Women in Sports Books - Page 5

Women of Steel: Female Bodybuilders and the Struggle for Self-Definition

Maria Lowe

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"A lot of people in the general public think female bodybuilding is gross and freaky . . . that that's not what a woman is supposed to look like." So says Michelle, a national bodybuilding judge. In fact, athletic women, especially those in sports where strength, muscle, and sweat feature prominently, are typically viewed by the public as being outside the boundaries of appropriate femininity. And perhaps no group of women athletes embodies this gender outlaw status more than female bodybuilders, who by their bulk and sheer strength challenge our very notions of what it means to be a woman. Why would women choose to look like that? And what does it take to get and stay so muscular?

Maria R. Lowe has interviewed more than one hundred people connected with women's bodybuilding, from the bodybuilders themselves, to trainers, family members, spouses, judges, and sponsors. In Women of Steel, Lowe introduces us to a world where size and strength must be balanced with a nod toward grace and femininity. Lowe, who actually worked out with a couple of the bodybuilders she interviewed, gets at the heart of what it is to be a woman bodybuilder. We learn about "paying the price"--doing the necessary exercise, and sometimes drugs--that allows women to rise to the top of their profession. We follow their successes and failures, and discover the benefits-- including increased self-esteem and physical strength--as well as the sometimes unhealthy effects of their training regimen, from dehydration to baldness to rampant acne to high blood pressure. We travel with the women from competition to competition and find that judges' standards seem to vary alarmingly depending on momentary notions of what constitutes "the overall package"--that elusive perfect body that catches judges' eyes and wins competitions.

Above all, Women of Steel is a keenly observant diary of life in women's bodybuilding, a must-read for people interested in sports, competition, physical culture, and gender.

Token Chick: A Woman's Guide to Golfing with the Boys

Cheryl Ladd, Bob Hellman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A fun book for any golfer at heart 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A fun book to read on those wintery days when you can't go out for a round of golf. It's lighthearted and an easy read. Female golfers will definitely sympathize with Cheryl's Token Chick stories. I found myself nodding in agreement and laughing out loud as I read the book on my commute to work because any woman who's played at least one round with the boys will totally relate.

I recommend Token Chicks for any golfer, male or female. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced golfer, we all have at least one embarrassing golf story. This book is a reminder to us all that even during those frustrating golf moments (and there are plenty of them) we all need to laugh at ourselves and most importantly have fun!

Editorial Review:

Cheryl Ladd is best known from her many years on television starring in Charlie’s Angels and currently appears in the hit NBC-TV show Las Vegas. But what many people don’t know is that she’s an avid golfer who regularly plays on the celebrity pro-am circuit. In fact, she is one of the most sought-after players worldwide, and for over twenty years has partnered with many of the world’s best golfers from the PGA and LPGA tours.

In Token Chick, Cheryl shares her experiences fromm her years on the tournament circuit, with insights on how men and women approach the game differently, and helpful tips and techniques from the best golfers in the world. Heavily illustrated throughout, Token Chick is an entertaining and indispensable guide for any woman who loves the sport, or is even just thinking about picking up a club.

Lpga's Guide to Every Shot (Ladies Professional Golf Ass)

Ladies Professional Golf Association

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Learn and master the essential techniques and stroke-saving strategies for every shot from the best teachers and players in the world. In LPGA's Guide to Every Shot, each chapter is like a private lesson with a top tour professional and instructor.

Developed by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), the world’s leading women’s professional golf organization, the book features many of the game's biggest names. Tour stars such as Karrie Webb, Juli Inkster, and Kelly Robbins are paired with award-winning instructors to show and explain how to execute every type of shot correctly. For each swing you receive an in-depth, phase-by-phase demonstration from setup to follow-through. In addition to all the standard shots, you'll also find stroke-saving instruction on shots out of sand bunkers and rough and out of uneven lies.

If you want to develop or fine tune your swing and shot-making ability, this book has every club, lie, and angle covered. Added bonuses are the insights from Annika Sorenstam on strategic course management and from Nancy Lopez and Lorie Kane on balancing off-course priorities with the development of your golf game. LPGA’s Guide to Every Shot will help you sharpen your skills and game strategy, increase your fun and lower your scores.

The Match: Althea Gibson and a Portrait of a Friendship

Bruce Schoenfeld

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Editorial Review:

With the help of friends who recognized her extraordinary talent, Althea Gibson rose from a childhood of playing stickball on Harlem streets to claim victory at Wimbledon. It is widely recognized that her sacrifices along the way paved the road for the successes of Venus and Serena Williams. But Althea's was a victory hard fought and painfully won.

She had no idea the turn her life would take when she met Angela Buxton at the French Indoor Championships. Despite her athletic prowess, Althea was shunned by the other female players. Her failing was her skin color. Angela, the granddaughter of Russian Jews, was also shunned. Her failing was her religion. Finding themselves without doubles partners, the pair decided to join forces, and together they triumphed, going on to win the 1956 championship at Wimbledon. The two women would become lifelong friends, and Angela would prove to be among Althea's greatest supports during her darkest times.

