Pigskin Patriarchy and Pain by Don Sabo
The Pain of The Pigskin While Dealing With a Patriarchy An essay by Don Sabo entitled "Pigskin Patriarchy and Pain" Sabo points the spotlight at the issue of gender roles, or more specifically young boys being taught to be masculine. What Sabo is trying to get across is that, the pain principal is wrong, and that being a man is not about taking the pain or oppressing emotions, being a man is doing what will better one and his family. Sabo's essay is both informing and persuading, he offers numerous eye opening personal examples. Sabo is obviously a talented writer and this essay is no exception. As Don Sabo has done many times in the past he sat down to write, but something was different today. What was different? Sabo was no longer in pain. As a young impressionable boy in western Pennsylvania, being unsatisfied with his body, he came up with a way to improve it. Sabo was going to try out for football, a manly sport, a sport where pain and injury are irrelevant and "just part of the game". Sabo learned to be vicious, he would gain attention in doing so, but he was unaware of the long-term damage he was doing to his body. Years after his athletic carrier was over he underwent back spinal surgery to repair the damage
The pain principal is an idea that Sabo has strong feelings against. The conclusion that Sabo arrives at is, that the pain principal is a bad way to condition boys into men. Patriarchy being a form of hierarchy breeds inequity while inequity breeds pain, this pain must be justified (Sabo160). As far as precision goes Sabo is very exact on his level of detail using phrases like ". This is what Sabo calls "the pain principal" this philosophy is evident in the saying "no pain no gain" that everyone has heard at least once in their life (Sabo 159). " and "We practically ran through the wall leaving the locker room, surging in unison to fight the coach's war (Sabo 160). The author presents enough evidence of how he arrives at his conclusions so that his reader is informed enough to make his or her own decisions; this amount of detail and support is one of Sabo's strong points. The author's writing reveals some bias, this is evident in his modest yet bitter or ironic tone. Our social system is one dominated by men, called a Patriarchy, there are two aspects to this, one is a system in which men overpower women, and the second is a small group of men dominate all others (Sabo 159-160). As far as logic, Sabo's essay is well written, all parts of the essay are related and make sense. When males learn to "take it" they are accepting values of male dominance and are defending the unfair social system that we live in. In concluding Sabo recalls a pre-game pep talk that his football coach gave the team, saying "football is a game of pain and violence (Sabo 160). Boys are taught that to be a man they must physically prove themselves and not let pain slow them down. Humans are uncomfortable with change, the pain principal is not going anywhere, and decades of young boys will grow up unconsciously supporting its unfair and brutal ways.
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