TED Talk Rough Thesis/Outline

For my TED talk, I'm going to speak about gymnastics.  I'm going to talk about how the experiences and skills that I have learned in gymnastics have helped me prepare for the future and how it has shaped the person I am today.  My thesis will be something like, "Throughout all of the 14 years that I have been in gymnastics, through the good days and the rough days, this sport has shaped the person I am today".
My TED talk is going to be a narrative based around my own experiences in the sport.  Since it's going to be a narrative, I don't think that I will be using much research although I might research and find other girls who have been in gymnastics and who have similarities to me with the many experiences that I have had.
One of the main reasons why I want to talk about how it has shaped me as a person is because I used to be super shy.  I may still be shy but not as shy as I used to be.  When I first started in gymnastics, I would cry everyday when I would have to go to gymnastics practice.  I think that gymnastics has made me more outgoing because I have grown up with all of my teammates and we are all comfortable with each other.  I think being on the same team with the same girls for most of my life has made me more talkative because I know that I can be myself around them and this has caused me to talk more at school also.
Gymnastics has also caused me to be more confident in life.  I have became more confident through gymnastics because at a competition, you have to go out there and perform in front of many people and you have to be confident in yourself in order to perform up to your standards. 
This could also be a cause and effect speech too, since being in gymnastics has caused me to be more talkative, more confident, etc.  In my conclusion, I will tie in all of my examples of how gymnastics has shaped me and show that it has shaped the person I am today for the better and has made me more of an outgoing, optimistic person.

Irony in "The Wife-Beater"

In "The Wife-Beater", the author, Gayle Rosenwald Smith, illustrates irony within the opinions of women based on their attraction to the shirts:  "Some articles quote women who felt the shirts looked great, especially on guys with great bodies (529)".  This quote shows that women like wife beaters in general, but they like them even better on guys with great bodies.  This means that they like them enough to wear wife beaters themselves.  This is an example of irony in this essay because before Smith states this quote, she also states:  "The undershirts also attained popularity at wet T-shirt contests, in which the wet, ribbed tees accentuated contestants' breasts (529)".  This second quote is stating the fact that these shirts are almost degrading towards women.  The tone of the writer's voice through this quote makes it seem like this statement should be very comical, such that people get a laugh out of women wearing these and the audience being able to see through their shirt.  This is degrading towards women because they are almost naive to it in a sense that they don't realize how much it diminishes their quality of a strong woman.  There is a hint of irony between these two quotes.  Connecting these two quotes shows that there is irony present since the first quote explains woman's liking of wife beaters and how they think they are an attractive piece of clothing, while the second quote shows this sense of degrading women by explaining that wife beaters are popular at wet T-shirt contests in which everyone can see through them.  This irony shows that women are foolish for liking wife beaters since they are degrading towards women, based on the example of their popularity at wet T-shirt contests.  Therefore, Smith uses opinions from women in her essay in order to demonstrate irony between the women's opinions and the fact that wife beaters are degrading towards women.    

Partner Response Using "The Wife-Beater"

Not only does Gayle Rosenwald Smith use an extended definition of a wife beater, like Olivia said, in "The Wife-Beater" by defining them as "manly", but she also uses fallacies in the quote:  "One woman stated that it even made guys look "manly".  So "manly" equals "violent"? (529)".  This quote clearly shows that she is defining a wife beater as manly based on an opinion from one woman.  Although she defines them as manly, her tone exhibits the fact that she doesn't agree with the woman who stated that she thought that men looked manly in wife beaters.  Along with being an extended definition of a wife beater, this quote could also be considered fallacy, since she only uses an opinion from one woman.  This type of fallacy is called a Hasty or Sweeping Generalization.  This is a fallacy because Smith is jumping to the conclusion that everyone thinks that wife beaters look manly.  She is jumping to this conclusion by only providing an opinion from one woman, rather than asking other woman what they thought about men wearing wife beaters and how the shirt looked on them.  It is as if she is swaying the audience to agree with her on the fact that she doesn't like the negative connotation to the word "wife beater".  Not only is she jumping to a conclusion in this quote, but she is also using another type of fallacy.  This fallacy is called Personal Attack (Argument Ad Hominem).  This quote can be considered Personal Attack because she is almost attacking the character based on the character's opinion of a wife beater.  She is attacking the character rather than focusing on the important facts of the argument that she is trying to justify with her main focus on the woman's opinion.  Therefore, Smith does not avoid fallacies in her essay while she is trying to define a wife beater. 

TED Talk Topics

One topic that I would maybe like to talk about for my TED Talk is gymnastics.  I have been in gymnastics for 14 years so it would be a very enjoyable topic for me and very sentimental as it is my last year of it this year.  This may be a bit too broad, so I'd have to make it a little more specific.  The purpose for this topic would be to define how much hard work truly goes into this sport.

Another topic that I thought about was cell phones and social media affecting the relationships made within family.  In today's world, almost everyone has a cell phone and this would be a very good topic to relate to my life, as I talk to my family through text quite often.  For this topic, I would either argue for or against whether cell phones or social media have made families closer or not.

Another topic that I could talk about is dogs.  I have a dog who has been in our family for 10 years, so this would be another easy topic for me to talk about.  For this topic, I could define how a dog is more of a family member than an actual pet.

The topic of whether social media and texting have improved the lives of teenagers also interests me.  Like I said, cell phones and technology are very important in this day in age, especially to us teenagers.  I could argue for or against whether they have improved our lives.  As a visual, I might be able to find a graph or data that shows time spent on social media sites or texting versus test scores or grades in school.

One more topic that might be interesting is school uniforms.  I could argue whether school uniforms increase success in school or not.  Some of my research could include looking at standardized test scores of schools where students wear school uniforms versus schools where students do not wear school uniforms.

Fallacies in "The Wife-Beater"

One fallacy in the essay "The Wife-Beater" is "Everybody wears them (528)".  This fallacy is the type of fallacy called hasty or sweeping generalization.  This fallacy affects the validity of the argument over the negative connotation of the term of the shirt by jumping to the conclusion that everyone wears wife-beaters.  She makes too broad of a statement, especially for the first sentence of an essay by using the word "everyone".  By making this broad statement at the beginning of the essay and using no evidence, this fallacy diminishes the validity.
Another fallacy demonstrated in this essay is "More than 4 million women are victims of severe assaults by boyfriends and husbands each year (529)".  This is the type of fallacy called red herring.  This fallacy affects the validity of the argument by shifting the audience's attention off the topic that is trying to be argued.  Although violence and assault are associated with the term "wife-beater", that is not the main argument the writer is attempting to focus on.
The quote "One woman stated that it even made guys look "manly".  So manly equals violent?  Not by me, and I hope not by anyone on any side of age 25 (529)" exhibits another type of fallacy.  This type of fallacy is called personal attack, or argument ad hominem.  This fallacy affects the validity of the argument by attacking the character and her motives, which then causes the audience to avert their attention to the character rather than focusing on the argument.  The writer turns her audience's attention toward the opinion of a character, rather than concentrating on the negative connotation of the term "wife-beater".