In the 1996 article from The Atlantic magazine, “Throwing Like a Girl,” James Fallows discusses how there are no genetic and/or physical predispositions because of which women throw a ball “wrong.” According to Fallows, both men and women can learn to throw a ball, it all depends on how they learn to throw, and since women spend less time in throwing activities, they might not know how to throw a ball properly. From this it can be concluded that Fallow’s article is generally directed toward both men and women who are old enough to throw a ball, but more specifically, his audience is perhaps men, especially athletes in sports like baseball, who frequently use the term “throwing like a girl.” Perhaps, the primary audience of the article is men, athletes and otherwise, who think girls do not throw balls effectively simply because they are girls and dub other men of “throwing like a girl” as an insult.
Although The Atlantic, as the website states, is a magazine that contains articles on topics such as business, culture, life, technology, and more, however, in the recent years, the magazine has reportedly started making a name through frequent articles about gender issues, many of which are often controversial. For instance the 2009 article, “The Case Against Breast-Feeding,” by Hanna Rosin. The title of the article is not just attention getting, but seems quite eye-brow raising and controversial for obvious reasons. We have been reading about the benefits of a mother’s milk for a newborn baby for ages, and it is not every day find people like Hanna Rosin, who gives her self-explanatory reasons to explain that “the actual health benefits of breast-feeding are surprisingly thin” (Rosin). Moreover, it is a no-brainer that the audience of the article is women, whether new or soon-to-be moms. Other examples of controversial articles from The Atlantic covering gender issues with attention grabbing titles include, “The End of Men,” “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” and others.
Works Cited
Fallows, James. "Throwing Like a Girl." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, n.d. Web. 15 Feb 2013.
Rosin, Hanna. "The Case Against Breast-Feeding." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, n.d. Web. 15 Feb 2013.