Gibson died in 2003, but her life and her contributions to tennis and race relations in the United States are well preserved in this valuable book. Bruce Schoenfeld delivers not only the true story of Gibson's life but also an inspiring account of two underdogs who refused to let bigotry win -- both on and off the courts.

Women Who Win: Female Athletes on Being the Best

Lisa Taggart

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An especially inspirational read for women of all ages. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Women Who Win: Female Athletes on Being the Best is an anthology of portraits of champion ten female athletes. A black-and-white photograph of each woman introduces her section, peppered with snippets of interviews, tales of training regimens, and stories of the raw struggle required to become the best of the best. The women covered are big-wave surfer Jamilah Star, jockey Julie Krone, soccer player Julie Foudy, runner Deena Kastor, gymnast Wendy Hilliard, volleyball player Misty May-Treanor, swimmer Lynne Cox, basketball player Tamika Catchings, triathlete Karen Smyers, and rock climber Lynn Hill. An amazing true account of what it takes to reach the top of one's game, and an especially inspirational read for women of all ages.

Editorial Review:

Whether it's surfer Jamilah Star riding an unprecedented fifty-foot wave, Olympic marathoner Deena Kastor winning the bronze in 2004, or top-ranked climber Lynn Hill facing down a tough climb at Joshua Tree, one thing is certain: these women have game.

What's more, these amazing athletes capture our imagination. How do they do it? What motivates them to win and to become the best in their sport?

In Women Who Win, adventure writer Lisa Taggart takes us behind the scenes, deep into the training regimens and the ultimate victories, to see what makes these women — and some of their fellow female athletes — tick. Whether their sport is soccer, cycling, mountain biking, or volleyball, these athletes will inspire you to pursue your dreams, whether it's running a marathon or catching your first wave.

Mad Seasons: The Story of the First Women's Professional Basketball League, 1978-1981

Karra Porter

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As the popularity of women’s basketball burgeons, Karra Porter reminds us in Mad Seasons that today’s Women’s National Basketball Association, or WNBA had its origins in a ragtag league twenty years earlier. Porter tells the story of the Women’s Professional Basketball League WBL, which pioneered a new era of women’s sports.

 

Formed in 1978, the league included the not-so-storied Dallas Diamonds, Chicago Hustle, and Minnesota Fillies. Porter’s book takes us into the heart of the WBL as teams struggled with nervous sponsors, an uncertain fan base, and indifferent sportswriters. Despite bouncing paychecks, having to sleep on floors, and being stranded on road games, the players endured and thrived.

 

Karra Porter brings to life the pioneers of the WBL: “Machine Gun” Molly Bolin, who set lasting scoring records—then faced an historic custody battle because of her basketball career; Connie Kunzmann, a popular player whose murder rocked the league; Liz Silcott, whose remarkable talents masked deeper problems off the court; Ann Meyers, who went from an NBA tryout to the league she had rebuffed; Nancy Lieberman, whose flashy play and marketing savvy were unlike anything the women's game had ever seen.

 

A story of hardship and sacrifice, but also of dedication and love for the game, Mad Seasons brings the WBL back to life and shows in colorful detail how this short-lived but pioneering league ignited the imagination of a new generation of female athletes and fans.

(07/24/2006)

Raising Our Athletic Daughters: How Sports Can Build Self-Esteem and Save Girls' Lives

Jean Zimmerman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"If Ophelia had been on the swim team," write Jean Zimmerman and Gil Reavill in this eye-opening report on the state of female athletics, "she might not have needed reviving."

Raising Our Athletic Daughters represents the first comprehensive look at the impact of sports in girls' lives, as well as a guide for parents eager to see their daughters succeed.

This book arrives at a time when women in sports are achieving record breakthroughs.  Witness the twenty-fifth anniversary of Title IX civil rights legislation; the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and 1998 Winter Olympic Games, where female athletes captured our hearts with their guts and glory; and the first spectacular seasons of the WNBA.

The popularity of Rebecca Lobo, Mia Hamm, Gabrielle Reece, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee has given rise to a new media darling: the female athlete.  It seems almost paradoxical that, just as we are witnessing an explosion of female athletics, books and studies attest to a very different picture of girls' lives, charting the loss of confidence and self-esteem with the onset of puberty.  With her book Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher was only the latest in a string of theorists to describe the dramatic ways in which girls lose out.

Journalists Zimmerman and Reavill set out  to talk with girls and their parents, exploring how sports can counteract this disturbing trend and transform girls' lives.  Here are first-hand stories from the inner cities and rural playing fields across our country, offering compelling evidence that participation in athletics makes an extraordinary difference in the lives of young girls--from reducing pregnancy rates and substance abuse to increasing college attendance.  Indeed, sports may be the most powerful resource that parents can tap in order to raise strong girls.  A clarion call for all those eager to help their children succeed and level the playing field, at last.

