What does “Press the point” exactly mean?

Question

The New York Times (March 14) Fashion & Style column reports under the headline, “Walking the Walk to Increase Diversity” that Bethann Hardison, the fashion industry gadfly is to receive the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Founders Award in June, and comments “Most thorns get plucked. This one is getting a trophy. (I like this line)” It follows;

“She then became a modeling agent, founding Bethann Management in 1984. It was, she said, a “white agency,” but it also represented many models of color, among them Veronica Webb, Roshumba Williams and Tyson Beckford. When designers were disinclined to at least consider any but white models, she was inclined to press the point.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/fashion/Fashion-diversity-bethann-Hardison-diversity-coalition.html?hp&_r=0

OED carries “press the button,” meaning “pressing an acupressure point,” but not “press the point.”

CED carries “pressure point,” meaning “a place on the body where an artery is close to the surface of the skin, where it can be pressed to partly stop the flow of blood,” but not “press the point.”

Google N Gram shows the incidences of “press the point,” which peaked during 1920 through 1960, and has been tapering off to a low 0.0000054780% level (in 2007).

To me “press the point” is strongly associated with acupressure point because of the Asian familiarity with Chinese medicine, but what does it mean otherwise?

Answer 1

Press the point in this case means:

Keep making an issue of this point.

or

Continue bringing this point to people's attention.

The point they are referring to is the hiring of non-white models. It is not a physical location, but rather a "talking point" or an issue that is being discussed.

It's point as in the expression, "Get to the point."

Answer 2

Webster's New World Dictionary, press, transitive verb

9. to lay stress on; be insistent about; emphasize

Answer 3

It may also have come from sports. In tennis, a player may rush to the net to increase pressure on the opponent, trying to win the point. It means increasing the pressure in your efforts to win. So it implies a battle is being fought against opposing forces. Consider:

"Don't press your luck."
"Don't push it!"

It can also carry a connotation of lack of regard for politeness, since pushing "uncomfortable" issues when others are trying to avoid them is considered rude.

Answer 4

It is a term used to describe the act of further inquiring in spite of social pressures not to do so.

Answer 5

I doubt if it has any connection to fighting with swords. Nevertheless, if one had either disarmed (literally or otherwise) an opponent, or had the point of one's foil nudging the opponent's sternum, it would be obvious that fight is over. If one wanted to make sure that the defeated opponent knew just how close he had come to becoming a statistic, one might 'press the point' of one's sword enough to cause a small loss of blood.