Jennifer Lawrence- 'Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars'

What is the purpose of the text?


The purpose of this text is to inform the reader about gender equality, it could also be argued that the text has a persuasive purpose too; the way she talks about this as if she's trying to make a point shows a persuasive tone e.g. 'found out how much less I was being paid than lucky people...'. However, the persuasive nature of the text is rather abstract and it could be argued that she is just passionate about the subject as appose to trying to persuade. This purpose is relevant to the target audience because it plays on the enthusiastic opinionated nature of young people and specifically the females she is appealing.


Make a list of the 'male' and 'female' language features in this text. what is their effect on the reader.


Some of the language with male connotations includes the taboo language e.g. 'fuck that'. This is more associated with males because of the competitive, more harsh tone of the language and would not traditionally be considered to be feminine. The fact the she uses this language is effective because it's a way of showing her stubborn nature and is a way of rebelling through her language towards what she believes to be an injustice. There is also language that is more associated with females in the text, for example, adjectives such as 'adorable' might have more of an effect of innocence and might make the readers feel guilt which helps them to understand her point of view.


Do you agree with her conclusion?

I do agree with the conclusion, the word 'brat' does stereotypically have more female connotations and therefore she is correct in what she says. However, there are insults directed towards men which wouldn't necessarily be directed to females. Therefore, with this point taken into account her conclusion losses some level of validity.