Although girls and women account for approximately 40 percent of all
athletes in the United States, they receive only 4 percent of the
total sport media coverage. SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship program,
dedicates less than 2 percent of its airtime to women. Local news
networks devote less than 5 percent of their programming to women's
sports. Excluding Sports Illustrated's annual "Swimsuit Issue," women
appear on just 4.9 percent of the magazine's covers. Media is a
powerful indication of the culture surrounding sport in the United
States. Why are women underrepresented in sports media? Sports
Illustrated journalist Andy Benoit infamously remarked that women's
sports "are not worth watching." Although he later apologized,
Benoit's comment points to more general lack of awareness. Consider,
for example, the confusion surrounding Title IX, the U.S. Law that
prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program that receives
federal financial assistance. Is Title IX to blame when administrators
drop men's athletic programs? Is it lack of interest or lack of
opportunity that causes girls and women to participate in sport at
lower rates than boys and men? In Women's Sports: What Everyone Needs
to Know®, Jaime Schultz tackles these questions, along with many
others, to upend the misunderstandings that plague women's sports.
Using historical, contemporary, scholarly, and popular sources,
Schultz traces the progress and pitfalls of women's involvement in
sport. In the signature question-and-answer format of the What
Everyone Needs to Know® series, this short and accessible book
clarifies misconceptions that dog women's athletics and offers much
needed context and history to illuminate the struggles and
inequalities sportswomen continue to face. By exploring issues such as
gender, sexuality, sex segregation, the Olympic and Paralympic Games,
media coverage, and the sport-health connection, Schultz shows why
women's sports are not just worth watching, but worth playing,
supporting, and fighting for.
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What Everyone Needs to Know®
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780190657734
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic US
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter