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

by Eileen McDonagh (Author), Laura Pappano (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A serious examination of the role of gender politics in sports."--The Nation
"Makes a dynamic case for reshuffling our gendered assumptions about sports."--Bust
"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


Product Description
From small-town life to the national stage, from the boardroom to Capitol Hill, athletic contests help define what we mean in America by "success." And by keeping women from "playing with the boys" on the grounds that they are inherently inferior to men, society relegates them to second-class status in American life.

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 from the world of contemporary American athletics--girls and women trying to break through in football, ice hockey, wrestling, and baseball to name just a few--the authors show that sex differences are not sufficient to warrant women's coercive exclusion from competing with men; that some sex-group differences actually confer a sports advantage to women; and that "special rules" for women in sports do not simply reflect the "differences" between the sexes, but actively create and reinforce a view that women as a group are inherently inferior to men--even when women clearly are not. For instance, women's bodies give them a physiological advantage in endurance sports like the ultra-marathon and distance swimming. So, why do so many Olympic events--from swimming to skiing to running to bike racing--have shorter races for women than men? Likewise, why are women's tennis matches limited to three sets while men's are best-of-fives? This book shows how sex-segregated sports policies, instead of reflecting sex-group differences, in fact construct them.

An original and provocative argument to level the athletic playing field, Playing with the Boys issues a clarion call for sex-sensible policies in sports as a crucial step toward achieving social, economic, and political equality for men and women in our society.

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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.com Sales Rank: #540,390 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #47 in	Books > Sports > Miscellaneous > Women in Sports
  #56 in	Books > Sports > Miscellaneous > Sociology of Sports
  #93 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Leisure

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 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 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 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 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.