that make it utterly easy to
identify the newspaper genre. Quoting respectable figures, portraying an informative and proper
tone, and gathering ideas/facts from other sources are all surface-level features of a news article.
The authors of news articles mainly gather quotes and opinions from other sources and combine
them into their own article, meaning that most of the text is not actually written by them. All
three sources followed the same structure of a large title and many short/choppy paragraphs that
do not tend to flow, because they often jump from idea to idea without proper use of transitions.
Most of the time newspaper articles are biased, because the author will gather more information
that supports his/her point of view. However, if the author is lazy and is not completely interested
in the topic they are writing about, then the sources appear to be a bit more unbiased.
The sources differ because although the main focus for each one is the yes means yes
law, each article has a different approach to the topic. For example, the IBT has high hopes for
the new law while still a little skeptic, however, the LA Times believes that it is basically
nonsense. USA Today creates a balance in between, by focusing mainly on the reasoning for the

Roberts 5
new consent instead of stating other peoples opinions. Since all of these are popular sources and
people read them on a daily basis, they cannot all contain the same material. Readers will often
jump from source to source in search of different views and opinions. It is important that every
individual develops his or her own opinion and beliefs, which is why newspapers show opposing
views on a topic without ever declaring a wrong point of view.
The new yes means yes legislation is meant to reduce the amount of sexual assaults
that occur on college campuses, but the effectiveness of the affirmative consent is questionable.
It is important that people learn about genres because knowing what a genre is used for can help
people accomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job by knowing how to write a stellar
resume, winning a persons heart by writing a romantic love letter, or getting into college by
writing an effective personal statement (Dirk). When performing a task, the most successful
people are the ones that look at past examples of the genre to understand its rhetorical features. It
is important to learn about genresespecially while writingbecause it helps determine an
appropriate response to the situation at hand. As a female college student, it was meaningful to
study the different sources of the newspaper genre regarding the new consent law, because now I
have a better understanding of what to do if Im ever put in a dangerous sexual situation.

Roberts 6
Works Cited
Birkenstein and Graff. So What? Who Cares? New York: Saying Why It Matters. 2010.
Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, 24 Hour Hotline: (216) 619-6192. Cleveland Rape Crisis
Center: Strength, Compassion, Hope. (Sexual Violence on College Campuses). N.p., n.d.
Web. 03 Dec. 2015.
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces. Parlor Press, 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Mintz, Zoe. Yes Means Yes Sexual Assault Prevention Law Has Prototype In Many College
Campus Policies. International Business Times. N.p., 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
Pearce, Matt. What They Are Saying Caliornias yes means yes Sexual Standard Has Liberals
Divided. LA Times. N.p., 26 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
Welch, Williiam M. California Adopts yes means yes Law. USA Today. N.p., 19 Sept. 2014.
Web. 10 Oct. 2015.