Review Of Track's Absurd New Rule For Women By Alice Dreger

In Alice Dreger’s article, “Track’s Absurd New Rule for Women” she explains how women are subjected to hormonal testing to make sure they don’t have high levels of testosterone. Her purpose is to point of how ridiculous and unfair it is for women who run in the track and field industry. Dreger accomplishes her purpose by using comparisons, sarcasm, and anecdotes to show the the irony of what the I.O.C and I.A.A.F are doing. Dreger uses a serious yet sarcastic tone at moments to show her audience that what she is talking about is important and to prove her point. Dreger uses comparisons throughout her essay; between women and men who play track. She does this to point out how unfair it is between the genders. Dreger is showing how women have

It shows how unfair or “absurd” what they are doing is. Another comparison Dreger makes is between how women control their menstrual cycle to enhance their energy and performance.

Mainly by the use of rhetorical questions. The use of the rhetorical questions is meant to give the audience a punch in the gut saying “does this really make sense? Come on.” These work greatly to enhance her argument because they make the audience think back to her argument and outside of the argument. “So how is this just about natural hormone levels and fairness — and not actually about cultural norms of sex and gender?” This statement makes the reader think about the bigger picture of sexism and gender norms that resides in our society. This statements brings the argument past just say new rules are bad and saying the bigger picture is the about norms in our society and how they are greatly affecting women everywhere. And degrading women simply for having a different hormonal make than what people may consider the norm. “How does telling a woman she can’t play as a woman, but “assuring” her that she might be able to qualify to run in the men’s race, not judging her gender identity or sex?” This statement is what really points out how ridiculous some of the opposition sounds. Dregers use of sarcasm through rhetorical questions makes her argument stand out; by giving her words a kick that is like a hit in the