Cause and Effect in Starving for the Gold That Was Written by Laura Robinson - Coursework Example

Cause and Effect in “Starving for the Gold” If one were to be asked to envision an athlete, would the athlete be male or female? This is a question that is at the heart of the problem that Laura Robinson wishes to illuminate in her essay “Starving for the Gold.” Through inductive reasoning, Robinson argues that coaches are forcing their female athletes into having eating disorders because of the attitude of male-domination inherent in sports and because males simply don’t understand how to deal with females in sports. By examining the causes and illustrating the effects, Robinson attempts to educate people to the problems women athletes face in hopes that with more people being more knowledgeable on the topic, hopefully changes can be made. The basic cause of the problem, as Robinson states it, is that the coaches of female athletes pressure them to be as thin as possible. For instance, Robinson mentions how one female athlete she talked to said that her coach “held contests to see who could leave the most food uneaten on her plate at training camp” (yr). This obviously is going to have a negative effect on female athletes, especially when considering that females are pressured into being as thin as possible in society as it is. Another practice mentioned is that female athletes will have their body fat calculated and then compared with the other athletes; the idea is to encourage all of the female athletes to be as skinny as possible. Another female athlete, speaking from her experience with athletic amenorrhea, which is the cessation of the menstrual cycle due to extremely low body-fat composition, stated that “Pressure was always felt to be lean, and considerable emphasis was placed on being beneath 12 percent body fat composition. It seemed that the primary goal was to maintain a low-body fat composition” (yr). Overall, as opposed to training female athletes to be fit, they are being trained to be as skinny as possible. This encouraging to be overly thin is giving these athletes eating disorders, but this is not the main motivation behind these practices as Robinson states. The main reason that these sort of practices can be gotten away with is because there is a perceived male-domination in sports. When one views the kind of changes that the coaches are encouraging their female athletes to make, Robinson states that it is not difficult to see that they are trying to make their female athletes resemble their male athletes. This practice Robinson traces back to the 70’s, and in particular the athlete Olga Korbet, as the model that coaches are striving for. This body image that coaches are striving to push their female athletes towards is not even possible to attain by the majority of females. Robinson also points to the increase of females in sports as being one of the reasons that their is such an increase in eating disorders. Because there are so many more, the male coaches that have only dealt with males before don’t know how to deal with the female athletes, and so male coaches deal with this by trying to force the female athletes into resembling males. There have been attempts to discourage the overly thinness of female athletes, but the messages have been directed towards coaches, who are not likely to view their own methods as being part of the problem. As a result, Robinson states “The bad apple coaches are seldom weeded out” (382). The effects of these problems can be very detrimental for these female athletes One of the obvious outcomes of training for thinness as opposed to fitness is that female athletes will be less competitive. As a result, these athletes are more likely to drop out of competition much earlier, but this is not the only problem. There are many long term problems involved with being anorexic or bulimic, especially when going through puberty. For example, it will led to osteoporosis, leading female athletes to a higher incidence of broken bones suffered during competitions. These practices can also lead female athletes to have stunted growth, therefore never reaching their full potential. However, the most disturbing aspect as this is the statistic that fifteen percent of female athletes with eating disorders will die over the next thirty years do to long-term problems caused by these eating disorders (Robinson yr). Obviously, changes must be made to counteract this problem. Robinson mentions the counter-argument that females have a higher tendency to have eating disorders, but she also points out that there is no way that any person can argue that encouraging female athletes and measuring their body fat can have anything but negative effects on these athletes. The athlete Ben Johnson, who was caught using steroids, is mentioned as an example of the kind of mass denial that allows these sorts of problems to continue. Through the use of a cause and effect style rhetorical argument, Robinson illustrates the kind of problems female athletes face in a male-dominated sports world and hopes to affect change by drawing attention to these problems. Works Cited Robinson, Laura (yr) “Starving for the gold.” First Draft Laura Robinson, in the essay “Starving for the Gold,” discusses the reasons and repercussions of female athletes having eating disorders. She asserts that the male domination of sports is forcing females into having eating disorders, causing them to be less competitive. (discuss cause and effect) Robinson first points to coaches as the cause of the problem. Coaches have been known to have contests, such as who could eat the least at meal times, to encourage weight loss in female athletes. Other coaches have been known to measure body fat and compare results among other female athletes in attempts to encourage weight loss. These coaches seem to be encouraging an overly-thin look for their female athletes that can only be achieved through eating disorders. (discuss counter-argument) The over-arching reason for coaches being able to do this to female athletes is because of the male-domination of sports. Coaches are forcing female athletes to strive for bodies that are more male-like. The increase of females in sports has not helped to undermine the idea of male-domination in sports and is part of the reason as to why eating disorders are prevalent among female athletes. Measures to counter-act this problem have to weed out “bad apples.’ (discuss why recommendations not effective) There are very negative outcomes to this problem. First, female athletes are less competitive because they are trained to be thin and not fit. Second, anorexia and bulimia can have very negative long-term effects on female athletes (especially pubescent girls). What is most disturbing is the possibility of a large number of deaths related to anorexia and bulimia in the next 15 years. (discuss steroid athletes and media for conclusion) Topic: Female athletes in sports suffer from a high frequency of eating disorders Main Idea: Males are forcing female athletes into having eating disorders because they don’t understand how to deal with females. Purpose: The author wishes to educate people to the problems women athletes face in hopes that with more people being more knowledgeable on the topic that hopefully changes can be made. Outline: Thesis: Males are forcing female athletes into having eating disorders because they don’t understand how to deal with females. 1. Coaches 2. Contests 3. Measuring body fat 4. Encouraging overly thinness II. Male domination of sports 5. Body image 6. Increase of females in sports 7. “The bad apples coaches are seldom weeded out.” III. Negative outcomes 8. Decreased ability to compete 9. Long term damage 10. 15% will die over the next 30 years as a result of eating disorders IV. Conclusion Brainstorming The essay wishes to point out how female athletes are mistreated because males think of sports as a male domain and do not know how to deal with women in sports. Because males do not understand how to deal with women, they force them to be as male-like as possible. This includes attempting to force women to look like males or like prepubescent girls. Instead of training their female athletes to succeed in their particular fields, they are pushed to be as thin as possible. The author points to the 70’s as the beginning of this trend with Olga Korbet being used as an example. Judges are accused of favoring female athletes that resemble prepubescent girls because of the perceived aesthetic quality, and this tendency has spread to other sports. The ironic thing about this sort of training is that it makes these female athletes all the less likely to be competitive, and they generally drop out of competition after a few years. Beyond this, the tragic aspect of this sort of training is that these female athletes are permanently damaging their bodies, especially if they have not even reached puberty yet before becoming anorexic or bulimic as their growth will be stunted. Because males are dominant in sports, as far as coaching and such, males can decide upon what is necessary for females’ training, and until males can change their attitudes, females will be forced to suffer physical and emotional damage. Reasoning The reasoning in the essay is inductive. Induction means to draw conclusions from particular examples. Throughout the essay, author follows a particular pattern. She will first discuss examples from actual people who do not wish to identify themselves. After discussing several examples, the author then discusses the ramifications of these actions. This is how she makes her points. With each new idea she wishes to discuss, she uses new examples that illustrate the point she is wishing to make. Since inductive reasoning is dependent upon examples, the fact that she uses so many examples throughout the essay makes the reasoning inductive. Read More