Throwing Like a Girl by James Fallows Analysis Essay

Do you ever feel female athletes are frowned upon? Today, female athletes struggle with media platforms such as the News, Snapchat, and Instagram. James Fallows is the author of “Throwing Like a Girl”. In the essay, he explores the art of throwing a baseball, and the misconceptions that lead to the phrase “throwing like a girl.” In the essay, he also explains the fundamentals of an athlete, arm movements, and the difference between male and female athletes. Fallows explores the stereotypes women face in sports by first establishing a critical tone, as well as including imagery and connotative diction. 

Immediately, Fallows establishes a critical tone so his audience understands the gravity behind the stereotype. The following tone throughout the essay shows the essay is a lighter piece. Fallows makes the essay relatable to many through his varied examples. Fallow uses an exaggerated or self-mocking tone to get a point across. One example of this is when he talked about a woman named Tammy Richards, trying to help her father more than her brother. As far as learning how to throw, ¨she learned the right mechanics by trying to heave dried cow chips farther than her brother could, it may have helped that her father, Bob Richards, was a former Olympic competitor¨ (102). His use of humor helps the reader become more engaged. He explains how society has made a name for women who play sports like softball or baseball. As you read, you hear about all the controversies through feminism, how women come across, as well as their feelings. There are many lessons that can be conceived through reading this essay. How to overcome struggles, is a huge topic brought about in this essay. Fallows feels it is critical for people to hear these stories, so they get a better understanding of how people feel about women. 

Fallows continues to develop his critical tone through the imagery, he develops to discuss the disparity between men and women in sports. Based on the image, Fallows introduces the essay by comparing former President Bill Clinton’s first pitch at an MLB baseball game to his wife, Hillary Clinton’s, first pitch. Fallows explains through imagery that Bill has a proper throwing form as opposed to Hilliary, who did not. Situations like this can cause people to stereotype that women can’t throw a ball the right way, resulting in the term ¨throwing like a girl¨ (102). The term is offensive to females because when it is used; we see it as an insult. Fallows makes the argument that the mysterious ¨essence¨ does not cause the differences between men and women. Doctors, athletes playing football, baseball, softball, and tennis were all quizzed on the motions of a female athlete. There were “well-educated women’’ that told Fallows their hinges were different (102). Fallows tries to convey to the audience by giving examples of how the community views female athletes. Fallows used Imagery as a key rhetorical device displaying women’s involvement in sports, ¨As the picture was taken, she was in the middle of an action that can only be described as throwing like a girl” (101). Throughout the essay, Fallows includes examples of Americans viewing people like Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. Fallows uses descriptive images throughout the essay. On page (101) Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton are throwing the first ball of the season. This creates imagery about the paragraph above. They passed newspapers around the country and the Washington Post, chose the same two photos to run, the one of Bill Clinton showed him wearing an Indian’s cap and warm-up jacket¨ (101). Visually, Bill Clinton looks the part of an athlete. Naturally, he must be an outstanding athlete, right? According to Fallows, that’s not necessarily the case. Anyone can look the part, and that’s an unfair assumption. The phrase “throwing like a girl” has become an embattled and offensive one. Men rarely want anything to do with that statement. In James Fallows’ report, he states, after being trained (like most American boys) to dread the accusation of doing anything “like a girl”, they told athletes to grow into the assumption that women were valueless. This is important for the audience to see and to want to make a change. This should only affect how people feel and view female athletes. 

To further his message and women in sports, Fallows includes connotative words which furthers his critical tone. Fallow clarifies that people stereotype as powerless, valueless, weak and have little to no skill. It is clear throughout James Fallows’ writing that the way girls throw and perform in sports has a negative connotation compared to a boy’s performance in sports. Using the term has dangerous repercussions in our society today, often leading athletes to think that all girls are ¨valueless¨ and treating them with disrespect. ¨Throwing like a girl¨ just simply meant throwing improperly. A fault does not discriminate between genders, but can affect anyone who doesn’t have the right to practice. There has been research conducted on the difference between male and female throwing, ¨for young boys is culturally acceptable and politically correct to develop these skills¨ (102). They constantly criticized women into different throwing motions because ¨they look different¨, or something’s off with their throwing motion. Society views female athletes as less if involved in sports, like tennis or softball if they aren’t bringing as much strength and power as the male athletes are. Fallows believes that women shouldn’t go through being viewed differently by male athletes. Female athletes’ arms cannot go through hard and continuous exercises to make their arms build strength to throw faster. Girls first off start learning how to throw like a male. This is typical for female athletes. The phrase ¨throwing like a girl¨ has become an embattled and offensive one. Feminists feel people believe that doing something ¨like a girl¨ is to do it in the wrong way. Fallows does a nice job portraying this negatively to the audience while clarifying that it isn’t his opinion, “As the picture was taken, she was in the middle of an action that can only be described as “throwing like a girl” (101). A surprising number of people think that there is a structural difference between male and female arms and shoulders. During the essay Fallows refers to female athletes as to ¨throwing like a girl¨, maybe he believes and goes by the connotative phrase. Fallows brings back memories. He explains that most people remember the 1994 baseball season by the way it ended “with a strike rather than the World Series¨ (101). 

Imagery is used to look at the difference between male and female athletes. Fallows explored the stereotypes women faced in sports by establishing the tones, as well as connotative diction. Fallows wants to show us that different sports have different ways of competing. As the essay unfolds, we understand the different stereotypes that women have to face through sports. Stereotypes have made a name for women over the past few years and have made it difficult for female athletes to feel safe while playing their sport. The last message Fallows includes he doesn’t agree with the different stereotypes, but he understands why they are persistent. Fallows wants us to have a better outlook on the world in terms of how he argues that there is actually no scientific reason men and women throw balls differently. Fallows concludes based on Vic Braden kinetic chain concept, that women and men can throw a ball properly if they trained, he says this could only help both female and male athletes become more confident in their capabilities of playing their sports, with strength and the right mechanics. He conveys this through his whole essay. People around the world portray gender stereotypes positively and negatively.