No Slam Dunk
314 pages, 6 x 9
4 black and white photos, 19 tables
Paperback
Release Date:30 May 2018
ISBN:9780813592046
No Slam Dunk
Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change
By Cheryl Cooky and Michael A. Messner
Rutgers University Press
In just a few decades, sport has undergone a radical gender transformation. However, Cheryl Cooky and Michael A. Messner suggest that the progress toward gender equity in sports is far from complete. The continuing barriers to full and equal participation for young people, the far lower pay for most elite-level women athletes, and the continuing dearth of fair and equal media coverage all underline how much still has yet to change before we see gender equality in sports.
The chapters in No Slam Dunk show that is this not simply a story of an “unfinished revolution.” Rather, they contend, it is simplistic optimism to assume that we are currently nearing the conclusion of a story of linear progress that ends with a certain future of equality and justice. This book provides important theoretical and empirical insights into the contemporary world of sports to help explain the unevenness of social change and how, despite significant progress, gender equality in sports has been “No Slam Dunk.”
The chapters in No Slam Dunk show that is this not simply a story of an “unfinished revolution.” Rather, they contend, it is simplistic optimism to assume that we are currently nearing the conclusion of a story of linear progress that ends with a certain future of equality and justice. This book provides important theoretical and empirical insights into the contemporary world of sports to help explain the unevenness of social change and how, despite significant progress, gender equality in sports has been “No Slam Dunk.”
Sport is an essential window for understanding what unites and divides us. It shapes our world. No Slam Dunk is essential: a decoder ring for understanding issues of gender and sexuality with the Rosetta Stone that is the games we play.
No Slam Dunk is an invaluable, highly accessible resource and a fantastic addition to the sport and gender literature. Cooky and Messner provide a volume that is both entertaining and engaging.
'I don't think it's coincidental that the dunk becomes emblematic of men's basketball—and supposedly what makes men's basketball exciting—right at the moment the women's game is ascendent,' says Michael Messner, a professor of sociology and gender studies at USC and co-author of the upcoming book No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change
No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change by Cheryl Cooky and Michael A. Messner (Rutgers University Press; 314 pages; $99.95 hardcover, $39.95 paperback). Combines empirical and theoretical perspectives in a study of challenges that remain for gender equity in sports.
New Scholarly Books: Weekly Book List, June 8,' by Nina C. Ayoub
Recommended.'
A highly readable, engaging, and useful collection of crisply written chapters. Each chapter concludes with a series of thoughtful questions that could be used to stimulate reflection and debate within the classroom or lecture theater. As such, given the accessible writing and insightful commentaries, this text could be usefully employed as a course reader on sport and gender.
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in understanding gender and sport today....No Slam Dunk synthesizes a robust literature and brings multiple qualitative methods, from content analysis to ethnography, interviews, and subjects’ accounts, to bear on timely topics.
Sport is an essential window for understanding what unites and divides us. It shapes our world. No Slam Dunk is essential: a decoder ring for understanding issues of gender and sexuality with the Rosetta Stone that is the games we play.
No Slam Dunk is an invaluable, highly accessible resource and a fantastic addition to the sport and gender literature. Cooky and Messner provide a volume that is both entertaining and engaging.
'I don't think it's coincidental that the dunk becomes emblematic of men's basketball—and supposedly what makes men's basketball exciting—right at the moment the women's game is ascendent,' says Michael Messner, a professor of sociology and gender studies at USC and co-author of the upcoming book No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change
No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change by Cheryl Cooky and Michael A. Messner (Rutgers University Press; 314 pages; $99.95 hardcover, $39.95 paperback). Combines empirical and theoretical perspectives in a study of challenges that remain for gender equity in sports.
New Scholarly Books: Weekly Book List, June 8,' by Nina C. Ayoub
Recommended.'
A highly readable, engaging, and useful collection of crisply written chapters. Each chapter concludes with a series of thoughtful questions that could be used to stimulate reflection and debate within the classroom or lecture theater. As such, given the accessible writing and insightful commentaries, this text could be usefully employed as a course reader on sport and gender.
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in understanding gender and sport today....No Slam Dunk synthesizes a robust literature and brings multiple qualitative methods, from content analysis to ethnography, interviews, and subjects’ accounts, to bear on timely topics.
CHERYL COOKY is an associate professor of American Studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
MICHAEL A. MESSNER is a professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is the author or editor of many books including Child’s Play: Sport in Kids’ Worlds (Rutgers University Press).
MICHAEL A. MESSNER is a professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is the author or editor of many books including Child’s Play: Sport in Kids’ Worlds (Rutgers University Press).
