Abstract
In this article, we discuss contemporary Ghanaian ethos reflecting on female sexual behavior as a discursive construction that shifts and changes across time and space. Borrowing from Nedra Reynold’s concept of ethos as a location, we examine the various social and discourse spaces of different rhetors on female sexual behavior in Ghana and how each establishes ethos through identity formations and language use from various positions of authority. With multiethnic, multilingual, and multiple religious perspectives within the Ghanaian population, how does ethos and moral authority speak persuasively on female sexual behavior? We examine contemporary discourses governing normative female sexual behavior and presentation as revealed in both proverbs and social media to drive the discussion toward how these discourses of female sexual behavior and ethos are discursively constructed in contemporary Ghanaian society.
Highlights
In Book 3 of his Rhetoric, Aristotle discusses proverbs (Gr. paroimiai) under the heading of lexis or style (3.11.14); that is, as figures of speech that contribute to the speaker’s projection of a favorable self-image
In contemporary Ghana, we see the latter version of ethos at play, though we look to the possibility that Ghanaian women can, in time, construct themselves in liberatory ways
We analyzed selected proverbs that are common in Ghana regarding normative female sexual behavior to drive some of the discussion toward how discourses on female sexual ethos have been created in contemporary Ghanaian society
Summary
In Book 3 of his Rhetoric, Aristotle discusses proverbs (Gr. paroimiai) under the heading of lexis or style (3.11.14); that is, as figures of speech that contribute to the speaker’s projection of a favorable self-image. In Ghanaian society, the proverb expresses the “collective ‘voice’” of traditional (conservative) culture. These new media platforms—Twitter in particular—allow women to “construct an ethos” that counters conventional or conservative morality This same media is cohabited by multiple voices representing the spectrum of Ghanaian society of old and young, male and female, rich and struggling. (Rhetoric 1377b as cited in Baumlin and Meyer 2018) Within this rhetorical model, Aristotle illustrates a speaker “construct[s] a view of” themselves, a verbal performance occurring within the speech. In contemporary Ghana, we see the latter version of ethos at play, though we look to the possibility that Ghanaian women can, in time, construct themselves in liberatory ways.
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