Normalized

The cool air of the morning breeze

As I reach his front step.

I knew, that everytime I stepped through those doors,

I would find myself questioning what the right thing to do was.

Confused, as to whether me pleasing him

Was a normal part of a relationship,

Or if my comfortability was top priority.

His constant reassurance that I was there because I wanted to 

His constant comments to make me feel good about myself 

His constant nagging to be with me,

Turned my constant no’s to a yes’

He made me believe that I wanted this too

Even when deep down I just want to go home.

He altered what would happen, and praised me to make me feel good

And I would always believe him

I thought it was okay.

I thought it was supposed to be this way.

I was wrong.

Rhetorical Situation: Many women in relationships often do not know the limit between what is acceptable or not. They are lost in a loop in which the perpetrator will potentially manipulate the situation and try to get what he wants by making the victim believe a twisted reality.

Genre: This is a poem, in which a victim describes her story of sexual abuse with their boyfriend. 

Audience: This reaches couples who are in a relationship or anyone who finds themselves stuck in a similar situation. This could also potentially reach out to people who know of others who are in this type of situation.

Purpose: This is meant to bring attention to sexual abuse cases in which your own partner can potentially abuse you. There is a significant amount of negative stigma placed that in a relationship, everything is already consensual since they have already agreed to be in the relationship to begin with.

Stance: There is a negative stance towards the topic of sexual abuse. This clear sentimental tone allows the audience to feel sorry for the victim.

Purpose: This poster is meant to grab people’s attention and bring awareness about male victims. Often times these male victims do not speak out against the violence they experience in fear of being shamed. They feel as if they were to be judged and this leads to a lack of comfortability in speaking out. There is a social stigma revolving around the idea that men are not likely to be abused, thus leading to the stigma that there are little to no men who have it as bad as women.

Genre: This is a poster that has a male figure placed in the background in a position in which he looks and seems upset. The title of the poster as well, “UNEXPECTED” automatically allows there to be an attention grabber. As well as the color tone presented in the poster, having used red also draws ones eyes to the information presented. 

Audience: The targeted audience for this poster would be male victims who have experienced any type of sexual abuse. This also reaches out to many people who have an ideology that males victims are not as severe as that of a woman’s. Stance: This had a reassuring tone that provided a powerful stance against staying silent and speaking out against abusers.