Introduction 1
CHERYL COOKY AND MICHAEL A. MESSNER
Part I Sport, Gender, and Sexuality
1 Gender Ideologies, Youth Sports, and the
Production of Soft Essentialism 15
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
2 Policing the Boundaries of Sex: A Critical
Examination of Gender Verification and the Caster
Semenya Controversy 37
CHERYL COOKY AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
3 Gender Relations and Sport:
Local, National, Transnational 54
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
4 Women, Sports, and Activism 70
CHERYL COOKY
Part II Sport as Gendered Practice
5 Barbie Girls versus Sea Monsters: Children
Constructing Gender 93
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
6 “Girls Just Aren’t Interested”: The Social Construction
of Interest in Girls’ Sport 113
CHERYL COOKY
7 Ready for Anything the World Gives Her?:
A Critical Look at Sports-Based
Positive Youth
Development for Girls 139
LAUREN RAUSCHER AND CHERYL COOKY
8 Separating the Men from the Moms: The Making of
Adult Gender Segregation in Youth Sports 160
MICHAEL A. MESSNER AND SUZEL BOZADA-DEAS
9 Gender and Sport Participation in Montenegro 180
CHERYL COOKY, MARKO BEGOVIC, DON SABO, CAROLE A. OGLESBY,
AND MARJ SNYDER
Part III The Gender of Sports Media
10 “It’s Dude Time!”: A Quarter Century of Excluding
Women’s Sports in Televised News and Highlight Shows 209
CHERYL COOKY, MICHAEL A. MESSNER, AND MICHELA MUSTO
11 Reflections on Communication and Sport: On Men
and Masculinities 235
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
12 It’s Not about the Game: Don Imus, Race, Class,
Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Media 247
CHERYL COOKY, FAYE L. WACHS, MICHAEL A. MESSNER, AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
13 “What Makes a Woman a Woman?” versus “Our First
Lady of Sport”: A Comparative Analysis of the
United States and the South African Media Coverage
of Caster Semenya 269
CHERYL COOKY, RANISSA DYCUS, AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
About the Authors 295
About the Contributors 297
Index 299
CHERYL COOKY AND MICHAEL A. MESSNER
Part I Sport, Gender, and Sexuality
1 Gender Ideologies, Youth Sports, and the
Production of Soft Essentialism 15
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
2 Policing the Boundaries of Sex: A Critical
Examination of Gender Verification and the Caster
Semenya Controversy 37
CHERYL COOKY AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
3 Gender Relations and Sport:
Local, National, Transnational 54
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
4 Women, Sports, and Activism 70
CHERYL COOKY
Part II Sport as Gendered Practice
5 Barbie Girls versus Sea Monsters: Children
Constructing Gender 93
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
6 “Girls Just Aren’t Interested”: The Social Construction
of Interest in Girls’ Sport 113
CHERYL COOKY
7 Ready for Anything the World Gives Her?:
A Critical Look at Sports-Based
Positive Youth
Development for Girls 139
LAUREN RAUSCHER AND CHERYL COOKY
8 Separating the Men from the Moms: The Making of
Adult Gender Segregation in Youth Sports 160
MICHAEL A. MESSNER AND SUZEL BOZADA-DEAS
9 Gender and Sport Participation in Montenegro 180
CHERYL COOKY, MARKO BEGOVIC, DON SABO, CAROLE A. OGLESBY,
AND MARJ SNYDER
Part III The Gender of Sports Media
10 “It’s Dude Time!”: A Quarter Century of Excluding
Women’s Sports in Televised News and Highlight Shows 209
CHERYL COOKY, MICHAEL A. MESSNER, AND MICHELA MUSTO
11 Reflections on Communication and Sport: On Men
and Masculinities 235
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
12 It’s Not about the Game: Don Imus, Race, Class,
Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Media 247
CHERYL COOKY, FAYE L. WACHS, MICHAEL A. MESSNER, AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
13 “What Makes a Woman a Woman?” versus “Our First
Lady of Sport”: A Comparative Analysis of the
United States and the South African Media Coverage
of Caster Semenya 269
CHERYL COOKY, RANISSA DYCUS, AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
About the Authors 295
About the Contributors 297
Index 299
Related Titles
A Nation of Family and Friends?
Sport and the Leisure Cultures of British Asian Girls and Women
By Aarti Ratna
Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body
Materialisms, Technologies, Ecologies
Edited by Joshua I. Newman, Holly Thorpe, and David Andrews
Child's Play
Sport in Kids' Worlds
Edited by Michael A. Messner and Michela Musto; Afterword by William A. Corsaro
