The Zoe Baird spectacle: Silences, sins, and status

Tronto's (1993) theory of moral boundaries provides a framework for analyzi ng the rhetoric of a patriarchal ideology that privileges men and marginali zes women. These moral boundaries, as enacted rhetorically, privilege reaso n over emotion, universal rules over situational ones, and public issues ov er private concerns. Specifically, the rhetoric of moral boundaries defines care-giving as peripheral to political decision-making. A case study of Zo e Baird, President William Jefferson Clinton's initial, unsuccessful nomine e for U.S. Attorney General, illustrates how women lose a public voice when the moral boundaries are invoked rhetorically. Baird's case, viewed throug h the critical lens of Tronto's moral boundaries, has implications for wome n who enter political life and for rhetorical critics who study their disco urse.