Domestic Violence Activists

By: Kendell Porter, Avery Brown, Adam Chase

Language
How can a speaker's language affect the audience listening?
-According to James Paul Gee, language is not what you say but how you say
it. This can be applied to Domestic Violence activists. When they speak, sometimes it
is the way they say things that can affect the people in the audience rather that what
they say. The way they use impactful statistics or tell powerful stories will move the
audience more or less depending on the way they are speaking.
- Two speakers can say the same thing but can affect the audience in different
ways just based on how they say what they say.
Language
Can a speaker's language persuade people to act in a certain way?
- According to Andrew Arno persuasion is both a source and instrument of power that can be used to
influence the behavior of others.

- This can be applied to Domestic Violence activists because many activists use persuasive
language to encourage people to take action when they know someone is in an abusive
relationship. Many speakers encourage people to stand up and speak out against domestic
violence when they know that it is going on instead of just being a bystander.

- These activists can use persuasive language as a tool to try to get other people to join the fight
against domestic violence.
Tony Porter
Tony Porter is an Domestic Violence activist that focuses on preventing domestic and
sexual violence through promoting healthy manhood.
He has a very deep voice that sort of demands your attention

He tells stories about his children as well as stories about his own childhood that are powerful and
captivating

He is very direct

When the camera points at the audience you can tell that they are hanging onto his every word.

https://youtu.be/td1PbsV6B80
Leslie Morgan Steiner
Leslie Morgan Steiner is a survivor of domestic violence who delivered a powerful Ted
Talk in 2013
She tells the story of her abusive relationship and captivates the audience

From the way that she tells her story, you can put yourself in her shoes

She paints a great picture of her relationship and makes you really understand what someone in an abusive
relationship is going through.

You can tell that what shes saying is impacting the audience.

https://youtu.be/V1yW5IsnSjo
 Annotated Bibliography
Works Cited
Arno, Andrew. "Impressive Speeches And Persuasive Talk: Traditional Patterns Of Political Communication In Fiji's Lau Group From The
Perspective Of Pacific Ideal Types." Oceania 56.2 (1985): 124-37. Web.
This source was okay for this topic but I just pulled a couple of points that he made and used it to relate to what I was analyzing about my discourse
community. He wasnt writing about domestic violence activists but I thought he made a couple points that could be applied to domestic violence
activists.

Gee, James Paul. "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction." Journal of Education. N.p., 30 Nov. 1988. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.
This source was great for this topic because language was clearly defined and thoroughly expalined. This articled served as a good starting point
for this project. I feel like the first step to me analyzing the language of Domeestic violence activists was to get a good understanding of the
definition of language.

Porter, Tony. "A Call to Men." Tony Porter: A Call to Men | TED Talk | TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.
This video was a good source for this topic because it is an example of the part of this discourse community that I am analyzing.
I was not analyzing his specific message, instead I was analyzing his language and how he got his point across. I think this Ted Talk is great
example of how the way a speaker says things can impact an audience.

Steiner, Leslie Morgan. "Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave." Leslie Morgan Steiner: Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave | TED
Talk | TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.
The annotation for this source is the same as the one from above. They are both Ted Talks and I used them both for the same reason.
Gender
Why do men turn a blind eye to these women domestic violence activists?
- Men do not think that domestic violence is not a problem.

- Men think that since it is not really happening to them, then it does not need to be changed.
Gender
Why are most domestic violence activists women?
- The majority of domestic violence cases are about the women.

- Most of the time women are the victims of these domestic violence calls.
 Annotated Bibliography
Barrier, Patricia. Domestic violence. Mayo Clinic Proceedings;Rochester. Vol. 73, March 1998, pp.271-274

The peer-reviewed article above was about the statistics of how many women would come into the hospital about a domestic violence
dispute and would talk about the men as being the perpetrators of the incidents. The article would also talk about how to spot people
who have been domestically abused or who are in a relationship with an abusive partner.

Dziegielewski, Sophia. Domestic Violence. pp. 9-23, web. 23 Sep. 2008.

The peer-reviewed article above talks about the different laws placed on domestic violence and how it helped out women. The article
also talks about the reasons why women and children did not leave after the domestic violence happened. The article talks about how
domestic violence was at the time it was published. The article talks about how men never saw domestic violence as a problem until
laws were passed forbidding hitting your family members.
Race
What races are these activists and does that affect their message they are trying to
convey?
Going to many of these organizations websites can show the variety of people working in these activists groups.

Most people that work in these groups tend to be either white or black, however more groups supporting other
races have started showing up.
Race
Has the issue of race in domestic violence cases become as prevalent as the gender
issue?
When domestic violence was first becoming a big issue in society it was mostly focused on gender.

More well-known cases such as the O.J. Simpson case has brought the issue of race into the spotlight when
talking about domestic violence.
Bibliography
NewComer, Laura. "20 Standout Groups Stopping Domestic Violence." N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2017. <
http://greatist.com/happiness/stop-domestic-violence-organizations>.

Locke, L.M. & Richman, C.L. Sex Roles (1999) 40: 227. doi:10.1023/A:101889892156

"Home." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017. <http://www.ncadv.org/>/