Skye de Saint Felix
Education
Ph.D., Communication (Rhetoric and Political Culture), University of Maryland
Research Expertise
Gender
Political Communication
Rhetoric
Skye (she/her) is a professional-track faculty member in Communication. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Maryland in Rhetoric and Political Culture. Before Maryland, Skye received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in rhetoric and gender studies. Skye has published in academic journals such as Feminist Media Studies, Women's Studies in Communication, Argumentation and Advocacy, and the World Medical and Health Policy. She has also written for popular press mediums such as The Conversation and authored many book chapters. Skye has experience teaching Public Speaking, Communication and Gender, Communication Inquiry, Professional Writing and Communication, and Rhetorical Methods. She also taught in the Honors College at UMD in the Diversity and Design Cultures Program.
In addition to her research and teaching, Skye is the co-editor of Voices of Democracy and Recovering Democracy Archives, journals dedicated to archival speech recovery. She also is a mentor at Intellect Bay, a professional development resource for Ph.D. candidates.
Publications
The Rhetorical Style of Predatory White Masculinity in Judge Brett Kavanaugh's 2018 Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee
Judge Brett Kavanaugh's rhetorical style produced a shift in temperament, which augmented rage and grievance as the ideal temperament for men in power.
Author/Lead: Skye de Saint FelixNon-ARHU Contributor(s): Lisa M. Corrigan
When President Donald Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court in July 2018, many Democrats initially opposed him. He became a much more controversial nominee when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford brought forward accusations that he sexually assaulted her in 1982. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh’s rhetorical style of predatory white masculinity was supported and encouraged by a chorus of Republican senators. Kavanaugh’s articulation of predatory white masculinity made white men victims, used women as pawns in white men’s innocence narrative, and enacted a partisan agenda to justify rage and nostalgia for a time when white male privilege was less scrutinized. But with the Kavanaugh confirmation, predatory white masculinity shifted norms and conventions about judicial temperament. His rhetorical style produced a shift in temperament, which augmented rage and grievance as the ideal temperament for men in power, especially when echoed by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and then-President Trump.
A New Doll in Texas: A Feminist Media Analysis of Senator Wendy Davis’s Rhetorical Framing as “Abortion Barbie”
Essay examines the media frames that helped characterize Davis as Abortion Barbie to chart how they functioned during and after the Texas HB2 debate.
Author/Lead: Skye de Saint FelixNon-ARHU Contributor(s): Lisa M. Corrigan
After Senator Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster of Texas’s House Bill 2 in 2013, she was vilified in the media as “Abortion Barbie.” As a term, “Abortion Barbie” was circulated in conservative and liberal press, from blogs to traditional media outlets. This essay examines the media frames that helped characterize Davis as Abortion Barbie to chart how they functioned during and after the Texas HB2 debate. By making female bodies inert, sexualizing them, and describing women as criminal, we argue that the visual rhetoric of Abortion Barbie damaged Davis’s political career and circulated this negative image to the public as a rationale for sexist policies that undermine access to reproductive health care.