Rhetoric and the progress of the women's liberation movement

Abstract

The article analyzes the language, goals, and strategies of several of the leading rhetors, organizations, and rhetorical events of both the reformist and revolutionary branches of the Women's Liberation Movement. It is organized around this five‐stage structure of a movement: State I: Genesis and Impetus, Stage II: Action and Reaction, Stage III: Conversion and Change, Stage IV: Revision and Solidification, and Stage V: Success and Silence. It explains how the Movement has progressed to Stage III and suggests what will probably have to occur for the Movement to transcend into its fourth and fifth stages.