Women and the Olympic dream : the continuing struggle for equality, 1896-2021 Cover Image

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Women and the Olympic dream : the continuing struggle for equality, 1896-2021 / Maria Kaj.

Kaj, Maria, 1961- (author.).

Summary:

"On an April morning in 1896, unemployed single mother Stamata Revithi ran the 40 kilometers from Marathon to Athens, finishing in 5 hours 30 minutes. Barred from the first Olympic marathon, she was determined to prove herself. Through more than a century of Olympic Games history, women athletes who were held back from swimming because long skirts were required, limited to running single-lap races because of fallacies about fragility or forced to endure invasive gender exams competed in spite of endless challenges and denials of their abilities. From Athens 1896 to Tokyo 2020, this history of women's participation in the Olympic Games centers on athletes who overcame entrenched inequity to gain inclusion"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781476686479
ISBN: 1476686475
Physical Description: x, 296 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
Publisher: Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2022]
Copyright: ©2022

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part 1-gaining entry -- Refused admission at the dawn of the modern games (1896) -- Getting in the game: the pioneers (1900-1912) -- The road from Alice to Amsterdam (1912-1928) -- Part 2-taking aim -- Let 'er fly: Babe Didrikson and exceptionalism (1930-1932) -- Pariahs (1932-1936) -- The cold war and the feminine mystique (1948-1968) -- The other cold war: winter games (1924-1956) -- Olympic gigantism and the zero-sum game (1924-1976) -- Part three-fighting for access -- Nationalism and the rise of the teams (1964-1976) -- Not so fast: the torturous journey of title IX (1972-2000) -- See how she runs: gender politics and racing (1948-1984) -- Them's fighting words (1988-2012) -- Part four-being seen -- The camera changes the narrative: gymnasts, skaters, racers, Villains (1972-2000) -- Showing the world (1988-2016) -- Erasing the specter of lesbianism (1896-2016) -- Femininity control (1936-...) -- Afterthoughts: on visibility -- Further reading -- Appendix: charts and tables -- Chapter notes