1. Write guided analysis on the text below.

- How does this text use written and visual language to convey its message?
Text 1 is a cartoon of satirical nature, entitled, “Am I Going To Get Raped Checklist,”, created by
renowned cartoonist Liza Donnelly. The text delineates the debilitating impacts of rape culture on
women’s mindsets while also contemporaneously satirizing the fallacies heralded by rape apologists to
justify it. Accordingly, the text henceforth is directed towards women of all ages primarily, and
deniers/justifiers of rape – mostly male – secondarily. Donnelly employs a multitude of literary and visual
devices to underscore her message; techniques like use of hyperbole, repetition of rhetorical questions,
color symbolism and use of shapes are consistent in the cartoon and expound on Donnelly’s message of
criticizing misogynistic attitudes towards rape and its detrimental influence on women.
To begin with, the masterful utilization of hyperboles is an amplifier for Donnelly’s message; the
exaggerations of hyper-puritanical requirements for women to fill out – ‘Hair too provocative?’ ‘Walk too
carefree?’ – are designed to make readers come to the realization that the ‘reasoning’ behind rapes are just
products of misogyny and even delusion, seeing that the fanciful nature of the thoughts is stretching only
to fit their narrative of victim blaming. Additionally, the “opaqueness” of a garment and the lack of
modesty (“too much skin?”) in a woman’s clothes are seen as somewhat “reasonable” justifications for
rape… but to group these “sensible” causes with the more dramatized reasons (“Heels too high? Bra too
push-up?”) results in the readers amalgamating all the justifications as baseless and hence culminating the
anti-victim blaming mindset in the reader. Therefore, in this literary element, lies the caricature of rape
apologists, and in the high number of attacks (10) lie the plaguing insecurities that women are resigned to
think about before they step out of the house.
Following that, the deployment of repetition of rhetorical questions is a salaciously two-pronged
approach. The iteration of questions reinforces the woman’s timorousness regarding her chances of being
raped, and the satirical nature of the questions “Attitude too sassy?” “Did I drink too much?” – provide a
sardonic tone to the cartoon. The augmentation of the questions overwhelms both the main character and
the reader, hence illuminating further to the reader the suffocating impacts of victim blaming that comes
as a result of normalizing rape culture. The cynical edge that the questions present, aid the reader in the
revelation that such attitudes towards the grave issue of rape is erroneous, and to give in to these beliefs
means giving into a culture that propagates misogyny and restrictive reforms for women. Hereby, in this
literary element, the oversimplification of rape victim stereotypes pokes fun at rape apologists and aims to
dismantle their moral superiority, yet also displays the emotionally destructive side of these niches on
women.
Moreover, coming to the visual language devices utilized, the color symbolism in the cartoon is prolific
and meaningful, but with a myriad of varying aims. Donnelly’s color choices of the woman are vibrantly
clashing pink and purple; the shades that are universally regarded as feminine, which one may consider as
a cliché color palette. Yet it is in this cliché that the authorial intent shines through; the vague appearance
of the woman by colors make the reader realize how common she is, further emphasizing on how it could
be any woman in her place, thinking self-effacing and paranoid thoughts, exemplifying the widespread
negative impacts of rape culture. Another point to be taken into account is the whiteness within the
woman’s legs, but the splash of color everywhere else; Donnelly intentionally leaves the woman’s legs a
pure white to symbolize how devoid of humanity a woman’s legs are considered when connected to
rapes. They are not part of her; rather, they exist as things for men to play with as they please. This
disconnect from color is not unseen by the reader and the dehumanizing way with which rape victims are
treated leave a lasting impact on the reader. Thereby, in this visual element, the commonality of rape is
centralized, the animalization and objectification of women is made clearer than ever and those who
perpetuate such victim-blaming campaigns are put to shame.
Finally, the manipulation and placement of shapes is an integral part of the cartoon. The shapes, in
question, are the thought bubbles illustrated by Donnelly, and form the negative space for the central
object, the woman. The ten thought bubbles are placed by Donnelly in a manner that makes it appear as if
these thoughts are attacking the woman from every possible angle, and the proximity within which the
thoughts lie to the women is closer to stifling the woman; reminiscent of how society’s – and rape
apologists’ – expectations of the perfect victim are smothering the woman and not giving way for any
other positive thought to intrude. Not only does this describe to the reader how oppressive the nature is of
rape apologists’ idea of an untouchable woman, but also how paralyzing such self-effacing thoughts are
and end up leaving millions of women in mental disarray over being “safe”. Hence, in this visual element
lies the societal pressures’ calamitous mental impact on women of any creed, race, etc.
To conclude, Donnelly’s effective utilization of hyperboles, repetition of rhetorical questions, color
symbolism and shape manipulation all synthesize into one excellently curated cartoon that raises its voice
to deconstruct rape culture, mindsets of rape apologists and study the impact of such precarious societal
beliefs on the mental health of women.

Video resource: IB English: Paper One: Top Ten Tips for Success