Discursive Identity Formation of Suffrage Women: Reframing the “Cult of True Womanhood” Through Song

Abstract

Advocates for woman's suffrage faced significant rhetorical challenges due to gender norms of the “Cult of True Womanhood” (Welter, 1966). This study examines the portrayals of womanhood in thirty-one suffrage songs to understand how the music functioned as a rhetorical device to shape the meaning of member's “womanhood” in relation to the Cult. This analysis identifies three discursive representations of “womanhood” in suffrage music and concludes that suffrage songs generally reified the tenets of the Cult. Finally, this study suggests that maintaining musically relevant styles in protest songs may benefit social movements as a “buffer” to unify, legitimize and energize advocates and create interest among opposition. However, musical styles may also inhibit social movements from conveying complex ideologies or forming the desired collective identity for advocates of social change.

Keywords:

• Discursive identity formation
• Feminist advocacy
• Protest music
• Social movement theory
• Woman suffrage

Many thanks to the editor, Dr. Cheree Carlson, two anonymous reviewers, and especially to my thesis committee for their support, good humor, and purple pen in the development of this manuscript.

Notes

Virtual Experience: Analyzing Lyrics. In this portion of the analysis of the music, I analyzed discursive lyrical messages in the suffrage songs using Sellnow's (1991) virtual experience (lyrical) constructs of poetic illusion, dramatic illusion, comic rhythm, and tragic rhythm. These constructs provide a framework for assessing the prevailing arguments of the songs and revealing the discursive identities of “womanhood” in relation to the pillars of the Cult depicted in the lyrics. Operationalizing these constructs in the analysis meant that I defined songs expressing a poetic illusion perspective as those that included references to the past, a sense of finality, and resolution. In contrast, songs depicting a dramatic illusion were identified by references in allusions that looked to the future and created tension or suspense based on the uncertain destiny facing women. Optimism, self-preservation, and opportunism were conveyed emotionally in songs that relied on comic rhythm, while a sense of pessimism would be evident in songs framed by tragic rhythm that claim women are coping with fate, great moral conflicts, and sacrifice.

Virtual Time: Analyzing Musical Score. I used Sellnow's (1991) constructs of musical elements, including rhythmic structure, harmonic structure, melodic structure, and phrasing (characterized by note articulation), dynamics or volume at which phrase is played, and rate to examine the nondiscursive messages of the suffrage song musical scores.These musical elements and phrasing collectively constitute the relative tension and release patterns symbolized in the songs and convey the emotional meaning of songs.

Before 1880, American music had not become commercialized or widely available. Because of the high cost of typesetting musical scores, song publishing consisted of a large number of lyrics distributed as texts only, which were adapted to match the syllable count of a limited number of melodies (Graham, S., personal interview, January 25, 2004).

An earlier version of this essay was presented at the 2005 Western States Communication Association conference in San Francisco, CA and was awarded Top Debut honors in the Rhetoric and Public Address division as well as the Executive's Club Leah VandeBerg Debut Award.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sheryl Hurner

Sheryl Hurner is a doctoral student in the School of Education, University of California, Davis. This essay is derived from Ms. Hurner's M.A. thesis submitted May 2004 at CSU Sacramento, CA, which was co-directed by Dr. Sally Perkins and the late Dr. Leah VandeBerg.