Toward Rhetorical Harmony: Feminist Musical Rhetorical Criticism and Possibilities for Contesting Rape Logic

Abstract

Music is a visceral experience. It allows audiences to feel its message in and through their bodies. In this essay, I bring together the rhetorical concepts of viscerality and harmony to offer a new approach to feminist musical rhetorical criticism. I argue that recording artists ROES and Sia produce rhetorical harmony by performing and inciting viscerality in “Battle Cry,” and that rhetorical harmony exists when connections are made across difference for social change.

Keywords:

• Anti-Rape Discourse
• Feminist Rhetorical Criticism
• Harmony
• Intersectionality
• Musical Criticism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. In a tweet to their followers, ROES explained, “Seriously tho, i thought it was fitting to end the [Angel Haze] era w/Back To The Woods since the bitch was so desperate to go. Who i am now & who i was then do not relate, therefore i wanna be called Roes…like a rising, like a growing, like becoming. So say ur byes” (2018). https://twitter.com/AngelHaze/status/972531051741499392.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristen D. Herring

Kristen D. Herring, Ph.D. is an instructor of rhetoric at Oregon State University. She studies feminist rhetorical theories, musical rhetorics, and rhetorical field methods.