Analysis and Response to Pig-skin, Patriarchy, and Pain

Dan Sabo's essay “Pig-skin, Patriarchy, and Pain” argues against the Patriarchal system. Specifically he uses football as his example to demonstrate how the patriarchy is customary in our society. Sabo uses low and high diction in his essay as a rhetorical move to make us sympathise for him and too sound credible and get his point across that the Patriarchy is abusive both mentally and physically. 

Sabo's essay uses the athletic system, more specifically football as the prime example to show how the patiary is structured. A partiracy is a hierarchy system, meaning the top of the food chain is successful men, then the rest of the men, then women (427). Sabo also explains that the constant battle of men trying to go from the “rest of men '' to be the top of the food chain is called “intermale dominance” (427). Sabo points out that with any hierarchy system there is inequality, and with inequality there is pain (427). Pain is the root of the partiary system, it prompts the idea that the more pain you create or endure, the stronger you are, making you the top of the hierarchy system. This idea Sabo presents as “The Pain Principle'', essentially the more pain you receive, the better you are, making you more aggressive and violent which helps you “take” what you want (427).Sabo points out how the athletic system is not the only system that has patriarchy embedded in it. He mentions how the military, economy, and religion all have forms of hierarchy established in them but it is so far in society that it is looked upon as normal and cant be changed (426-427). Sabo uses football as his main argument because it indoternates young boys through low self esteem and idolization (426).

Sabo describes how coaches in football teams breed ‘animals’ because when you are an animal you get noticed, which leads to scholarships, team captain, first team, and getting noticed by women (425-427). This “animalistic” characteristic only supports sabo's argument that when you receive pain, there are rewards and success at the end of it. Sabo meations the toll this takes on the men participating in the patriarchy, metally and physically. Saying it “stiffens'' men, making them prone to “boil up” their emotions inside, which only creates more anger and pain (426-427). The physical toll Sabo mentions in his essay are the constant beatings by the team to “prove” yourself, the violent practices followed by games that usually enabled sustaining injuries (426). Sabo states how he used to blame himself for enduring all this pain, but now he finds the patriarchy at fault, saying its a system designed to trap young men, and indocternat them into the system (428). But he explains how the patriarchy is too accepted into our society to overthrow, and the only thing that can change it is by not participating (428). 

Sabo uses a rhetorical move such as high and low diction to help persuade his audience and sound more credible. The beginning of sabo's essay starts with his using pathos mixed with low diction. For example sabo says “I am sitting down to write… But today there is something different. I’m not in pain. A half-year ago I underwent back surgery.” (Sabo, 425). Sabo starting his essay with an attitude, makes us feel more personal with him, it makes us feel for him. Sabo uses the word “Pain” six times on page 425, this drills the reader into the tone he is setting, no one wants to experience pain, but we all have, making us sympathize with Sabo. When you sympathize for someone you are less likely to contradict their argument, in this case that being that the patriarchy is abusive. Sabo also used pathos when using the word “adore”, which is used three times on page 425. Sabo says “ If I could be like Bukus ,I told myself, people would adore me as much as I adored him. I might even adore myself.”  The word “adore” makes us think Sabo is vulnerable, young, and we are more likely to understand and sympathize with a child. Sabo later in his essay uses high diction when describing the Partiarial system to give the illusion of credibility. For example Sabo says “Patriarchy mythos of heroism and its morality of power-worship implant visions of ecstasy and maculine excellence in the mind of the boys who ultimately will defend its inequalities and ridicule its victims. (Sabo, 427). This sentence is full of high diction words like “mythos' ', “heroism”, and  “ecstasy” ; this gives the idea that Sabo knows what he is talking about when it comes to the patriarchy. Sabo also uses Logos when describing the patriarchy. Multiple times throughout this essay Sabo uses the word “animal” as a characteristic trait, saying this is how coaches wanted their athletes (425-426). Sabo says “ I learned to be an animal. Coaches took notice of animals. And animals made the first team. “ (Sabo, 426). Animals don't think rationally, they go off instinct, coaches don't want their players to think, because if you can think you don't question why you are in pain. Sabo's use of language promotes his argument that the Patriarchy breeds pain while making you feel for him personally. 

Throughout Sabo's essay he uses both high and low diction with a mixture of pathos and logos to seem credible and earn our sympathy. But Sabo only deserves a varying degree of our sympathy. While he was caught into a system that is designed to trap young boys, he still played the sport even after multiple injuries. Sabo had the free will to leave the team whenever he wanted, he could have chosen to ignore the patriarchy when he started to get serious injuries. But sabo played the game all the way up until he couldn't anymore saying “There were broken noses, ribs, fingers, toes and teeth, torn muscles and ligaments, bruises, bad knees, and busted lips, and the gradual pulverization of my spinal column that, by the time my jock career was over at the age of 30, has resulted in seven years of near-constant pain.” (Sabo, 426). At some point after multiple injuries, it should've been a warning to drop the game, no game is worth the pain. 

Dan Sabo's Essay “Pig-skin, Patriarchy, and Pain” describes how football uses The Pain Principle to push the patriarchal system and breed male dominance. It does this by physically and mentally abusing the men while teaching that pain is the only way to success. Understanding this can lead us to not participate in the patriarchy and to ignore it completely.

While Sabo's essay can seem biased as he was a professional football player for many years, it should be the reason why it is taken seriously, because he proves firsthand what the system does to any man that is unfortunate enough to get caught up in. 

Works Cited

Sabo, Don. “Pigskin, Patriarchy, and Pain.” Sex, Violence, and Power in Sports: Rethinking 

Masculinity, edited by Michael A. Messner and Donald F. Sabo, The Crossing Press, 

1994, 425-428.