Breaking Gender Roles: Women in Sports

Rhetorical Analysis
Breaking Gender Roles: Women in American Sports
Valeria Suarez
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Introduction
Are women being treated equally when it comes to American sports? In an article by
Dace Zirin titled Sports and Womens Liberation I will analyze the points Zirin made in the
article. How are women portrayed in sports compared to male athletes and are they being equally
represented in the media and in society.
Purpose
The message Zirin is trying to get across is, have women fought for equal opportunities in
sports, and if so, what is influencing them to take a stand? Zirin explains how a law named Title
IX that was passed in 1972 states that no one shall be denied participation and funding, and no
one shall be discriminated based on sex. This law was mostly passed to avoid discrimination
against women in sports, however, has it really been effective ever since it was passed? Zarini
also discusses how little sports or television networks represents womens sports and how they
are viewed by the media.
Ethos
The author of the magazine article Dave Zirin is a writer for the Progressive magazine,
which covers investigative reporting, political commentary, cultural coverage, activism,
interviews, poetry, and humor. Zirin is also the host of Sirius XM Radios show Edge of Sports
Radio where he covers topics of politics in sports and sports itself. He also has eight published
books and has won the 2015 New York Press Club award for Sports Journalism. With all of
Zirins experience, the information from the article can be credible for it to be analyzed. The

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article provides statistics and mentions real life women in sports who have dealt with breaking
out of the gender role women are expected to follow.
Pathos
The author of this article lacks the pathos approach. The only indication of pathos
throughout the article is when Zarini discusses how women are portrayed by the media. It is
mentioned how, women athletes are publicized only when they are willing to be part of a bikini
photo shoots (Zarini, 2015). The author seems to criticize the media being sexists and for
portraying women athletes as something they are not. However, Zarini does not go much into
detail regarding the issue and it is the only issue he discusses in the article that possesses pathos
characteristics.
Logos
Zarini provides more logistic evidence regarding the inequality of women in sports. The
author of the article provides the audience with the definition of Title IX, which is the law that
prohibits discrimination based on sex in federally funded education program and activities, and
describes how, only one out of thirty-four girls was on a team (Zirin, 2015). Zarini provides
more statistical information when writes about how the passing of Title IX, two in three girls
play some form of organized sports (Zirin, 2015). However, Women make up 43 percent of
college scholarship athletes (Zirin, 2015), which is still less than half of the what men make up.
Zarini also argues how not only is equal representation an issue, but the way women are viewed
is sexist. The author claims it is sexist because, media seems to publicize women athletes only
when they are willing to be part of bikini photo shoots (Zirin, 2015). He describes this to be a

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major problem because, Research shows that the more pornographic women's sports coverage
becomes, the less interest there is in the general public consuming it as sports (Zirin, 2015).
Zarini, however, mentions how it is not impossible to break the gender barrier, just like Mone
Davis who, electrified the country and produced record television ratings (Zirin, 2015).
Conclusion
More than anything Zarini seems to use Logos more than any of the other rhetorical
techniques to cover his points providing statistics and credible information. However, Zarini
hardly has any Pathos techniques throughout his article except for one example that lacks detail.
For the Ethos rhetorical situation, Zarinis article is credible from his past experience in writing
and publishing many other articles and books. The article itself is plausible for any readers
interested in the topic of women equality in American sports.

References:
Zarini, D. (2015, March). Sports and women's liberation. Retrieved from Opposing
Viewpoints Resource Center database. (Accession No. GALE|A407814283)