Synthesis Exploration
RaeShelle Erickson
Briggs
T-Th 1-2:20
December 4, 2014
Fat Is Everyone’s Issue
When I started my annotated bibliography I wanted to know if being fat or viewed as fat was really just a woman’s issue. I believed in the beginning that men had just as much of an issue with being overweight as women do. Throughout my research I was looking for the answers to certain questions. Is fat only the issue of girls, is it all due to the media, should men worry about their weight as well? The reason for my curiosity is due to past experiences. One of my guy friends went through a rough patch in high school because the wrestling team told him he was “too fat” to go to state that year. This crushed him because all he wanted to do was compete in the state championships. Through the next two years, my friends and I witnessed dramatic weight loss from him. He did get to go to state but he made himself very sick in the process. On the reverse side of things, another friend of mine was told he was too thin to be a quarterback in football. He began eating too much for himself and put on more fat than muscle resulting in the need to work out more and lose it all again. His senior year he got severely sick and now can’t eat certain things. He can’t have anything with gluten or he gets sick and his body will reject everything. I wanted to discover what was driving these young teenagers to do this to themselves.
The first source and the reason for my curiosity is the article “Fat Is A Feminist Issue” in our textbook. In this book the author, Susie Obrach takes up the position that fat is a woman’s problem. She lists all her points about social media being the cause of this negative view. Obrach lists that all female actresses are thin, tan and fit, every woman’s magazine has a diet column, and most designer clothing is sized extra small so they’ll want to lose weight to fit in those clothes. Everything Obrach talks about in her piece seems to target social media as the biggest offenders against women. So I began to wonder what about men?
I didn’t believe only women could be the victim in a world that only seems to be concerned with high obesity rates in this generation. So my questions became where can I find a good example of weight restrictions or concerns for guys? I looked first at a world known for being intensely hard on girls to be thin but in shape knowing there were also guys in this field.
The field in question is the harsh world of professional ballet. Ballet is a form of dance known for being heavily demanding on the body and mind. Ballerinas must be thin, in shape and classically beautiful. This is a form of dance known for eating disorders, exhausted performers and sickly thin girls. I found a documentary on YouTube that talked about the ballet program at Michigan University. These students talked about the program, eating disorders, their past health and past experiences with needing to look a certain way. Men and women alike were involved and both had stories about weight loss and the pressure to look a certain way. The girls all had stories about being anorexic or knowing someone in a past dance program having an eating disorder. Each student they interviewed knew at least one dancer who had an eating disorder due to the demands of the dance world. Worse than that, they each had problems with eating and weight at least once in their lives.
One young man told a story of his fear of working out. He talked about the fact that he was muscular and had more body mass than some of the other male dancers. This in turn made him worry about gaining any more weight, even in muscle, because he didn’t get as many roles as some of the smaller male dancers. Men shouldn’t need to worry about too much muscle, especially not in a sport that’s so physically demanding.
Another young man in the dance documentary told a story of when he was in elementary school. He used to suck in his stomach all the time because he felt he was too fat. Bullies didn’t help him feel any better when they called him fat or chubby. So then he stopped eating or ate less so he could be thinner. At the time of the interview he told them he was just recently eating healthier after getting over his eating disorder. It is true that ballet has the harshest effects on women especially younger teenagers but it does affect boys as well. Ballet, however, is not the only sport that causes males weight concerns.
For my third source I chose to look at a more male dominated sport. I chose to look into football more and learn what it was about the sport that would cause weight restrictions. I ended up learning instead that some coaches are fighting for age to be the determining factor in the classes as opposed to weight. I learned that typically, weight is used so that lighter players can be runners and heavier players can be quarterbacks or defenders against the other team. Some coaches don’t like that system because younger athletes on older teams might not have the development needed to keep up with the older players. If they’re brains aren’t as developed they may struggle with remembering all the plays as well as being able to think on their feet. They might also struggle with fitting in on the team due to feeling inferior to the older players or not being able to relate well on anything other than the football team. Coaches would rather have teams based age so everyone is on the same level in development. Could it be just football having problems with young kids weight?
