| The Stronger Women Get, the More Men Love Football: Sexism and the American Culture of Sports |  | Author: Mariah Burton Nelson
Publisher: High-Top Sports Productions
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 3433312
Media: Audio Cassette
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.8 x 1
ISBN: 1567030343
EAN: 9781567030341
ASIN: 1567030343
Publication Date: March 1995
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Condition: AUDIOBOOK. BRAND NEW. SHRINK-WRAPPED. Guaranteed. Padded shipping.
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Amazon.com
This eye-opening book links gender-based pay and scholarship inequity with male violence and male domination in sports and society at large. As this book points out, athletes who rape and male coaches who brag of beating their wives are often dismissed by our culture with a "boys will be boys" attitude. Formerly competitive co-ed sports have been replaced with sex-segregated sports after a woman wins against male competitors. Those dubious signals sent to boys such as "don't throw like a girl" are all designed to glorify masculinity and keep it safe from so-called female interference and contamination.
Book Description
Male coaches who molest the female players entrusted to their care...Sexual assault of college women by male athletes...The rise of "sports bars" and topless golf...All-male teams that receive the lion's share of college athletic budgets, despite laws to the contrary. Blending eloquent personal testimonies and surprising factual evidence, author and athlete Mariah Burton Nelson explores how our culture glorifies brutality and examines how th rise of female power in this country has been matched by a growing male contempt, reflected in the increased popularity of the "manly" sports--football, basketball and hockey. Explosive, insightful, often witty and always thought-provoking, here is an essential, in-depth look at America's male-dominated sports mania, and at the dangerous attitudes fostered behind the closed locker room door.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A Must Read for College Athletes July 29, 2002
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book does a great job of describing many of the obstacles faced by female athletes. It has greatly helped me redefine my athletic goals and understand what I may encounter as I continue my athletic pursuits.
Amazing. Could NOT stop reading this book. May 21, 2001
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is truly enlightening. While i know some of her claims are contestable (as all theory is), i still want to sew her thoughts into my brain so they will be available for instant access and referral. I have always been wary of our sports culture; Nelson tells me why. Nelson in no way condemns athletics or sports, but rather the sexism that has evovled around American sports culture, and the possible reasons for this evolution. Unfortunately i know that this book would not be palatable for many sports fans; for that reason it is so utterly poignant.
 Be careful that this doesn't make you start to hate men. January 28, 2001
6 out of 23 found this review helpful
... While it does have some valid points regarding sexism in sports and sexism of male athletes, it takes things a little far. Reading for any prolonged period tends to give one a very negative view of men in general and athletes in particular. In addition, the author underestimates the strength of women, and discounts the possibility that being viewed as a sex object can be both stimulating and empowering to them. Her depiction of cheerleaders and topless dancers, among other things, were very shallow. The whole book is very one-dimensional, and seems to be written by the kind of rabid feminist that gives feminism a bad name. Not everyone out there believes that all men conspire to bring women down and subjugate them.
A Must Read for Feminist Sports Enthusiasts October 2, 2000
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I discovered this book only recently and it is a remarkable work. Nelson eloquently describes many of the obstracles of sexism that remain in women's sports today. While much progress has been made, many inequities remain as she clearly reports. While this book was initially published in 1994, it is still very relevant. The disparities in the money made by elite female athletes when compared to elite male athletes remain vast and disturbing. All feminists who also love sports will love this book.
Well written, entertaining -- and scary January 21, 1999
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I'm a woman who has been puzzled and bemused for a long time by the male fixation on sports. How can a man remember the batting averages of all the players in last year's World Series, but not know the shoe size of the woman he's been married to for 10 years? Why does a man buy a newspaper, read every word of the sports section, and throw away the rest without even glancing at it? Why is a professional basketball player paid a salary that rivals (and often exceeds) that of the CEO of a major corporation, who is responsible for managing a trillion-dollar budget and thousands of employees? And why, when a local writer received a major national award, was she relegated to a few column-inches in the Local section of the paper, while the firing of a high school football coach made the front-page headlines?
Nelson's book confirmed what I'd long suspected: as women have gradually broken through one glass ceiling after another, men have retreated into sports as the last bastion of traditional masculinity. It's a world in which "girl" is used as an insult, where men are permitted to express their affection only by punching each other, and where the only females allowed on the premises are decorative servants. But for those who claim that this is harmless male bonding and dismiss its critics as man-haters, Nelson shows the darker side: high school athletes who rape with impunity, glorification of mindless violence, and perpetuation of a concept of "masculinity" defined by behavior that would make a Neanderthal blush.
While it's possible to pick holes in some of her arguments (I know female sports fans who are as ardently partisan as any man), I think Nelson's analysis is generally well done and convincing. My only criticism is that I would have appreciated more suggestions on "Where do we go from here?" But I think awareness of the problem is more than half the battle, and she's certainly done an excellent job of that! Every parent in America should read this book.
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