Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This provocative text--the product of more than 10 years of instruction and research--is the most comprehensive study to date on the past, present, and future of women and sport. An ideal textbook for upper division undergraduate and graduate students as well as a timely reference for scholars and researchers, Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives sets the record straight about the women's sport experience. More than 20 expert contributors examine, analyze, and synthesize the issues surrounding women and sport from historical, biomedical, psychological, and sociological perspectives. Part I discusses the historical and cultural foundations of women's sport from ancient times to the modern era, as seen through the eyes of the participants and general public. Part II examines biomedical considerations, touching on such topics as body composition, cardiovascular fitness, gender differences in muscular strength, exercise-induced amenorrhea, and osteoporosis. Part III analyzes the psychosocial dimensions of women's sport, including sociocultural, political, and economic factors that have led to changes for women in sport and reviews the oppression historically experienced by women and men in sport. Although the book is designed primarily as a text for upper division undergraduate and graduate courses in women's sport studies, the comprehensive nature of Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives makes it equally appropriate for sport sociology, sport history, general women's studies, and gender-oriented psychology, sociology, and anthropology classes. In addition, female sport participants who want to know more about how their own sporting heritage has been influenced by social, psychological, and biomedical factors will find the book valuable.