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Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN13: 9780195386776
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Athletic contests help define what we mean in America by "success." By keeping women from "playing with the boys" on the false assumption that they are inherently inferior, society relegates them to second-class citizens. In this forcefully argued book, Eileen McDonagh and Laura Pappano show in vivid detail how women have been unfairly excluded from participating in sports on an equal footing with men. Using dozens of powerful examples--girls and women breaking through in football, ice hockey, wrestling, and baseball, to name just a few--the authors show that sex differences are not sufficient to warrant exclusion in most sports, that success entails more than brute strength, and that sex segregation in sports does not simply reflect sex differences, but actively constructs and reinforces stereotypes about sex differences. For instance, women's bodies give them a physiological advantage in endurance sports, yet many Olympic events have shorter races for women than men, thereby camouflaging rather than revealing women's strengths.
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| Enlightening and Provocative |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This is a courageous book. The Eileen McDonagh and Laura Pappano illustrate how our stereotypical thinking about Women in sports can diminish not only the great accomplishments of women athletes, but shows how our views have been shaped by unsportman-like events in politics and by the media. This is not about men vs women, or a treatise on how the sexes should compete. It is simply a well researched and common sense read that challenges us to re think what sports is all about in America. It keeps the focus on what is important; Sports.
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| A fascinating take on sports in American society |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Even if you don't like sports, you should read this book because it is about a lot more than games. It argues powerfully that sports matters in American society and that it is an entrenched bastion of sex segregated policies that perpetuate false assumptions that women are inferior to men. Yes, of course , there are sex group differences, but those differences don't explain the myriad rules, regulations, and prohibitions that make a person's sex, rather than ability, the first criterion when assigning team membership. While you can probably guess at the obvious in ridiculous sex segregation (billiards, for example) there are also stories and abilities that will surprise you. Read it.
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| Segregation is Un-American |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Proponents of racial segregation more often than not protested that their motivation was not prejudice or fear but science fact. The races were so different that their integration would be detrimental to everybody. Now nobody makes that argument -- about race. The same arguments are still fashionable (and still wrong) when sex segregation is the subject of debate. I suspect that in a few generations our "no girls allowed" sports teams will seem about as sensible as "whites only" drinking fountains. McDonagh and Pappano's book is eye-opening and breath-taking, one of the most urgent calls to civil-rights action I have heard in my life.
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| So you think you've considered every angle on gender and sports? |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Well, think again. Eileen McDonagh and Laura Pappano have produced a highly provocative and stimulating thesis opposed to segregated boys and girls sports. You may not agree with the conclusion but careful readers of this argument will develop a respect their originality, seamless logic and compelling data and are likely to reconsider long-held beliefs on this subject.
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| Don't Pass This Up!! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Hooray for McDonagh and Pompano, they clearly have done their homework.
They articulate the meaning of "Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports".
This book makes you reassess what you thought you knew. Being on a
women's ice hockey team I feel this book really is uplifting and hits
home in how sports is really a battlefield in the fight for gender
equality, and that it encourages sex integration rather than sex
segregation. Also, it depicts the attitudes of our culture toward women
as they have strived to achieve equality in this country. "The writers have achieved an absorbing read for anyone interested in women's journey toward sports equality."
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