Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 1994

Gender Bias in Naval Fitness Reports? A Case Study on Gender and Rhetorical Credibility

Robert Shenk University of New Orleans

Abstract

This article is a case study of a small controversy involving a 1983 government research report on gender biases in naval officer fitness reports. The research at issue indicated that male commanding officers customarily wrote differently in naval fitness reports about women than in fitness reports they wrote about men, and the researchers concluded that the commanding officers needed to change their writing habits. But the objectivity of the researchers was soon challenged. In this survey of the controversy, the writing of several groups—male commanding officers, female naval officers, male newspaper editors, and female personnel researchers—is both illustrated and critiqued. The main focus here is rhetorical credibility in professional communications when gender is the issue at hand.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1994-10-01
DOI
10.2190/f9jx-n8b6-wa0a-4c4r
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Topics
rhetorical criticism professional writing qualitative research gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Smith et al. (2002)
    Feminist Theory in Technical Communication: Making Knowledge Claims Visible
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. THOMPSON (1999)
    Women and Feminism in Technical Communication: A Qualitative Content Analysis o…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

References (18) · 1 in this index

  1. Aristotle (1991)
    On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse
  2. 10.7312/clar92654
     ↗
  3. Thomas P. J. (1983)
    Gender Differences in the Evaluations of Narratives in Officer Performance Ratings
  4. Haering G. (1980)
    Naval Institute Proceedings
  5. Shenk R. (1990)
    Guide to Naval Writing
Show all 18 →
  1. Bush T., Study Finds Male Bias Creeping into Fitness Reports, Navy Times, July 11, 1983, p. 2. All citations …
  2. “Bias Against Women?” editorial, Navy Times, p. 19, July 18, 1983.
  3. Spishock P. M., letter, Navy Times, p. 20, August 8, 1983.
  4. Hankey J. R., letter, Navy Times, p. 20, August 8, 1983.
  5. Stevens A. M., letter, Navy Times, p. 19, August 22, 1983.
  6. Rowe M. A., letter, Navy Times, p. 20, August 1, 1983.
     ↗
  7. Fedyszyn T. R. (1985)
    Naval Institute Proceedings
  8. Sadler G. C. (1984)
    Naval Institute Proceedings
  9. Spishock P. M. (1983)
    The Effects of Performance Evaluation Narratives on the Promotion of Male and Female Unre…
  10. Shenk Robert E. (1990)
    Guide to Naval Writing
  11. Shenk (1988)
    Ghost-Writing in Professional Communications
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  12. Shenk Robert E. (1988)
    Rhetorical Review
  13. Shenk Robert E. (1985)
    Teaching Technical Editing
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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