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Paternalism And Boxing Essay

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The violent sport of boxing has been commonly seen as immoral due to its violent nature. Many studies have looked into the physical impacts of participating in boxing and have found that the risks may not be worth the reward, but when compared to other sports, boxing is relatively similar in violent nature. Between 1945 and 1981, 339 individuals died while partaking in the sport of boxing (Cohen, 1984). When looking at boxers head scans, 41% of athletes had anomalies in the brain, where in other sports, only 14% of athletes had brain anomalies (Cohen, 1984). Boxers all scored lower in intelligence tests compared to other athletes (Cohen, 1984). The main question being extrapolated from this evidence, is how can society continue to allow …show more content…

This concept is commonly introduced to sport because many times boxers do not have the mental capacity, age, or competence to consent to boxing, therefore many believe that a paternalistic figure needs to assist with decision making. “One would believe, in this case that the law should interfere for the good of the persons involved, in a way that it acts to ensure that there are health warnings on cigarette packages” (Davis, 1993, p.49). To further discuss this notion, discourses surrounding paternalism need to be examined in consideration to boxing. Paternalism is defined as the interference of liberty for what is believed to be for the own good of the individual. This interventionism looks out for the safety of both boxers and the community and therefore looks out for the better good of the community as a communitivistic approach. An athletes community, meaning the people who surround the sport of boxing, can takeover in cases where it feels like everyone is being ‘harmed’ in some sense of the word. The reason why communities believe that boxing is worse off than other violent sports is because of its inherently violent nature. Sports such as football, and hockey do not base their fundamental sporting rules around violence. As boxing is a largely viewed sport, this inherent violence can be familiarized with the audience as an act that is okay and acceptable, illustrating that children and adults will walk out of the match thinking that violence is morally justified. As boxing is so adamantly available to the public, on television and in the ring; it can prescribe an attitude of unsafe behavior and growing norms surrounding the acceptance of violence in general, not pertaining to sport. This point proves that individuals are very intertwined with community and traditional ways that free

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