rhetorical analysis of a feminine style and feminist research in scholarly communication journals

Nine journal articles were analyzed in order to understand gendered composition and what makes writing an article feminine and what makes it masculine. The journals reviewed were Communication Monographs, Communication Theory, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Human Communication Research, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Women Studies in Communication. Categories were compiled to include the characteristics of a feminine style in feminist research, and a masculine style in traditional research. This analysis takes a rhetorical approach in order to address a more gender diverse perspective in research. As a result of many published articles reflecting a theme of a "dominant masculinist paradigm" in the publication process, this study examines some of the reasons why feminist scholarship in communication struggles for acceptance.