To look deeper into where else weight could be a concern for guys I looked into wrestling knowing in the beginning that there are weight classes involved in the sport. When I did my research I stumbled across a PDF file from the American College of Sports Medicine that had a bit of surprising information. I knew young wresters, mainly in junior high or high school, would do things to drastically lose weight for their weight ranges but I never knew what they did to accomplish this. I used to believe they would do extra workouts or eat a little bit differently to lose the weight. This is sadly inaccurate. Young wrestlers will completely alter their diets and border on eating disorders to lose excess weight or even binge eat for days or weeks to gain the weight back. The average high school male has about 15% body fat. During the off season, wrestlers have about 6-7% body fat and off season is about 8-11%. These numbers are well below the average and where they should be. Wrestlers will do this because they believe this will improve their chances of winning matches and staying within their weight ranges. Ironically this is untrue and actually hurts them more than helps them. By not eating or binge eating before a match, they are often more tired, sweat more resulting in rapid or constant dehydration and the loss of electrolytes. These things can result in lactation in muscles or constant vomiting.
The American College of Sports Study recommends coaches be required to know about the effects of prolonged fasting, discourage the use of rubber suits and facilities such as saunas or steam rooms, schedule weigh-ins immediately prior to competitions, daily weigh-ins before and after practice to monitor weight-loss and dehydration, and other practices to ensure the health of the wrestlers. So why do young men still worry so much about weight even during their off seasons?
To answer the previous question, I chose to look at a form of media most, if not everyone, is familiar with; televised media. I chose to examine one of the most common Old Spice commercials. The one I chose is titled The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. Since the commercial came out, we have become familiar with people quoting key lines such as “I’m on a horse” and “look at your man, now back to me, sadly he is not me”. The last quote is a perfect example of guys being targeted. The underlying message of that commercial basically says he does not look like me therefore I am better.
The commercial in its entirety shows the muscular lead doing various things the common guy might want to do to please a significant other. He walks around on a yacht, has diamonds falling from his hand and even says “tickets to that thing she loves”. When he says, “sadly he is not me” it tells young teenagers you can’t have what he has unless you use Old Spice. I know this is the point of the commercial however, this doesn’t help young boys be the best they can be or help their confidence in any way.
In conclusion, I have learned that yes weight is a concern women commonly have. It is not solely just a woman’s concern as men face these problems everywhere with everything they enjoy in life. Dance, football, wrestling and so on. Men are even told through social media that they can’t be great until their fit and muscular using products like Old Spice and Axe. I personally feel as though weight concerns are not just a gender specific idea people can change but more of a national concern everyone needs to understand. We need people, especially young adolescents, to feel comfortable in their own skin. They need to understand that they are beautiful regardless. If they make the conscious, educated decision to lose weight to become more fit than people should be there to help them in healthy ways that won’t hurt them but safely get them where they need to be. If weight is a health concern, same thing as before, someone there who has been trained and knows how to help them safely lose or gain the weight. This paper has shown me throughout the research that not only is weight a concern for everyone but also that most people in these particular sports are will to practice unhealthy weight regulation methods and will ultimately hurt themselves severely for the love of what they do. That’s not exactly a good thing.
Citations
B, Nick. “The Starving Art.” YouTube. 27 Feb. 2013. Web
Case, Horswill, Landry, Oppliger and Shetler. "Weight Loss In Wrestlers." ACSM. American College of Sports Medicine. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Frasure, Will. “Age, Not Weight, Should Determine Playing Divisions.” USA Football. 1 Sept. 2011.
Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst. "Fat Is A Feminist Issue." They Say I Say with Readings. 2nd ed. Norton, 2012. 448-453. Print.
“Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Be.” YouTube. 4 Feb. 2010. Web.
Annotated Bibliography
November 11, 2014
Is Fat Really A Feminist Issue?
Fat Is A Feminist Issue got me thinking about whether or not it is an issue for women. The more I thought about it the more it became a real question. A friend of mine in high school enjoyed wrestling. He was crushed when they told him he couldn’t be on the team anymore because he weighed too much. Another boy I know had the exact opposite problem. He is in the process of joining the Air Force but had to gorge himself so he could gain 30 pounds before they would even continue his application. With these experiences behind me, I decided to look into the topic a bit more.
