Playing With the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports [Hardcover]

Eileen McDonagh (Author), Laura Pappano (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195167562 | ISBN-13: 978-0195167566 | Publication Date: October 25, 2007 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A serious examination of the role of gender politics in sports."--The Nation

"Convincingly argue[s] the notion that sports, like politics, higher education, and employment generally, should provide equal opportunity for women... Marshaling facts, research, and opinions from biology, history, sociology, law, media, and psychology, the authors make their feminist argument more plausibly than does Colette Dowling in The Frailty Myth... Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"Playing with the Boys dismantles the common assumption that women must be inferior to men when it comes to sports. McDonagh and Pappano impressively show how this deep stereotype has no grounds and why it's so important we get rid of it."--Donna Brazile, author of Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics

"This is one of those rare gems of a book that makes you entirely reassess what you thought you knew. Provocative, absorbing and meticulously argued, Playing with the Boys questions the received wisdom about Title IX and women's sports from the most unexpected perspective. Read the book."--Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, Stephen and Evalyn Milman Professor of American Studies, Cornell University and author of Faithful and Fearless: Moving Feminist Protest inside the Church and Military

"McDonagh and Pappano hit a home-run! This book shows that coerced sex segregation in sports does not benefit women, and in fact holds back women who are fully capable of competing with men--and that flies in the face of U.S. ideals of equality. Readers will never think of Title IX in the same way again."--Kim Gandy, President, National Organization for Women (NOW)

"This is a wonderful work! It offers novel evidence from biology, history, and the law that makes us realize that women's sports are not only intrinsically interesting as a topic of study, but also a key part of larger debates about who we are as a society and a nation."--Kristin Goss, Assistant Professor of Public Policy Studies and Political Science, Duke University and author of Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America

"In this informative, well-written book, [McDonagh and Pappano]...offer relevant information critical to understanding the role of gender in sport. The authors not only define the specifics of the problem but also probe questions associated with the formulation of gender roles... Offering conceptual frameworks, case studies, and practical applications, this book will be valuable both as a textbook and in libraries supporting the study of sports and gender, including sociological aspects... Highly recommended."--CHOICE

"A strong case history about the inequalities that existed for female athletes not only in the 1800s and 1900s, but also today."--The Chicago Sun-Times

"Makes a dynamic case for reshuffling our gendered assumptions about sports."--Bust Magazine

"Start thinking about the issues they raise and you may never stop."--The New York Times

"This exhaustively researched, historically informed book represents an important step in the debate surrounding gender equity in sport." --Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society

About the Author

Eileen McDonagh is Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University and Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. She is the author of Breaking the Abortion Deadlock and The Motherless State.

Laura Pappano is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Good Housekeeping, and The Washington Post. She is the author of The Connection Gap and is currently a writer-in-residence at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (October 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195167562
• ISBN-13: 978-0195167566
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Women in Sports

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read - things I never thought about!, December 9, 2007

By 

S. Guida (Yuma, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playing With the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports (Hardcover)

This book takes an in-depth look at the history of sports and womens inequalities and how far women have come. But it really make you realize how far women have to go. It is jam packed with examples of how segregating sports has lead to completely unequal treatment and how this not only effects top athletes but also all women. Women have proven over and over that they are not inferior in other areas - why is the sports arena any different? Let the games begin! I especially liked this book because the facts are so interesting and the authors presents them in a way that makes the book entertaining as well as informative. Anyone interested in gender equality would enjoy this book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coercive Sex Segregation in Sports: We've Not Come a Long Enough Way, December 22, 2007

By 

Iris Alkalay "I. Alkalay" (MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playing With the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports (Hardcover)

This is a bold, thorough and unsparing account of coercive sex segregation in sports, both overt and insidious. The common current (and past) practices and beliefs about women's necessary 'places' on the field are called out and examined with great clarity. You may not think you need to be persuaded that women's coerced separation from men in sports is unfair and wrong; this reader belonged in that category. The facts and the argument they thoroughly support are nonetheless stunning, and enable the reader to reexamine the topic on a level both personal and political.

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and Provocative, July 6, 2008

By 

Woody Mann (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing With the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports (Hardcover)

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.