Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex, and Title IX (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: trendline test, sex quotas, nonrevenue sports, Supreme Court, Amy Cohen, First Circuit (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the tradition of Who Stole Feminism? and Christina Hoff Sommers, Jessica Gavora offers a devastating account of feminism gone haywire. For more than a generation, liberal women's groups have used a piece of federal civil rights legislation called Title IX to expand opportunities for women to play sports in college. In a classic case of unintended consequences, however, they've wrought enormous damage on men's sports programs. The cost of complying with Title IX has led to the abolition of hundreds of men's sports programs, including some heralded ones. In 1993, for instance, UCLA dropped its men's swimming and diving teams, which had produced 16 Olympic gold medalists. This is all done in the name of sexual "proportionality"--the supposed iniquity of men playing sports more than women. Gavora is a good writer and a perceptive critic who notes an exquisite irony: "Whereas in every other area of life, from the military to the boardroom to the bedroom, women's rights activists have insisted that women be allowed to compete in the same arena with men, Title IX activists have worked in athletics to protect women's special status.... On this narrow score, difference is accepted." Gavora also points out that Title IX radicalism won't halt at the edge of the sporting field; it's now stepping into new areas, including school harassment policies, student testing, and math and science achievement--anywhere males and females don't conform to feminist expectations of gender equity. Tilting the Playing Field is an excellent book on an important subject, and will appeal to right-leaning readers who dissent from feminist orthodoxy. --John Miller

From Booklist

Gavora's Tilting the Playing Field tackles weighty questions surrounding the controversial issue of gender equity in collegiate sports. She makes much of the fact that Title IX doesn't specifically address sports, and she notes that the often-invoked premise that a school's sports program should reflect the male-female ratio of its student body is not in line with what Title IX was designed to provide. As long as such a ratio gap is not based on any discriminatory practices, it is not in violation of any equity legislation. What many Title IX activists fail to take into account, Gavora says, is that, in many schools, there are more men interested in sports than there are women. Title IX, the author believes, has been so disastrously twisted and abused that it no longer is used to do the thing it was designed to do: redress genuine cases of discrimination. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 171 pages
• Publisher: Encounter Books; First Printing, First Edition edition (November 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189355435X
• ISBN-13: 978-1893554351
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,146,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those that want to read the truth, May 21, 2002

By	"wrestlingterp" (Maryland) - See all my reviews

For those that want to understand what has truly gone wrong with title ix interpretations, read this book. For others that refuse to believe that the media has been duped into believing that the application of gender quotas in academia is only for the good it doesn't matter what they read.

Jessica Gavora provides a well-written book that describes, in detail, what happens when well-intentioned federal legislation is molded by those with an agenda. The result is a policy that forces addition by subtraction in athletics. Males are routinely eliminated from sports, with few additional women's opportunities created. All in the name of "gender equity."

The carnage of lost opportunities, for both genders, is appalling to those of us closely familiar with college athletics. This book is destined to become classic reading for anyone who wants to know the truth.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars [Buzz] off, [people], May 21, 2002

By	Benjamin Domenech (Round Hill, Virginia) - See all my reviews

Those other reviewers obviously didn't read the book. Gavora puts together a solid and interesting argument about Title IX and gender bias in the college sports arena -- don't just dismiss her position off-hand because you disagree.

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ugly fight ahead, May 17, 2002

By A Customer

These "comically slanted" reviews point out once again that when confronted by fair and balanced reporting, those whose agenda is threatened will attack and attempt to discredit the source of their discomfort rather than offer a thoughtful rebuttal. Obviously, Gavora's book runs counter to their agenda with her well-documented examination of the "unintended consequences" of a law designed to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex under federally funded education programs. While giving credit to Title IX, she shows why this law has outlived its usefulness. For the women's movement to really gain ground, she points out, credit for accomplishment should be given to a woman's talent, hard-work and dedication instead of diminishing that success by shackling it to a federal mandate. She contrasts the original intent of the law with what it has become. This is not just a critique of the female to male ratio quota in college sports, but a warning of what will happen as Title IX moves across the whole of education, into the classrooms, student testing and sexual harassment law. It's a frightening numbers game with an ominous forecast. If we mandate an equal number of female athletes to male athletes, why not the same quota system for all areas traditionally holding more interest for men than for women?