Gender and Sexual Urges
Gender is one of humanity's most strong powers. Sexual urges are inherent in both humans and nature. When people are madly and intensely in love with each other, it is very difficult to resist.
The Normative Case for Sex Before Marriage
Jill Filipovic's essay "The Normative Case for Sex Before Marriage" attempts to convince the reader to recognize sex as a legitimate act of morality. Ms. Filipovic chooses to illustrate her point of view on sex in the post, which is rarely discussed. She also disagrees with the community's social system when it comes to opposing those evidence, such as the use of the term "premarital sex." She also uses interesting facts and logical reasons with an emotional appeal as support evidence to hold the reader’s interest throughout her entire work.
The Influence of Cultural Perspective
To begin with, the author acknowledges that the majority of the readers agree with her point of view. Culturally, to be morally sound, society chooses not to mention about having sex before the wedding night. It is obvious that Filipovic lives in the Western World which is barely concerned about premarital sex. As the consequence, most of her audience is absolutely associated with or based on western culture.
Author's Authority and Experience
Furthermore, the author’s state of mind and conditions such as her knowledge, her environment of residence, and her experience, give her an authority to write about this topic conclusively. Filipovic carefully provides an information about her culture and in her area to support arguments that are opposed from the social structure. Since her knowledge and experience are based on Western culture, she mentions that, “But 'waiting until marriage' is a cultural phenomenon – albeit one that isn’t actually happening for nearly everyone in the western world,” which reminds the reader that this belief is fading and will no longer exist in our society.
An Ironic Perspective
Although the term premarital sex sounds moral, beautiful, and pure, the author has multiple uses of quotation marks around the word “premarital”, which gives the reader an ironic meaning that it is different from the literal interpretation. From the article, the audience is actually today’s society, especially the group who believes to wait until marriage to have sex. Surprisingly, Filipovic uses a quotation mark around the word ten times for an ironic meaning in the article, such as “waiting until marriage,” “purity,” “the right way.” While the author is describing what society teaches us to believe about sex and marriage, she also uses the quotation mark to point out that she certainly doesn’t fully believe in what she is trying to point out as her views. To me, she may be speaking about her viewpoint to an audience that certainly does not believe in her point of views as such.
Interesting Facts and Examples
Interesting facts are also one of the impressive techniques that Filipovic uses to keep the reader attention throughout the entire article. To get the reader involved and comprehend the topic, the author uses interesting facts including examples to approach the audience. Besides the reader’s attention, interesting facts in the article also reveal today’s sex and marriage situation that people are coping with. Starting from the first paragraph, the author uses several famous pop star’s names as an example for her argument, “Pop stars from Britney Spear to Jessica Simpson, to the Jonas Brothers, to Miley Cyrus to Justin Bieber assert that they’re waiting till marriage… (at least, until someone leaks a sex tape).” These famous people are well known and serve as an idol to several continents around the globe. The author has used not only their fame but also their reputation as an example of today’s idols. This is much further from what they do in real life. Most of the pop stars are publicly supporting the idea of having sex after marriage yet most of them are seen or reported to engage in sex before marriage. This clearly shows how the idea of premarital sex has been altered at this era of changing times.
Statistical Evidence and Belief Change
Moreover, the author also brings up a few surprising statistics about sex. In regards to statistics and numbers, nearly every individual tends to acquire and commemorate after he or she receives reasonable information. From the article, the author states that “95% of Americans don’t wait until their wedding night,” “…having sex once a week instead of once a month is the ‘happiness equivalent’ of an extra $50,000 a year.” By using these interesting resources, which are not difficult to recognize afterward to support her position, it influences a large group of people to be more active in sexual activity before marriage. These overwhelming numbers also will tend to change the beliefs that most of the readers have had previously concerning the premarital sex.
Disadvantages of Traditional Views on Marriage
By comparing sex before marriage and after marriage, Filipovic provides a number of disadvantages of having sex after the wedding night and explains that the issue about sex could not be solved by marriage. However, it is obvious that after the author states her position against the premarital sex, she chooses not to mention the advantage of having sex after marriage. Instead, Filipovic maximizes and discusses disadvantages of holding traditional views on marriage, such as “higher divorce rate,” or “unhappier marriages.” These facts which may not be beneficial to most of the readers, make them facts make the readers continue following and accomplishing the premarital sex theory which alludes to sex before marriage as having some benefits.
The Need for Ethical and Responsible Sexual Practices
Moreover, the author also argues that sex before marriage has not reduced or solved most of the issues about sex in today’s society. Filipovic states that “Instead of fooling ourselves into thinking that waiting until marriage makes sex ‘good’, we should focus on the ethical and responsible sexual practices...” From the statement above, it is evident that the author emphasizes more on the ethical practices of having sex whether before or after marriage rather than basing so much on abstinence from premarital sex or encouraging sex after marriage which may not be conducted in an ethical manner and practice altogether.
Logical Reasoning and Emotional Appeal
In addition, to appear more intellectual and profound, the author uses a logical reason along with the emotional appeal in the article. In an educative point of view, it is known that sex involves the process of reproduction which develops from reproductive instincts for offspring. Unlike other species, the human is an unusual species that has extraordinary brain functions which are intellectually more complex. Emotional intelligence makes humans unique and distinguishes them from other creatures. The human brain has the ability to recognize psychologically high-level emotions such as ego, pride, or ignominy, which makes humanity learn and develop over time.
As the consequence, to persuade the audience, the author chooses to mention emotional appeals along with logical reasoning. For example, Filipovic argues that “…not everyone is going to get married, or even legally get married. The instruction to wait forever to experience a fundamental human pleasure is pointless and cruel”. For instance, in considering the homosexuals who may not be legally allowed to have their sexual rights enjoyed, this has caused a major shift in the belief into what premarital sex is all about. Therefore, this statement does not only demonstrate sympathy for those who could not enjoy their contentedness as human beings due to social constructs, but it also points out the limitations concerning both the cultural and legal circumstances for them as a logical appeal.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Jill Filipovic uses several remarkable techniques to persuade the audience. Starting from the first quarter of the article, she uses a number of interesting facts, including the idea of waiting until marriage for sex is a cultural phenomenon that isn’t actually happening for nearly everyone in the western world, not only for the reader’s attention but also for providing the reader with basic information about the topic. While the author is describing an argument, she uses quotation marks around the word “premarital” to remind and deliver the audience the ironic meaning of words that she disagrees. Furthermore, Filipovic chooses to provide logical reasons using emotional appeals such intimacy to get the reader aware of premarital sex beliefs in today’s society which is illogically and deliberately cruel for humanity. Jill Filipovic bravely delivers an unspoken message which contrasts the societal structure publicly by using several techniques in a unique way.
