Feminist scholars have critically analyzed the effects of sex segregation in numerous social institutions, yet sex-segregated sport often remains unchallenged. Even critics of sex-segregated sport have tended to accept the merits of women-only teams at face value. In this article, we revisit this issue by examining the underlying assumptions supporting women’s and girls’ teams and explore how they perpetuate gender inequality. Specifically, we analyze the 14 U.S. court cases wherein adolescent boys have sought to play on girls’ teams in their respective high schools. The courts’ decisions reveal taken-for-granted, essentialist assumptions about girls’ innate fragility and athletic inferiority. While the courts, policy makers, and many feminist scholars see maintaining teams for girls and women as a solution to the problem of boys’ and men’s dominance in sport, the logic supporting this form of segregation further entrenches notions of women’s inferiority.
Acker, Joan.1992. Gendered institutions: From sex roles to gendered institutions . Contemporary Sociology21:565-69.
2.
Anderson, Eric.2008. "I used to think women were weak": Orthodox masculinity, gender-segregation, and sport. Sociological Forum23:257-80.
3.
Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckmann .1967. The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York: Anchor Books.
4.
Brace-Govan, Jan.2004. Weighty matters: Control of women’s access to physical strength. Sociological Review52:503-31.
5.
Brasher, Brenda E.1997. Godly women: Fundamentalism and female power. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
6.
Britton, Dana M.1997. Gendered organizational logic: Policy and practice in men’s and women’s prisons. Gender & Society11:796-818.
7.
Budig, Michelle J., and Paula England.2001. The wage penalty for motherhood. American Sociological Review66:204-25.
8.
Burke, Phyllis.1996. Gender shock: Exploding the myths of male and female. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday.
9.
Burstyn, Varda.1999. The rites of men: Manhood, politics and the culture of sport. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
10.
Butler, Judith.1990. Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity . New York: Routledge.
11.
Buysse, Jo Ann M., and Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert.2004. Constructions of gender in sport: An analysis of intercollegiate media guide cover photographs . Gender & Society18:66-81.
12.
Carpenter, Linda J.1997. Gender equity: Opportunities to participate. In Sport law for sport managers, edited by D. J. Cotton and T. J. Wilde.Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
13.
Caudwell, Jayne.2003. Sporting gender: Women’s footballing bodies as sites/ sights for the (re) articulation of sex, gender, and desire. Sociology of Sport Journal20:371-86.
14.
Davis, Nickolas W., and Margaret Carlisle Duncan.2006. Sports knowledge is power: Reinforcing masculine privilege through fantasy sport league participation . Journal of Sport and Social Issues30:244-64.
15.
Duerson, Adam.2006. Striking a blow. Sports Illustrated, 19 June.
16.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne.2000. Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York: Basic Books .
17.
Fink, Janet.2010. Challenging the gender binary: Male practice players’ views of female athletes and women’s sports. Paper presented at Annual Meetings, North American Society for Sport Management, Tampa, FL.
18.
Furman, Blake J.2007. Gender equality in high school sports: Why there is a contact sports exemption to Title IX, eliminating it, and a proposal for the future. Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal17:1169-95.
19.
Implementing Regulations for Title IX, 34 C.F.R. § 106.41 (1975).
20.
Kane, Mary Jo.1995. Resistance/transformation of the oppositional binary: Exposing sport as a continuum. Journal of Sport and Social Issues19: 191-218.
21.
Kimmel, Michael.2000. "Saving the males": The sociological implications of the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel. Gender & Society14:494-516.
22.
Lorber, Judith.1993. Believing is seeing: Biology as ideology. Gender & Society7:568-81.
23.
MacKinnon, Catherine A.1987. Feminism unmodified: Discourses on life and law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
Martin, Patricia Yancey.2004. Gender as a social institution. Social Forces82:1249-73.
25.
McDermott, Lisa.2004. Exploring intersections of physicality and female-only canoeing experiences. Leisure Studies23:283-302.
26.
McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano.2008. Playing with the boys: Why separate is not equal in sports. New York: Oxford University Press.
27.
Meân, Lindsey J.2009. On the lite side? Miller Lite’s men of the square table, man laws, and the making of masculinity. In Sport, beer, and gender: Promotional culture and contemporary social life, edited by L. A. Wenner and S. J. Jackson.New York: Peter Lang.
28.
Messner, Michael A.1992. Power at play: Sports and the problem of masculinity. Boston: Beacon.
29.
Messner, Michael A.2000. Barbie girls versus sea monsters: Children constructing gender. Gender & Society14:765-84.
30.
Messner, Michael A.2009. It’s all for the kids: Gender, families, and youth sports. Berkeley: University of California Press.
31.
Messner, Michael A., and Suzel Bozada-Deas .2009. Separating the men from the moms: The making of adult gender segregation in youth sports. Gender & Society23:49-71.
32.
Messner, Michael A., Michele Dunbar, and Darnell Hunt.2000. The televised sports manhood formula . Journal of Sport and Social Issues24:380-94.
33.
Minow, Martha.1990. Making all the difference: Inclusion, exclusion, and American law. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
34.
Misra, Joya, Stephanie Moller, and Michelle J. Budig .2007. Work family policies and poverty for partnered and single women in Europe and North America. Gender & Society21:804-27.
35.
Roscigno, Vincent J.2000. Family/school inequality and African American/Hispanic achievement. Social Problems47:266-90.
36.
Sangree, Suzanne.2000. Title IX and the contact sport exemption: Gender stereotypes in a civil rights statute. Connecticut Law Review32:381-449.
37.
Schneider, Jerry.2010. Kelly Kulick makes sports history as first woman to win a PBA Tour title by capturing 45th PBA Tournament of Champions. Professional Bowlers Association. http://news.pba.com/post/2010/1/24/Kelly-Kulick-Makes-Sports-History-as-First-Woman-to-Win-a-PBA-Tour-Title-by-capturing-45th-PBA-Tournament-of-Champions.aspx (accessed 8 June 2010).
38.
Theberge, Nancy.1993. The construction of gender in sport: Women, coaching, and the naturalization of difference. Social Problems40:301-13.
39.
Thomsen, Ian.2009. Weekly countdown: A woman’s place could soon be in the NBA. Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ian_thomsen/12/04/countdown/index.html (accessed 8 June 2010).
40.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 (1972).
41.
Travers, Ann.2008. The sport nexus and gender injustice. Studies in Social Justice2:79-101.
42.
Washington Post.2005. Today’s news. 4 November.
43.
West, Candace, and Don H. Zimmerman .1987. Doing gender. Gender & Society1:125-51.
44.
White, Mike.2006. All hail the queen: Houghton 1st girl to win WPIAL boys’ tennis title. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 20 April.
45.
Williams, Van.2006. Skyview girl’s win makes U.S. prep history. Anchorage Daily News, 5 February.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