When Women Played Hardball

Johnson

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The years between 1943 and 1954 marked the magical era of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League - which proved beyond doubt that women can play hardball. With skill and style, more than 500 women took to the baseball diamonds of the Midwest dazzling fans and becoming a visible and supported part of our national pastime. In the words of "Tiby" Eisen, leadoff batter for the Fort Wayne Daisies: "We played ball just like the big boys, we broke up double plays with spikes held high and we stole bases in our skirts. We did whatever it took to win". Among those cheering was ten-year-old Susan Johnson, a loyal fan of the Rockford Peaches. Four decades later she has gone back to meet her girlhood heroines and remember a sensational baseball series: the 1950 championship between the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches and the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daisies - two of the League's most winning and dynamic teams. Filled with colorful stories and anecdotes by the women who played in that spectacular series, When Women Played Hardball offers an entertaining look at the culture the league created - and the society it reflected. This is a story about memories, about dreams fulfilled and dreams denied. It is a celebration of a brief yet remarkable period when women truly had "A League of Their Own".

The Swimsuit Issue and Sport: Hegemonic Masculinity and Sports Illustrated (Suny Series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations)

Laurel R. Davis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 1.0 of 5

Misguided over-analysis 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I subscribed to SI for years and stopped last year because the swimsuit issue was offensive to me. However, this book takes the swimsuit issue "phenomenon" way beyond its limited influence and tries to use it as a scapegoat for everything that is politically incorrect in popular western culture. Of course the magazine exploits women and sends the wrong message about what women's bodies should look like. But there are countless other popular media "franchises" that do the same thing, perhaps even more so (Playboy, Girls Gone Wild, American Pie, and how about the multi-billion $$$ porn industry? What about Cosmo and Vogue for that matter?). Is SI being singled out because the author can read the magazine without being subjected to blatant sexual content? She purports to give an in-depth analysis of the SI bathing suit issue, but basically states the obvious in a pseudo-scientific manner: the pictures show young female models in very skimpy swimsuits, the models say they are told to look "sexy" during the shoots, the photographers say they are trying to bring out the model's sex appeal, and on and on. So here is a stunning conclusion: the SI swimsuit issue is all about sex!!

But it doesn't stop there--not only does the mag degrade women, but it also perpetuates racism, since a disproportionate % of the women are white. Wait a second, I think there's some faulty logic here: it's not ok to show scantily-clad women in your magazine, but it's also bad that you don't have blacks or latinos either. If SI had the correct distribution of America's ethnic makeup represented in the issue, would the author retract her statements about racism? I really doubt it.

To top it all off, the author also takes issue with the magazine's shooting locations, which are often resorts in 3rd-world countries. To her this is a clear indication of the colonialist attitudes of SI's management. Even if you have misgivings about who profits from SI's promotion of the beach resorts, I think the author's conclusions here are way out of line.

What disturbs me the most about this book is that it is done under the umbrella of "academic research". I have no problems with thorough, systematic examinations of popular culture to see what it says about our society as a whole and how we might want to change things. But this book starts with a conclusion and tries so mightily to find anything it can to beat a dead horse. As such this is bad research--not only is the evidence presented only to hammer home the author's premise, but no alternative hypotheses are considered (like maybe SI is a mirror of our culture, but it's relatively mild on the spectrum of exploitative media) or opportunities given for opposing views.

Editorial Review:

This study of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue demonstrates how the magazine encourages individual and institutional practices that create and maintain inequality. Laurel Davis illustrates how the interactions of media production, media texts, media consumption, and social context influence meaning. Individuals' interpretations of and reactions to the magazine are influenced by their views about gender and sexuality, views that have been shaped by their social experiences. Based on extensive interviews with Sports Illustrated producers and consumers, as well as analysis of every swimsuit issue from the first in 1964 to those of the 1990s, the book argues that Sports Illustrated uses the swimsuit issue to secure a large male audience by creating a climate of hegemonic masculinity. This practice produces considerable profit but on the way to the bank tramples women, gays, lesbians, people of color, and residents of the postcolonialized world.

Still Kicking: My Journey As the First Woman to Play Division I College Football

Katie Hnida

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An Inspirational Story 5 out of 5 stars.
25 of 34 people found this review helpful.

This is the story of a woman who was the first female player on a Division I college football team. She achieved her dream of making the team at the University of Colorado, but she was nearly destroyed by the sexism, sexual harassment, and eventual sexual assault that she experienced in the now notorious Colorado football program. Hnida eventually transferred to the football program of Rocky Long at the University of New Mexico. In the supporting and accepting UNM football program she became the first woman to play and score in a Division I college football game. Her story not only describes the courageous struggle and triumph of a remarkable young woman, but also illustrates some of the very best, as well as some of the very worst, aspects of college football programs. The seemingly endless reports of coaches and schools condoning sexual harassment and covering up sexual assaults by college athletes can easily give the impression that all athletic programs are bastions of misogyny and sexual abuse. Hnida's description of Coach Long and her teammates at the University of New Mexico reminds us that this is not the case. Much to the contrary, their warm acceptance and unconditional support illustrate all that is good about college athletics.

Katie Inida's story of triumph over multiple adversities should inspire athletes of either sex and in any sport. It should also motivate university presidents and alumni groups to demand that their coaches and their athletic programs meet the standards set by Coach Long and the University of New Mexico.