Source #1
Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst. "Fat Is A Feminist Issue." They Say I Say with Readings. 2nd ed. Norton, 2012. 448-453. Print.
In the piece, Fat Is A Feminist Issue, Susie Orbach talks about obesity and primarily how that makes women feel. Within the very first paragraph she tell us 50 percent of women in the United State are overweight, every women’s magazine has a diet column, diet foods are a part of general vocabulary and diet doctors are flourishing. She later talks about how just as fashion changes; a woman’s body is expected to do the same so they can fit. Once upon a time in the 1970’2 a curvy, full-breasted woman was considered beautiful. Now society expects girls to be thin and tall and not all are. Orbach points out not only does this make a girl feel out of place but also make her feel like it’s her fault.
The rhetorical techniques she uses include playing off the emotional elements making you want to blame society and feel bad for all the girls feeling fat out there. She uses things like magazines that have become common place for us to prove her point that women are expected to keep unfair and unhealthy standards. Orbach doesn’t really say much to make herself seem credited other than just putting the facts out there and showing you how they are not wrong.
Source #2
Frasure, Will. “Age, Not Weight, Should Determine Playing Divisions.” USA Football. 1 Sept. 2011.
In 2011, a man by the name of Will Frasure wrote an article for USA Football. In his piece he talks about age being a determining factor for football ranks as opposed to weight. Frasure explains that kids of the same age are at the same physical and mental maturity and can work better as a team whereas the younger kids who only meet the weight requirements might not be able to think on their feet as well. When teams base the players off age and weight, football leagues are experiencing more balanced competition. Towards the end of his piece, Frasure states that kids playing football with their peers is better socially for the young team. A younger player may feel intimidated while an older but smaller player might feel awkward playing with someone younger than them.
Once again, this author doesn’t do much to prove why he should be credited. He largly just throws out facts and studies done by various schools to support his theory. He keeps the entirety of his article opinion-free on his end but allows opinions from some of the people who had done other studies. He uses parents as a factor quite often. He threw in pieces that said things like “we don’t want that for our children” and “parents complain about their kids trying to lose weight before a game”.
Source #3
Case, Horswill, Landry, Oppliger and Shetler. "Weight Loss In Wrestlers." ACSM. American College of Sports Medicine. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Source three was an online PDF file from the American College of Sports and Medicine. This piece was written by Samuel Case, Craig A. Horswill, Gregory L. Landry, Robert A. Oppliger and Ann C. Shetler. This article opens instantly with a worry about weight loss in wrestlers. They tell us that it has been a real worry for over half a century. The very next paragraph tells us that one-quarter to two-thirds of wrestlers use unhealthy techniques to stay in their weight classes. The average high school male has about 15% body fat. Off season, high school wrestlers have 8-11% while on season they have 6-7%. Those numbers are dramatically less than the average teenaged boy. Wrestlers do this because they believe it will enhance their abilities in competition when in fact this does the exact opposite.
ACSM opens the article by instantly making you question the health of wrestlers. They told us for over half a decade wrestlers have been practicing unsafe weight loss techniques to stay in their weight ranges. Though this paper is mostly factual and opinion-free, they do have some suggestions at the end of ways we can stop this issue. One suggestion targets the coaches to be more educated about the adverse consequences of these practices which puts some of the responsibility on the coaches as well as the individual wrestlers. They also want the government to step in a little bit and form a legislation that requires a weigh-in immediately after a competition. They seem to be targeting the wrestlers themselves in this piece asking them to stop the rapid weight loss.
Source #4
“Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Be.” YouTube. 4 Feb. 2010. Web.
Old Spice commercials target young men in looking good. The one in particular I looked at is one from 2010 titled The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. In the commercial, the muscular, rich man is shirtless to show all his muscles showing expensive things to give to girls and tells the viewer you might not look like me but you can smell like me.
The rhetorical techniques in this commercial center around the man always staying the center focus. He always has expensive items around him, he’s always shirtless to show off muscles and he compares “your man” to himself. The commercial highlights superficial things they think all women want such as diamonds, cruises and concert tickets. At the end of the commercial they play of the “knight in shining armor” every little girl wants by putting the male lead on a white horse on the beach.
