Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finally a legally sound, cogent and rational argument for sports equality. The Supreme Court established over fifty yeas ago that separate is not equal: period! It's embarrassing that a capitalist nation like the United States who proudly touts our meritocratic principles, blindly omits merit as principle for sports. Hooray for McDonagh and Pappano whose knowledge of the law coupled with their countless example of sports sexism provide an insightful and groundbreaking book about women in sports.

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."

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.

This book perpetuates a myth. It argues that somehow society's treatment and opinion is responsible for an athlete's superiority or inferiority. Paying a woman more money than a man, suggesting that women are stronger, faster, and better than men, and giving women more exposure and opportunity would not somehow make male athletes become inferior to female ones, as this book argues the opposite has caused women's impediment.

This book neglects the reality of supply and demand. The rules weren't set by prejudice, they were set up by merit. A supply of a superior product warrants a higher demand. In some sports this book rightfully points out that women are better. And I feel equally justified in claiming that in most sports men are better. It is not a political issue. We watch men play football, for example, because they are superior in that sport. This book rightfully acknowledges differences in male and female bodies, but only acknowledges how these physical differences sometimes aid women, blatantly neglecting to point out how it can aid men, too, in certain sports. I'll pay more time and money to watch women when they actually are better than men as I believe for example, gymnastics, for the most part, warrants that. But no political repositioning will make me pay as much time or money to watch an inferior product. Example: Women in the WNBA are far better than many males are at basketball, but by and large those same women could never be as good as most of the men in the NBA, no matter the politics.

Title IX needs to consider the percentage of how many women at the college level want to play sports. Colleges that are following Title IX have a hard time finding enough women to fill the openings now available to them. In otherwords, nearly 100% of women who want to play sports are. On the other hand, a large percentage of men who want to play college sports are not able to. How is that equality?

Ignoring how disrespectful it would be to the nature of both men and women, letting women try out for the college football team, for example, would only prove that on merit alone, most positions would naturally be filled by men. In gymnastics, most positions on merit alone, would naturally be filled by the more available supply of women. Funny how this book doesn't contrast the stats of track and field events where hard facts already prove the disparity (The 100 meter dash is ran by both men and women, men just run the distance faster. Do women really want to race in that event when placing isn't an option. Same for pole vault, etc., etc.). I would think it would be unfair to expect me to beat women when they have a physical advantage over me. Would women really want the same disadvantage in the sports they like? And what group in the public would want to watch worse competition, anyway. This mythical work is collecting dust at your local library, if you are still hoping girls can become more manly, in sports that men's physique has clearly proven to be better matched for.

This book is a true gold mine, filled with all the facts of our evolutionary road to "equality!" If you think you we are there, read this book, the authors use sports because it is a very large part of our culture. Who has not heard "you throw like a girl" think, how just that phrase alone, keeps us in our "place." Must read for both sexes! Highly recommend