So little girls need heroes, sure, but they also need information about who female athletes were in the past and who they could be in the future. They need to know about coaches, commentators, administrators, officials, sponsors, and scholars. What was the AIAW, and what was its philosophy? Why are female gymnasts so often injured? How many golf courses still discriminate against women, whether because of race or gender? Which companies design sports clothing and equipment based on women’s bodies? Why are African-American women successful in track and basketball, but rarely in golf or swimming? Why is less than five percent of sports media coverage devoted to women? In which sports careers have women made the greatest strides?
Carole Oglesby, who wrote Women and Sport: From Myth to Reality in 1978, is a pioneering athlete, professor, and political organizer who has been helping the rest of us distinguish myth from reality for more than three decades. We can trust her to tell us the truth. This book is full of role models but it’s also overflowing with useful and accurate information about women’s rights, women’s experiences, and the history and culture of women’s sports. It will show readers their place in a long line of impressive and devoted sportswomen. It will take us one step closer to a world in which athletic girls and women feel entitled to compete, entitled to win, and entitled to stride onto athletic courts with pride, their heads held high.
By, Mariah Burton Nelson. A former Stanford and pro basketball player, Mariah Burton Nelson is an award-winning author. She has written 5 books, including We Are All Athletes: Bringing Courage, Confidence, and Peak Performance Into Our Everyday Lives (2002, 2004.) Foreword, Encyclopedia of Women and Sport in America Oryx Press, 1998
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