This commercial in a nutshell tells young men and older adults that they can’t look like him, they may not be able to spoil the women in their lives like he can, but they can smell like him. The man in the commercial is a muscular rich guy that plenty of boys wish they could be. This commercial is trying to say if you smell like me by using this product, you’ll get more girls or your girl will love you more. This is playing off a boys’ ego almost trying to belittle them enough to get them to buy the product. They know that men want to look good and maybe even smell good so they use that to promote the product.
Source #5
B, Nick. “The Starving Art.” YouTube. 27 Feb. 2013. Web
This is a documentary on dancers attending Michigan University and the eating disorders they may have encountered. In the interviews, they were asked about different aspects of body image. The dancers were asked about how the dance world and social media portray “the perfect image”, what they thought the perfect image is, whether they knew anyone with an eating disorder and finally if they ever had an eating disorder and how they overcame it. Young male and females dancers both agreed that the dance world, especially ballet, can be very unforgiving with pushing body image. They also agreed social media is a huge influence especially when kids are going through puberty. Each and every one of the young dancers knew someone with unhealthy eating habits as well as had some themselves at least once in their lives. Most battled anorexia and/or binge eating.
The rhetorical techniques this documentary used include showing the dancers expressions even after they answered questions which helped show any sadness or disappointment they may have had. They also had health professionals who specialize in eating disorders talking about seeing these issues in kids as young as 6th graders. To help emphasize that previous statement they showed one of the male dancers talking about when he was in elementary. He talked about how he always used to suck in so he would seem thinner. The whole tone of this documentary is very serious and almost sad. The director chose to film in some space by showing clips of them performing or in rehearsals or stretching. To me this didn’t have too much relevance to what they were saying but it did help to emphasize the amount of work these young adults put into their craft.
In conclusion, the research I have done has helped me realize that women are not the only ones pressured by social media to look better. Men are told they can only have what they want if they look good. Girls, money, and nice things are all used against them constantly. Not only that, sports teams tell them they need to be a certain weight to be on the team before they even have a chance to show their skill. Even in the dance world, young individuals are openly told they didn’t get certain parts because of their weight. Coaches will condone unhealthy dietary measures to get the athletes they desire but they seem to fail to realize that this will cause them to struggle more. I feel like young men should focus less on how the Old Spice commercials tell them they should look and more on how to be healthier doing more things they love like the American College of Sports Medicine suggests. I feel that Obrach’s piece only looks at one side of a national problem. This is not something that is gender specific. Men and women alike struggle from social pressures to look and feel a certain way. This not only causes physical problems but also emotional illnesses such as low self-esteem and depression.
Final Review
December 4, 2014
Final review
This class was much more challenging than I had previously expected. When I was in high school I thought I was pretty good at writing papers. I learned when I got into this class that I wasn’t even close to being the writer I thought I was. I learned in this class that I can rewrite the same paper five or six times and have it still no where near ready to grade. This class threw me off quite a bit when it came to when an opinion was needed and when I had to keep myself completely out of the paper. Overall I commonly felt like it wasn’t my paper and like the things I was saying was something I wouldn’t normally say.
The book we used was They Say I Say With Readings. It had many explanations of various to do things as well as multiple articles about various things effecting our world today. Out of everything we read in the course, I learned that the American Dream is far from gone but yet still altered from what it was originally meant to be, there’s some people in the world who think steroids in sports can not only be condoned but encouraged and finally that I’m not the only person who believes cheerleading is a sport.
The hardest paper by far to write in my opinion was the rhetorical analysis. I personally found this assignment very hard to understand and put into words during the writing process. Turns our I freaked out for nothing because I scored average on it. The easiest assignment was probably the synthesis/exploration paper. I enjoyed putting my opinion in it and overall felt like the paper was actually mine for a change. It was about something I cared about and very easy to put what I was trying to say into words. The peer review was a very helpful tool in this class. If something didn’t make much sense my classmates were often able to help me figure things out or read my papers and help me to know what I was doing right or wrong. I appreciated this help very much and encourage the use of peer reviews to continue.
Overall it was not a bad class. I learned a bit and learned a lot about how college works as well as things I personally need to work on in the future. Thank you Mrs. Briggs for the time invested in teaching me and my other classmates.